Denver, Colo., Mar 14, 2018 / 03:09 pm (CNA).- On Wednesday, thousands of students throughout the United States walked out of classrooms as part of National School Walkout, a demonstration calling for safer schools and increased gun control, in the wake of the February high school shooting that left 17 Florida students dead.
Many of the walkouts were planned to last 17 minutes, in honor of each of the students who were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14. Many Catholic schools used the day as a chance to call their students to prayer, either in addition to or instead of a walkout.
Schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans were asked to hold 17 minutes of prayer in solidarity with shooting victims and the walkouts. The prayer services included the rosary, as well as the archdiocesan prayer against violence, murder and racism, which is recited regularly at Masses in the region.
“We didn’t hear of any schools or students participating (in the walk-out), but we were hearing from our school communities, ‘What could we do, what could we offer in support of lessening gun violence?’” Dr. RaeNell Houston, superintendent of Catholic Schools in New Orleans, told the Clarion Herald.
“Our children deserve to be safe in our school communities,” Houston added. “But we felt intentional, dedicated prayer would yield more fruitful results than a walkout. I am a witness to how God answers prayer. And we felt our time was best utilized and our statement would be bold if we dedicated that 17 minutes of prayer on behalf of the Florida victims and our country and for the safety of our children.”
Cardinal Ritter College Prep, a Catholic urban high school in St. Louis, participated in an organized school event.
Students left campus at 9:30 am and walked to nearby St. Francis Xavier Church on the campus of St. Louis University. Ronnie Robinson, the father of a recent graduate, was invited to participate in the march. Robinson and his family have lost two sons to gun violence in recent years.
After a period of prayer and silence, students returned to their classrooms to discuss the events of the day, to review the school’s active shooter policy, and to resume classes.
Elias Mendoza, principal of St. Francis Catholic High School in Sacramento, California sent a memo to parents in early March, in anticipation of the walkouts, noting that school officials recognized both the students concerns and as well as their own obligation as school employees to remain politically neutral.
Instead of a walkout, St. Francis offered a prayer service for peace and healing, noting safety concerns regarding students leaving campus in the middle of the school day.
“Together with students and school leaders, we’re working to provide students with an alternative avenue to express their viewpoints in a constructive and meaningful way, while remaining on campus, where safety measures are in place to ensure supervision and security,” Mendoza said in his letter.
“At St. Francis, we care about our (students), our families, and the faith-based community we represent. Moving forward, I ask for your prayers and partnership in doing all that we can to reassure our students and to make them strong resilient young women,” he concluded.
The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey said on Twitter that several of the schools participated in the national walk out, and held prayer services afterward.
Today, #Catholic Schools throughout the Archdiocese of Newark took a stand against gun violence by participating in the #NationalWalkoutDay. Several schools, including St. Mary of the Assumption and Saint Dominic Academy, held prayer services following the #Walkout. #Enough pic.twitter.com/sk9Xcf1Q14
— Newark Archdiocese (@NwkArchdiocese) March 14, 2018
Sister Brittany Harrison, FMA, is the Theology Department Chair at Mary Help of Christians Academy in New Jersey.
In an interview about the walkouts with Relevant Radio, Harrison said that she was inspired by the students throughout the country who were “deciding to rise up, make their voices heard, and make social change.”
“As a Salesian, that’s what I believe in, the power of young people. So to see them doing that is just an incredible thing for me,” she said.
Harrison said that while the official walkout, sponsored by the organizers of the national Women’s March, was focused on gun control legislation, her students wanted to make their event less political and more focused on school safety in general.
Rather than the walkout, the school held a prayer service and also gave students time to write government officials about the changes they’d like to see.
“As Catholics we can really model what it is to affect social change, and our young people really want to do that,” she said.
The Diocese of Peoria, Illinois encouraged its students to take part in some kind of alternative, prayerful show of solidarity rather than the walkout, citing concerns about some of the sponsors of the national walk-out as well as safety concerns.
“Unfortunately, some of the sponsors of the National School Walkout advocate for positions that are contrary to the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life in all of its stages,” the Office of Catholic Schools stated in a letter to diocesan Catholic school officials.
“Due to this fact, as well as concerns for student safety on this day of national attention, our schools are directed to not permit students to stage a walkout.”
Instead, the letter suggested that diocesan schools hold Masses or prayer services for the victims.
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit held memorial services for the victims of the Parkland shooting, including posters with pictures and brief biographies of the victims.
Students and faculty at @Shrine_Schools gathered this morning for a memorial service in honor of the victims of the #ParklandSchoolShooting #NationalWalkoutDay pic.twitter.com/IR3ZIijecZ
— Detroit Archdiocese (@DetroitCatholic) March 14, 2018
Queen of Angels elementary school in the Archdiocese of Atlanta said on Twitter that they were hosting a “walk in” rather than a walkout, and used the day as a time to encourage their students to focus on ways they could be kinder and more inclusive.
#WalkIn-Today at 10 AM while students across the nation #walkout in protest of gun violence, QA students will spend 17 minutes reaching out to others that we don’t spend enough time getting to know, and praying that all young people feel included in their communities. pic.twitter.com/civ6qR3JTC
— QA Catholic School (@QASchool) March 14, 2018
In Erie, Pennsylvania, two Catholic schools – Cathedral Preparatory School and Villa Maria Academy – held school-wide Masses and prayer services for the victims and for peace. Father Scott Jabo, president of the schools, told Fox News that the schools considered how they could approach the walkout day differently as a Catholic school.
