Military Firearms and Mass Shootings – A Statement from the Notre Dame Sisters

After another mass shooting that has shattered families and devastated young lives, we, Sisters and Associates joined our prayers with millions of others last night, and we continue to pray for eternal rest of the students and teachers killed, their families, and the community of Uvalde, Texas. 

In times like these, prayers and actions are part of National healing – to ask God for compassion, and to demand change.

President Biden, in an address yesterday shared this scripture passage, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” He mentioned the many, many crushed spirits in Uvalde. He also mentioned those children at school who saw “their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield… They’ll live with it the rest of their lives.”

We ask you to join us in prayer today for the brokenhearted and those crushed in spirit. We Notre Dame Sisters join the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in praying for mass killings to end:

“There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent… As we do so, each of us also needs to search our souls for ways that we can do more to understand this epidemic of evil and violence and implore our elected officials to help us take action.” – USCCB

We also echo the words Pope Francis said yesterday, “It is time to say enough to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all work hard so that such tragedies can never happen again.”

The access to military firearms has been a serious issue for years now. We Sisters support common sense gun reform. It is time for change. It is time that we, the people, demand our Congress enact gun laws to protect us. We need to write or call and encourage Congress to act immediately. We hold our grieving nation in prayer and pray that all of us join together in creating a nation and world that truly respects and honors the dignity of all life.