this time, my classmates and I are going to hold them
to account. This time we are going to pressure them to
take action.… I’m just a high school student, and I do
not pretend to have all of the answers. However, even
in my position, I can see that there is desperate need
for change—change that starts by folks showing up to
the polls and voting all those individuals who are in the
back pockets of gun lobbyists out of office. Please do it
for me. Do it for my fellow classmates. We can’t vote, but
you can, so make it count. (Cameron Kasky, Parkland)
Just like those innocent teenagers in Florida, my
brother and his classmates and teachers were killed
doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing:
going to school. They were murdered in the very place
that was supposed to keep them safe, and they were
gunned down with a military-grade assault rifle that
had fallen into the wrong hands.… My brother and
his classmates had a right to life. They had a right to
safety.… All of that was violently torn from them, and
these basic human rights have been torn from thou-
sands of other Americans in the years since. The worst
part? Congress has actively chosen to do nothing to
keep it from happening again.
Not this time. I can feel that this time is differ-
ent.… They [students] are giving a voice to the voice-
less. And they are demanding change in a way we’ve
never seen before. They are calling out politicians
who have accepted hefty donations from the National
Rifle Association (including the president). They are
organizing marches to demand action from American
politicians on the gun violence epidemic. They are
turning their grief into action so that no more parents,
siblings, or friends have to experience the despair and
anguish of losing a loved one to senseless gun violence.
(Danielle Vabner, whose six-year-old brother Noah
was killed in his first-grade classroom in Sandy Hook,
Connecticut in 2012)
I hope that this time it is different. Everyone will
need to keep speaking out, otherwise this latest horror
will be eclipsed by the next one—while the status quo
is maintained and the nra gods continue to receive
their sacrifices.
Gabino Zavala, Province Justice and Peace
Director, in response to the latest shooting, respond-
ed in a statement to members and Companions: “On
Ash Wednesday, we were once again shaken to our
core by another shooting in one of our schools. This
is the 18 th school shooting that our children have
had to experience just since the start of this year. Is
this becoming the new normal for our children? Is
this insanity of our society around the issue of guns
becoming so commonplace?” He then invited us to
revisit and remember our Corporate Stance on Gun
Violence. The following is part of that document.
“Motivated by the Blood of Christ and called to
be ministers of reconciliation, we, the Missionaries
and Companions of the Precious Blood, Kansas City
Province, affirm our belief in the sacredness of life.
Present laws making it possible for uncontrolled and
limited access to weapons and ammunition of any
amount and any type do not foster a culture of life.
Local, state and national legislators must pass rea-
sonable laws which will curb the culture of violence
tearing apart the fabric of our nation. The ‘cry of the
Blood’ (Genesis 4: 1) demands we do no less. We come
together to confront evil manifested by the culture of
violence. Bonded in charity, we seek to create a safe
environment for our children by promoting a culture
of life and peace. We advocate measures that reflect
out founder, St. Gaspar’s message, ‘try to make every
effort to bring everything to a peaceful solution.’”
We have the power to choose. As John Pavlovitz
wrote in response to the ongoing carnage, “America is
losing something important: we’re losing our outrage
when children are murdered with guns. We’re los-
ing the ability to be rightly moved to sickness at what
we’ve become. America needs to recover its outrage.
It needs to recover its compassionate heart. It needs to
recover its soul.… We need to face our gun problem—
and yes, it is a gun problem. It is other things too; a
mental health problem and a violence problem but
make no mistake it is predominately a gun problem.”
We have the power to choose. In the words of
Isaiah, on the Friday after Ash Wednesday, “This,
rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound
unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free
the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your
bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and
the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.”
We have the power to not turn our backs on our
own.
March 2018 • The New Wine Press • 5