GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MINISTRY
JUSTICE, PEACE, AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION (JPIC)
If you would like to join our Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) efforts to address gun violence in our parish or the Durham community, please contact:
GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MINISTRY PARISHIONER LEADER
Theresa Hoke |
DIRECTOR OF JUSTICE, PEACE, AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION (JPIC)
Ken Chiha |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. General Gun Violence Information/Statistics
II. Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy
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IV. Select Catholic Resources and Statements on Gun Violence Prevention
V. Previous Gun Violence Prevention Advocacy/Legislation |
GENERAL GUN VIOLENCE INFORMATION/STATISTICS
The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun weekly report of homicides to monitor gun violence trends in the community.
GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION ADVOCACY
LOCAL/REGIONAL ADVOCACY IN DURHAM AND NC
In addition to our Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Promoting Human Dignity (PHD) Gun Violence Prevention Ministry Team's efforts in our parish and work with Durham CAN, I have listed below some local/regional advocacy events/resources that also support this work.
Join the Kenan Institute for Ethics and host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with Jonathan Metzl on why so many Americans support policies that harm them. An acclaimed physician and professor of psychiatry and sociology, Jonathan Metzl is one of the United States’ most important critics on health and violence.
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His work illuminates the social ills that undergird some of our nation’s most pressing health crises, including mental health, racism, and gun violence. He pushes us to question what true health means, why so many have worked against it, and how we might work together to promote it — for everyone. For more information, please click on the picture link.
ADDITIONAL NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTIAN CHURCH WEBSITES HELPING TO ADDRESS GUN VIOLENCE
SELECT CATHOLIC RESOURCES/STATEMENTS ON GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION
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- Letter in Support of the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act (April 08, 2013). Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice.
- “Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence: Protecting Our Communities While Respecting the Second Amendment.” Testimony of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops before Senate Committee on the Judiciary (February 12, 2013)
- Confronting a Culture of Violence: A Catholic Framework for Action (A Pastoral Message of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1994)
CATHOLIC BISHOPS CALL FOR DECISIVE LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON GUN VIOLENCE
On June 27th, eight bishops of the Province of Atlanta, including our own Bishop Luis Zarama of Raleigh and Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, O.F.M. Conv. of Atlanta, signed a joint statement at the Cathedral of Christ the King urging “decisive action” on legislation to curb “plague of gun violence” nationwide and locally.
As of June 30, 2023, this year alone, the Gun Violence Archive, which draws data from law enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies, has reported 21,511 deaths from gun violence, including 338 mass shootings, 12,078 suicides, and the deaths of more than 902 children and teens (ages 17 and under) killed by gun violence. |
Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) stands united with the bishops and the entire Catholic Church in its efforts within our parish, Durham CAN, and throughout our city to address the issue of Gun Violence. A full article from the "The Georgia Bulletin" is included below.
BISHOPS OF ATLANTA PROVINCE CALL FOR ‘DECISIVE ACTION’ ON GUN SAFETY, MENTAL HEALTH LEGISLATION
By NICHOLE GOLDEN, Editor - The Georgia Bulletin | Published June 27, 2023
ATLANTA—Sitting in front of a replica of Michelangelo’s Pietà—the sculpture of Mary holding her crucified son—the bishops of the Atlanta Province signed a joint statement June 27 urging “decisive action” on legislation to curb gun violence.
The Bishops of the Province of Atlanta gathered at the Cathedral of Christ the King following the noon Mass. Each of the eight bishops attending signed the letter. The Atlanta Province includes the Diocese of Savannah, the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina and the Dioceses of Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina.
In the statement, the bishops called on federal and state officials within the province to implement meaningful legislation addressing the “plague of gun violence” nationwide and locally. “As legislators, you are in a unique position to support and promote public policy that will save lives,” they wrote.
The Gun Violence Archive, which draws data from law enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies, has reported more than 200 mass shootings, 9,000 suicides and the deaths of more than 700 children and teens by gun violence in the first half of 2023.
During his homily, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., spoke about the symbolism of the Book of the Gospels held over a bishop’s head during a rite of ordination. It represents the principal task of proclaiming and living the Gospel.
The Gun Violence Archive, which draws data from law enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies, has reported more than 200 mass shootings, 9,000 suicides and the deaths of more than 700 children and teens by gun violence in the first half of 2023.
During his homily, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., spoke about the symbolism of the Book of the Gospels held over a bishop’s head during a rite of ordination. It represents the principal task of proclaiming and living the Gospel.
“It means that the bishop must be especially attentive to the needs of his people and their concerns,” said the archbishop. “One of those concerns that keeps surfacing in our city and in our country is gun violence.” He said while the bishops do not deny the right to defend oneself, the vulnerable must be protected.
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“As bishops, we would be failing in our ordination promises, if we were to remain silent on an issue that has caused so much pain and sadness,” he said. “As the great statesman Edmund Burke declared: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’”
The archbishop affirmed that “our dignity lives in the fact that every person is made in the image and likeness of God.”
“We are a people of life, and we must proclaim the Gospel of Life, whether it is convenient or inconvenient,” he said referencing St. Paul’s exhortation to Timothy from the first Scripture reading of the Mass.
The eight bishops signing the statement were Archbishop Hartmayer, Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, of Charleston, Bishop Luis Zarama of Raleigh, Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah, Bishop Emeritus John Kevin Boland of Savannah, and Atlanta’s auxiliaries, Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM; Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III and Bishop John N. Tran. Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte was unable to attend the meeting.
The archbishop affirmed that “our dignity lives in the fact that every person is made in the image and likeness of God.”
