The horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis has left Catholics—and all people of goodwill—reeling. A community gathered for morning Mass became the target of unimaginable violence when Robin Westman, a self-identified transgender man, opened fire, killing two young children and injuring more than a dozen others.
Details emerging paint a chilling picture. Before the massacre, Westman reportedly uploaded a manifesto video filled with scribbled notes, drawings of churches, and grotesque slogans scrawled onto ammunition: “Where is your God,” “For the Children,” and most shockingly, “Kill Donald Trump.” The killer entered a Catholic parish, a house of prayer filled with innocent children, and brought war to the altar.
If this had been a man who scrawled “Allahu Akbar” or “Black Lives Matter” on bullets before slaughtering children, the media would be running wall-to-wall coverage about ideology, hate crimes, and radicalization. Instead, the shooter’s transgender identity is downplayed or ignored, and the anti-Christian animus is treated as incidental. It is not.
This was an act of hatred against both faith and life itself. Westman targeted a Catholic school during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—the heart of our faith, where Christ is truly present. He attacked children—God’s most precious gift. And his writings reveal disdain not only for religion, but also for political leaders and the very fabric of society.
Catholics should recognize this for what it is: part of a growing pattern. Churches are vandalized, tabernacles desecrated, pro-life pregnancy centers firebombed, and faithful believers are mocked and criminalized for living out God’s law. When gender ideology tells people they can re-make themselves in defiance of the Creator, when culture mocks Christ and the cross, is it any wonder that some souls descend into darkness?
President Trump rightly ordered flags to half-staff, honoring the innocent lives lost. Minnesota’s governor expressed heartbreak. But words alone will not protect the faithful. Catholics must demand that anti-Christian hate be treated with the same seriousness as any other form of bigotry. And we must never allow our churches, schools, or families to become easy targets.
Above all, we respond as Catholics always have—with truth, with courage, and with faith. We grieve, we bury our dead, and we hold fast to the promise that evil will not have the last word. The blood of martyrs, even tiny martyrs, waters the Church.
Make no mistake, we are in a war. A spiritual battle against unseen cosmic forces who wish to see our souls destroyed as a means of striking at our Creator, the God of the universe. Pretending there isn’t more to this than flesh and blood is part of the reason we continue to see persecution against the Church.
However, we are called to be warriors for Christ and to resist and fight back against evil. We use spiritual weapons. Truth, contained in the Word of God, which is more than the Bible, but also includes the Church’s infallible teachings and traditions. Love is our greatest weapon. We love our enemies. Adding to the tragedy of this shooting is the death of the shooter.
We as Catholics avoid making full proclamations of who is and isn’t in Heaven, but that doesn’t mean we can’t see the writing on the wall. This young man was deeply twisted and suffered from spiritual and mental sickness. Due to his death, the Church no longer has an opportunity to shower him with the love of Christ, preach the gospel, and try to provide him with the help he needed. It’s tragic and should leave our hearts just as shattered as the deaths of the innocent.
And before we can address the issues with folks who have gender dysphoria, we need to be examining our own lives, confessing our sins, and walking in holiness. The war starts within ourselves. We must put to death our sins, walk in the grace God provides in the Eucharist and other sacraments, and draw close to the Blessed Mother. Then, the outreach we provide for troubled souls will be all the more effective.
This massacre is a wake-up call. The culture war is not theoretical—it has entered our sanctuaries. Now is the time for Catholics to kneel before Christ Crucified, pick up the spiritual weapons of prayer and fasting, and stand ready to defend life, faith, and family against the hatred of this world.
Source: LifeSiteNews
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