Leadership Team statement regarding Parkland shooting

The Leadership Team of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, is saddened once again by the tragic deaths resulting from another school shooting, this time the 17 people killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., by a troubled young man.

The grieving students who survived the tragedy continue to feel incredible pain and loss; yet, in the midst of their sorrow, they are rallying to advocate for changes in legislation so that no other community will have to suffer the effects of a mass shooting again.

Like the students and families of MSD High School, we, too, can no longer remain silent. How many more mass shootings will it take before our legislators say “Enough is enough!” and take action? Already, far too many lives have been shattered by gun violence. We have waited long enough!

We are encouraged and stand with the Parkland students and their families who have spoken out and are organizing demonstrations calling for Congress to pass common sense legislation that would:

• Ban semi-automatic assault weapons and bump stock devices,
• Require universal background checks for all gun purchases, and
• Improve access to free mental health services.

Our foundress, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, once wrote “We cannot do all the good possible, but only that which we can do.” Certainly, uniting our voices with those of the students and families who have suffered unimaginable pain is one “good” that we can do.

Thus, we commit ourselves and invite others to join us in contacting our legislators at the state and federal level, advocating for these sensible changes in gun legislation and for availability of mental health treatment for those in need of it.

Of course, we promise our continued prayers for all whose lives have been forever changed by the violence of mass shootings. We pray, too, that as individuals, as communities, and as a nation, we will grow in our practice of nonviolence so that, together, we can create a more just a peace-filled society.

Join us in praying our Litany of Nonviolence.