“By praying for the victims, we could bring a great focus to the victims in this situation, and by unified prayer, we could have a powerful impact,” Jabo said.
He added that at the prayer service, the names and a short biography of each of the 17 Parkland victims would be read aloud, “to make it real that these are real people who died.”
“(We’re) doing something that was a Catholic school we can and should do and that is pray, and unleash that power of prayer,” he said.
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The bishops are correct but I wish they’d pay a little more attention to the reasons that blue collar folk in flyover country feel so underserved & disrespected in the first place. Our leaders have mostly become disconnected from the working class people they’re supposed to serve.
I think an edited version might be more appropriate:
“As the residents of Springfield, Ohio, struggle with violent threats and life disruptions fueled by undocumented illegal aliens, we exhort the Catholic faithful and all people of goodwill to report all illegal and potentially harmful activities to their local police precincts and encourage them to administer the full consequences of the law,” read a letter signed by bishops in all six Catholic dioceses in Ohio.
If the bishops really cared about Haitians there would have been a massive outpouring of support immediately after the earthquake there around 2010. There was little financial support and no massive presence of Catholic boots on the ground. I know; I was there and saw the immediate aftermath of that catastrophe. And, please, don’t anyone tell me about Catholic Relief Services as an adequate response.
The bishops are quick to engage when Haitians are the subject for politics but when it comes to sustained and substantive assistance, the bishops are busy synodaling to Francis’ tune. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…and a Catholic one at that. I want to hear from the USCCB and the Vatican what they’re doing to alleviate the poverty there. And don’t tell me that the solution to Haiti’s poverty is to allow that entire country to emigrate to the USA. Do you know what happens to a country like Haiti when the most industrious and able-bodied emigrate to the USA? They don’t look back and the country of origin becomes even more impoverished. Men come to the USA to find work and left behind are the women and chikdren to fend for themselves. I challenge every bushop who is weighing in on this matter of eating cats to hop on a plane and spend a few weeks touring Haiti and then return with ideas about what their diocese is going to do to lift that country out of poverty.
Bishops call for “compassion”, while making a terse reference to the evils of the perpetrators. At a critical time with the presidential elections just weeks away, our Catholic fathers fail to send a strong moral message specifically to Trump and Vance. The Haitian migrants have legally entered the country. Vance still calls them illegals. Their vial position reeks with bigotry.
Trump and Vance’s inflamitory rhetoric has caused their criminal minions to threaten Springfield residents with bombings. Parents are afraid to send their kids to school.
Not to to far into the Trump weeds, BUT, this year the disgraced SCOTUS freed Trump from all his federal crimes by voting for immunity. Then they thru the implementation to the district court causing confusion and havoc. Does anyone remember any former president asking for immunity? Not even Nixon.
This week the Georgia Republican legislature passed a bill that forces all votes to be MANUALLY counted. Ironically, Trump’s threats frightened poll workers that they are afraid to go to work.
Another mind-numbing move is Trump’s support of NC Lt. Governor Mike Robinson. Robinson calls himself a “Black NAZI”. He has said “some people deserve dying”.
I’m a ‘perv’ too!. “bring [slavery] back” and “buy a few” slaves”.
Trump said at a rally, “”We have to cherish Mark … he’s like a fine wine,” Trump said in the video. “He’s an outstanding person.”
The absence of the Catholic hierarchy’s firm rejection of this amoral and criminal creature could make this election “a day that will live in infamy”.
Someday you need to take a retreat and meditate on the meaning of the Eighth Commandment. It applies to more than one’s next door neighbor.
I had retreated from my duty to protect our constitution and democracy. No more. Eighth Commandment? Your vague retort tags me with ignorance of the eighth commandment. How dare you! Accusing me of stealing? Or violate God’s establishes a principle of honesty and integrity, essential for building community trust.
I try not to respond to frivrolous diatribe. I couldn’t resist.
When did I accuse you of stealing? Look up the Commandments. The Eighth refers to bearing false witness, and this includes public figures and public events. Haitians in this country are both legal and illegal, and Vance was truthful in his statements that addressed the tragedy of unleashing millions of desperate people into this country with no place to go. Do you care about them other than as political showboating? You are venomous in calling anyone perpetuating violence as “minions” of Trump and Vance. Your off the wall quoting of ironically intended rhetoric out of context illustrates that you have no interest in “honesty and integrity” as you’ve demonstrated continuously at this site with your left-wing talking points.
“Criminal minions ” seems a bit inflammatory to me Mr. Morgan. Just saying.
Perhaps we should pull the plug for the weekend and take a break from the media foolishness.
I’m going out to mow the grass and get some fresh air. God bless.
I’ll second Deacon Peitler’s comments above.
Why are we taking the young and able out of poor countries that need them so badly?
In the case of Haiti, Miss Cleo you can hardly blame them.
But it’s a good point that it hasn’t been just the poor & oppressed who are migrating away from their countries but the professional classes, too.
If you look at eastern Europe & regions around the globe that’s something going on.