AMERICA/UNITED STATES - USA Bishops support Obama's line on measures to limit the spread of weapons

Thursday, 7 January 2016 bishops   politics   violence  

Washington (Agenzia Fides) - "Thank God there is someone who finally has the courage to fill the gaps in our shameful laws on gun control in order to reduce the number of massacres, murders and suicides that have become a plague in our country". This is how the Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas (Texas, USA), His Exc. Mgr. Kevin Joseph Farrell expressed himself in a post released on his blog Tuesday, January 5.
The Bishop described Obama's proposal as "moderate", and interpreted the vehement reaction of Congress in the light of the fact that "weapons were shamelessly sold to the lobby".
In his speech, Mgr. Farrell wanted to stress that it will banned to enter armed and show weapons in public places that depend on the same diocese, despite the recent provision in Texas now allows holders of weapons to take them with them and exhibit them in public.
"This choice", wrote Bishop Farrell "is founded in the belief that our churches, schools and other places of worship are destined to be sanctuaries - sacred places where people come to pray and participate in Church celebrations".
Over the years, the Bishops' Conference of the United States has intervened on a wide range of policies. Among other things, the US Bishops have expressed their opposition to gay marriage, have denounced human trafficking, have called for the abolition of the death penalty and urged Congress to change the policy on the phenomenon of immigration.
Back in 1994 the Bishops had published the document "Confronting a Culture of Violence", where they highlighted the appeal of a grandmother at the funeral of her grandson: "We hope that someone, somewhere, somehow, does something about the reasons that are bringing our children to killing each other". A document that was mentioned yesterday by His Exc. Mgr. Thomas G. Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, in a statement, released by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops after the words of President Obama on the need for measures to regulate the sale and dissemination of firearms.
"The US Bishops have asked for reasonable policies to help reduce violence with weapons for a long time",
says the document, which was sent to Agenzia Fides. Violence in our society is a complex problem, with many aspects, and takes many forms. Even if no measure is able to eliminate all acts of violence involving firearms, we welcome the efforts made to save lives and make communities safer. We hope that Congress will take this issue more seriously, considering all the various aspects it involves". In the US alone, more than 33,000 were killed by firearms in 2013. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 07/01/2016)


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