WHEELING, W.Va. — As a second mass shooting in four days occurred in the United States on Tuesday night, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Bishop Mark Brennan says actions are needed more than ever to curb gun violence.
Appearing on Wednesday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline,’ Brennan urged citizens to think about what is going on with guns and how to move forward.
“We have to wake up and say are we going to accept responsibility for changing the culture, the way we live together in this country so we can diminish all of these massacres of people,” the bishop said.
“Look at the lives of the people that have been lost, look at the grieving families. Sympathize with them. But do more than offer pious words. Prayers are always good and on the other hand, actions also have to follow.”
On Nov. 19, five people were killed and 17 wounded at a Colorado Springs, Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooting. On Tuesday night, seven people were killed, including the gunman, at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia.
On Tuesday afternoon, Brennan released a statement on the Colorado Springs shooting, advocating for actions on guns.
The statement began, “Another mass shooting occurred late Saturday night at a nightclub for members of the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our faith teaches us to do good to our neighbor, not harm, and explicitly forbids us to kill our neighbor. We do not have to agree with the lifestyle, political views, religious beliefs, or immigration status of our neighbor, but we must respect his or her bodily integrity and take measures to ensure that others respect it as well.
“While on November 19 it was members of the LGBTQ+ community who were attacked (as in the Pulse Club massacre in Orlando, Florida), Jews, Christians, Moslems, African Americans, Latinos, students at school, people shopping and music lovers going to concerts have also been the target of hate-filled murderers. This is not the America I grew up in, when such violence was rare, with the exception of violence toward African Americans. When is it going to stop?…”
Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, and a member of the diocese, did not agree with the bishop’s statement. He told MetroNews the letter looks like it was ‘written for children’ with ‘simpleton language.’
“His letter is radical, left-wing political ideology, sprinkled with religious language,” McGeehan said.
The delegate also said he could not believe the bishop making a statement in the letter and on ‘Talkline’ that pious words are not enough.
“The bishop openly writes in his letter that pious words have lost all credibility. Please tell me he didn’t really mean that. Does the bishop no longer believe in the sacred value of prayer,” McGeehan asked.
Brennan went on in the Tuesday statement to say that the proliferation of guns is a strong contributing factor to the surge of violence in our communities.
He said, “We can speak all day about the right to own a gun, but rights must be balanced with responsibilities. We have a duty not only to defend individual rights but also to promote the common good. The pendulum has swung too far to the side of individual rights. It is time to take effective steps to curb the plague of gun violence.”
Mark Brennan, Wheeling-Charleston Bishop, joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss gun violence, and how we can further address this issue. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nm85Y pic.twitter.com/8m4w3Uu1Wx
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) November 23, 2022
Brennan pushed for criminal and mental health background checks in the statement. On ‘Talkline,’ Brennan spoke on the idea of having a center to store guns in towns. He said when someone would want to go hunting, a person could have a key and go pick it up. He even said that the NRA could build and staff those buildings.
“We say we don’t have to exaggerate our right to possess a gun, we have to be in favor of the common good, protecting one another and diminishing the availability of guns so these massacres don’t occur,” Brennan said.
McGeehan responded to the bishop’s idea of a gun center, “Not even the most left-wing, progressive states have laws that established a centralized depository for gun confiscation for the state.”
Brennan finished his statement by tying it to the Catholic faith, “the Lord Jesus, who died a violent death for our sake. He will ask us: did you love your neighbor as yourself? Did you do to others what you would have them do to you? Did you care more for the safety and welfare of your brothers and sisters than for an individual right enshrined in a political constitution? What answer will we give to him? I urge you to think and pray about this matter. May the Lord of life bless you and your family.”