Where Do We Go from Here & Litany for after a School Shooting

The country continues to reel from a horrific school shooting that occurred inside a Catholic church during a school Mass on Wednesday. We mourn the two children killed and continue to pray for the 18 who were injured and are still recovering. Once again, cries for gun control are coming out, even though that is not the issue and mentally disturbed people like the shooter in this case would find other ways to carry out their violence if there were stricter gun laws. First Lady Melania Trump released a statement calling for greater interventions and mental health initiatives for those who are troubled, and while that is a better first step than just calling for the removal of guns, it still doesn’t address the root of the problem. Our country needs a return to Jesus and to His teachings, particularly those on the value of human life, and to the Church.

Our families, which are the building blocks of our society, must recover the importance of teaching their children the Faith and their worth as the person that God made them to be. The shooter at Annunciation Church was a man who sadly never saw that worth in himself and felt the need to call himself a woman. A countrywide Catholic revival is needed if we are to end this gender confusion and violence and it can be achieved if we continue to have recourse to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. This revival will also have to reach America’s Catholic politicians, who try to remain neutral when it comes to Christianity, making it seem that, at least publicly, they don’t prefer one denomination over another (refer to my article on VP Vance saying why he didn’t kiss Pope Leo’s ring). Eventually, they will have to come to the realization that this will not work and that Protestant denominations will always fall short and never carry the fullness of truth. The truth of Catholicism must be witnessed to in every part of their lives, including their political careers. Even interventions and mental heath initiatives must point back to our Creator and the truth that each individual is wonderfully made in His image.

As we pray for the souls of the two children killed in this shooting and those injured, Catholic News Agency wrote an article containing a litany to be prayed following a school shooting. Let us also pray for our country, that it will soon return to Jesus and the fullness of His teachings in the Catholic Church.