Real Life Disciples: The real issue

“‘We survived, we will prevail, we have hope to carry on.’ These words became a mantra for us during that time. They first emerged at a prayer service within days of the shooting. Within a week, one of our teens had turned it into a graphic image. The next week someone had printed it on a T-shirt. Over the next several months we literally gave away thousands of those T-shirts.”
 
These were words recently spoken during a Catholic radio interview, by me. I was referring to a season in my life when I was the youth minister at Saint Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Littleton, Colo., two miles down the street from Columbine High School. 

This was back in 1999. Three of our teenagers were killed in the Columbine shooting. Another 200-plus were in the building. 

My life for the next couple of years was dominated with response efforts, counseling and ministry support for teens, parents and families. Our parish became the hub-central of the Columbine community. 

As tragic as the situation was, God used it powerfully in the lives of many people during those years. Our ministry grew exponentially as did the overall parish. “We survived, we will prevail, we have hope to carry on” … I can still hear us chanting the words in my memory.
 
But, why the radio interview last week all these years later? Because “another” school shooting has taken place in Uvalde, Texas. But wait, there’s been more mass shootings since the Uvalde shooting, all over the country, one very close to home at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

In fact, the Uvalde shooting took place on May 24. There have been 38 other mass shootings recorded since then – and more than 250 mass shootings in 2022. It’s only May!
 
Lawmakers and politicians are all arguing over what is going on and how to stop the rampage of violence. Everything is on the table: gun control, mental health efforts, other laws and restrictions, focusing on the social and familial breakdowns that often contribute to these kinds of shootings. 

Some are mistakenly hoping that some “magic pill” will solve this horrible problem in one fail swoop. But that is just not going to happen. The truth is that all of these efforts need to happen, together.
 
I want to point to a much deeper issue though, one that very few seem to be bringing up. I have searched the internet for all the proposed remedies. Very few talk about Jesus or the role of faith in all this. Here me out please. 

I’m not just shrinking back to a super-spiritual response and oversimplifying the problem. I truly believe this is the problem. Yes, we may need to revise gun control legislation and address growing mental health issues in our communities, and even devise strategies to more effectively deal with social and familial breakdowns. 

But, let’s not forget our faith and the person of Christ. That is what the world desperately needs.

All those years ago after the Columbine shooting, that is what we offered, and people came in droves to get more of it. We had prayer services and Masses every day, served meals three times a day, offered individual and group counseling sessions. But, more than anything, we just took time to be with people, to pray with them, and let them know about the liberating message of the Gospel.
 
The reason why we have “hope to carry on” is because of Jesus. A world without God is a desolate wasteland that is going to offer nothing more than violence and hatred. 

You want to know why we keep having so many mass shootings? Because we have moved further and further away from God, have marginalized his presence in society and refuse to follow any of his laws.Ironically, obedience to him and his laws leads to perfect happiness. It’s the only way we could ever hope to stop the rampage going on around us.
 
I often have said that the best way to change the world is to make more disciples. Archbishop Coakley has made that the driving vision for our whole archdiocese. Disciples are good for the world! They are loving, virtuous, caring, trustworthy and so much more. What’s more, if you are a legit disciple, you understand that fundamental to discipleship is making more disciples. It’s not a spectator sport. 

As we see more and more mass shootings, I don’t know about you, but I am deeply moved to prayer and mission. We need to pray for our world, and for an end to all this violence. But, we also need to get busy doing what God has called us all to do, which is to go forth and start making more of us. The world desperately needs it!