From Fr. Michael Horvath – August 28, 2025
A Response to the Shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis

Dear Friends in Christ,

News reached us this week of yet another school shooting, this time in Minneapolis, where two precious young lives were taken, and 18 others were injured at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Every time we hear of such violence, our hearts break anew. For many, especially those who are parents and grandparents, the thought of children being harmed in what should be a place of safety and learning touches us in the deepest places of our souls. Many of you have mentioned to me that you picture the faces of your own children or grandchildren, and the grief becomes even more personal. Amid tragedies like this, some voices in our wider culture say that “thoughts and prayers” are useless. I understand the frustration that gives rise to those words. Too often, prayer is used to sound compassionate without any real willingness to act.

Yet as Christians, we cannot and must not abandon prayer. Prayer is not useless. It connects us to God’s heart, aligns us with Christ’s compassion, and sustains us when the weight of sorrow is too much to bear. Prayer gives us the courage to keep hoping when despair presses in. At the same time, prayer is never the end of our calling. Jesus teaches us that prayer is always joined to action, that the love we lift up in prayer is the same love we are meant to live out in the world. To pray “thy kingdom come” is also to ask God to use our hands, our voices, our lives to make that kingdom more visible here and now.

So we pray – for the families who are grieving, for the children who are afraid, for the teachers and staff who must carry the burden of trauma. And we also ask: what can we do? How can we, as people of faith and as citizens, work toward a society where children are safe in their schools? What conversations need to happen in our communities, in our legislatures, and even around our dinner tables, so that tragedies like this do not continue to unfold?

Some of us may feel small and powerless in the face of such a large problem. But parents and grandparents know something about persistence. You have watched generations grow, you know the power of patient love, and you know that small acts can ripple outward in ways that change the world. Whether by writing to an elected official, supporting organizations that work for peace and safety, mentoring a young person, or simply refusing to grow numb to violence, each of us can be part of God’s answer to the prayers we lift up.

This Sunday, when we gather at the Lord’s Table, we will again lift our prayers together. We will commend the children of Minneapolis into God’s eternal care, and we will pray for the courage to be Christ’s hands and feet in this broken world. May our prayers not end when we say “Amen.” May they continue to live through us in ways that bring healing, hope, and peace.

With love in Christ,