“We are a people of life, and we must proclaim the Gospel of Life, whether it is convenient or inconvenient,” he said referencing St. Paul’s exhortation to Timothy from the first Scripture reading of the Mass.
The eight bishops signing the statement were Archbishop Hartmayer, Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, of Charleston, Bishop Luis Zarama of Raleigh, Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah, Bishop Emeritus John Kevin Boland of Savannah, and Atlanta’s auxiliaries, Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM; Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III and Bishop John N. Tran. Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte was unable to attend the meeting.
After each bishop signed the document, Archbishop Hartmayer thanked parishioners who stayed to listen to its reading, asking them to “continue to pray for increased legislation to safeguard our children, our citizens and those who are visiting the United States.”
He urged all to “contact your elected officials to support those actions that would be necessary to cease the violence, the senseless violence, the killing of our people.”
He urged all to “contact your elected officials to support those actions that would be necessary to cease the violence, the senseless violence, the killing of our people.”
BISHOP FRANK J. DEWANE OF VENICE, FLORIDA, CHAIRMAN OF THE USCCB'S COMMITTEE ON DOMESTIC JUSTICE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, URGES TRUE DEBATE ON GUN VIOLENCE
WASHINGTON (November 07, 2017) — In the aftermath of the recent and horrific attacks in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, Chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, urged national leaders to engage in a true debate about solutions to gun violence.
The full statement follows:
"For many years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been urging our leaders to explore and adopt reasonable policies to help curb gun violence. The recent and shocking events in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs remind us of how much damage can be caused when weapons—particularly weapons designed to inflict extreme levels of bloodshed—too easily find their way into the hands of those who would wish to use them to harm others.
Violence in our society will not be solved by a single piece of legislation, and many factors contribute to what we see going on all around us. Even so, our leaders must engage in a real debate about needed measures to save lives and make our communities safer. The USCCB continues to urge a total ban on assault weapons, which we supported when the ban passed in 1994 and when Congress failed to renew it in 2004.
In addition, the bishops have supported:
While acknowledging the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and related jurisprudence, we live in a fallen world with daily advances in modern technology. Some weapons are increasingly capable of easily causing mass murder when used with an evil purpose. Society must recognize that the common good requires reasonable steps to limit access to such firearms by those who would intend to use them in that way."
The full statement follows:
"For many years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been urging our leaders to explore and adopt reasonable policies to help curb gun violence. The recent and shocking events in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs remind us of how much damage can be caused when weapons—particularly weapons designed to inflict extreme levels of bloodshed—too easily find their way into the hands of those who would wish to use them to harm others.
Violence in our society will not be solved by a single piece of legislation, and many factors contribute to what we see going on all around us. Even so, our leaders must engage in a real debate about needed measures to save lives and make our communities safer. The USCCB continues to urge a total ban on assault weapons, which we supported when the ban passed in 1994 and when Congress failed to renew it in 2004.
In addition, the bishops have supported:
- Measures that control the sale and use of firearms, such as universal background checks for all gun purchases;
- Limitations on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines;
- A federal law to criminalize gun trafficking;
- Improved access to mental health care for those who may be prone to violence;
- Regulations and limitations on the purchasing of handguns; and
- Measures that make guns safer, such as locks that prevent children and anyone other than the owner from using the gun without permission and supervision.
While acknowledging the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and related jurisprudence, we live in a fallen world with daily advances in modern technology. Some weapons are increasingly capable of easily causing mass murder when used with an evil purpose. Society must recognize that the common good requires reasonable steps to limit access to such firearms by those who would intend to use them in that way."
GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS PRAYER VIGIL
FRANCISCAN ACTION NETWORK (FAN)
The video is courtesy of Franciscan Action Network (FAN). A new collaborative group of women religious, “Nuns Against Gun Violence,” coordinated candlelight vigils across the country for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Please click on the image below to access the link which includes materials from their Gun Violence Prayer Service.
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PREVIOUS GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION ADVOCACY/LEGISLATION
ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
Mass shootings are a painful reality in our country. No group or place seems exempt: Children and churchgoers, grocery stores and nightclubs alike are affected. But one thing that Is common is the weapon of choice used to commit the violence. It is almost always an assault weapon.
In union with the Catholic Church and Immaculate Conception's JPIC's continuing efforts to address the issue of gun violence, we are asking our parishioners to please call their Senators to encourage them to vote in favor of S736, an assault weapons ban, which made it through the US House of Representatives (the first time in almost 30 years). This legislation will criminalize the knowing sale, manufacture, transfer, possession, or importation of many types of semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices. In other words, it will take weapons of war off our streets. |
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With increased momentum due to the House passage of the bill, there is a real chance to pass this legislation. We have not been this close to a nationwide assault weapon ban in decades, and we must keep up the pressure. Our Senators need to hear from their constituents that this is really something that will save lives. After the assault weapons ban of 1994, which lasted 10 years, we saw that there can be a 70% decrease in mortality from mass shootings when such legislation is in place.
Please, if you are in favor, you can contact your Senators directly using this link or
https://www.senate.gov/states/NC/intro.htm
https://www.senate.gov/states/NC/intro.htm
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If you have questions regarding our various JPIC ministries, please contact me directly.
Kennith M. Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - 901-A West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 682-3449 Ext. 293 - chihak@icdurham.org
If you have questions regarding our various JPIC ministries, please contact me directly.
Kennith M. Chiha, Director of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - 901-A West Chapel Hill Street, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 682-3449 Ext. 293 - chihak@icdurham.org