When the massacre at Mother Emmanuel AME church in Charleston took place, I was in the United States. I heard the news from another priest who, clearly devastated by the bloodshed in the house of God, added quickly thereafter a comment about the debate over gun control.
I was struck by how even such a great wickedness was seen so quickly through the prism of politics. And indeed, in the days after the massacre, the talk shifted to political debates over gun laws and the Confederate flag.
The pastor of Mother Emmanuel, Clementa Pickney, murdered in his own church while leading a Bible study, was also member of the South Carolina state senate, a pastor holding political office.
The next day I gave an interview to a Catholic television network about the new encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si'. The first question was about Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush's comment that, even though a Catholic, he did not look to the Church for guidance about environmental policies...
I was struck by how even such a great wickedness was seen so quickly through the prism of politics. And indeed, in the days after the massacre, the talk shifted to political debates over gun laws and the Confederate flag.
The pastor of Mother Emmanuel, Clementa Pickney, murdered in his own church while leading a Bible study, was also member of the South Carolina state senate, a pastor holding political office.
The next day I gave an interview to a Catholic television network about the new encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si'. The first question was about Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush's comment that, even though a Catholic, he did not look to the Church for guidance about environmental policies...
Read the full article at The B.C. Catholic Website.
