Addressing an epidemic of violence

We are all invited to do an examination of conscience and a conversion from the culture of death

By Bishop Mark Beckman

On Thursday, Sept. 11, I celebrated Mass for the students at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga on the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The day before, as I was thinking about how to preach the following morning, news popped up on my phone about the murder of Charlie Kirk and a separate shooting at a Colorado high school.

It became clear to me what an epidemic of violence we are facing in our nation and sadly throughout the world. In my childhood and early adult years, shootings in high schools, elementary schools, churches, movie theaters, concerts, and a host of other places were unthinkable to me. All have occurred since then.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s and the dawn of the new millennium, I had the sense that perhaps humanity had learned something from the painful world wars of the 20th century, and there might be an opportunity for a renewed time of peace.

That Tuesday morning — 9/11/2001 — dawned with a beautiful, bright blue sky. I received news of the first plane to strike the World Trade Center from a parishioner as I walked over for Mass, and following Mass watched the television coverage as the second plane struck. Like most of the country (and most of the world, I have since learned), we all knew in that instant that the world had changed.

I remember thinking vividly that it would be a turning point in history. Two days following, on Thursday, Sept. 13, I woke angry, and thoughts of revenge filled my mind. As I opened the lectionary for morning Mass, I was greeted with words from St. Paul (Colossians 3:12-17): “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another…as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also do….”

I thought to myself, I am not going to preach on that! I turned the page to look at the day’s Gospel. I found the words of Jesus (Luke 6:27-38) greeting me: “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well…you will be children of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked….”

I realized I had a choice to hold onto the violence in my own heart that day and be directed by it, or to let God’s grace begin to change me. I preached the Gospel that day. The same readings occurred on the 24th anniversary of 9/11, and I preached the same Gospel to the young people at Notre Dame High School this year.

Only two years ago, my parish in Nashville was shaken by the senseless shooting that occurred at the neighboring Covenant School. I remember vividly thinking that if we as a society don’t take meaningful steps to address gun violence in our culture, then this kind of senseless act will continue to take innocent lives.

Sadly, we as a nation have done nothing meaningful to address this, and sadly, it has continued. Pope John Paul II warned us in 1995 in “The Gospel of Life” about the developing “culture of death.” He was prophetic.

As wars have broken out in the Holy Land, in Africa, and with the invasion of Ukraine, we are witnessing the culture of death at work in our world. Now there have been shootings during Mass at a Catholic school in Minnesota, an attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and so many more that it almost seems “normal.”

Such thoughts have been on my mind as we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. God’s response to human violence was to give Himself for us on the cross, for “God so loved the world….” I believe we are all being invited to do an examination of conscience and to a conversion from a culture of death.

There are great organizations like the bipartisan SaferTn.org that are advocating for concrete ways to address gun violence here in Tennessee.

Following the events of 9/11, our nation acted in meaningful ways to prevent another such attack. I pray that we as a country will take meaningful action to address the violence in our culture, in the ways we communicate with each other, and in our minds and hearts. We don’t have to live this way.