Children lost at prayer, now hope must join with action

This week, in parochial and Christian schools across Chicago and the suburbs, schoolchildren filed into pews with their classmates to observe church services ahead of the school day. Afterward, they returned to class as usual. Two of their peers up north did not. Two children — 8 and 10 years old — died Wednesday celebrating Mass.

They were killed in Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis when a gunman shot through the windows of the church, which was filled with parents, teachers and students celebrating Annunciation Catholic School’s return to the classroom. Seventeen others were injured, according to the Tribune News Service.

As we write, we don’t yet know their names. What we do know is we wish they’d been able to walk right back to school after church ended. We wish this was just another normal day for their families.

Police are calling this a deliberate act of violence. We can’t help but remember something the folks from the American Jewish Committee said when they visited us earlier this year. “If they come for us on Saturday, they’ll come for you on Sunday.”

The point is that targeted violence, once emboldened, engenders a bigger target, one that encompasses not just one group but others. It was a prescient statement to make back in February.

Here we are in August, mourning two dead children, facing another horrific attack and not the first to take place in a house of worship. We’re looking for leadership and for hope.

The timing and setting of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s statement was unhelpful, even if it was fueled by grief and righteous anger.

“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” he said Wednesday after the shooting. “These kids were literally praying. ... They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance.”

The mayor’s dismissal of prayer didn’t provide the right tone for the grieving and shocked families. These are Catholics whose children were at Mass when the shooter opened fire. No doubt many of them are relying on prayer for comfort and understanding and don’t need their city’s mayor belittling how the faithful talk to God — even if his words amounted to a talking point frequently used by the supporters of gun controls.

Of course, he’s right on his main point: We do not want to live in a world where children are afraid to go to school and their parents fear to send them. He’s also right that action must follow this tragedy.

Even as we await the details on how the killer came to possess multiple firearms, this board will reiterate its call, made more than once, for sensible gun controls.

Our hearts go out to the greater Minneapolis community, which is enduring more than its share of horrors this year. The Twin Cities are reeling not only from this attack on Annunciation but also from recent political assassinations. Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in their home by a gunman on June 14.

As tempting as they are, knee-jerk reactions in moments like these don’t make for good policy. Thoughtful responses do.

It is striking that in Chicago, we’ve been consumed by a vociferous back-and-forth over crime and President Donald Trump’s performative call for federal intervention. Meanwhile, not very far away, two little kids just got shot to death in church.

So, President Trump, how will you intervene to prevent future attacks against schoolchildren?

Not too long ago, we mourned the killings of schoolchildren at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. In March 2023, a former student murdered three children and three adults. The shooter arrived armed with multiple firearms and tactical gear. Police in April detailed a history of mental health concerns and parental interventions. This board called for a ban on assault-style rifles afterward.

The full report from Nashville on the 2023 school shooting and the perpetrator took two years. We do not know the Annunciation shooter’s history.

We cannot continue to tolerate a nation that does nothing in response to these random acts of violence, especially against young children.