(NewsNation) — The archbishop of St. Paul and Minnesota is wading into the emotional and politically charged discussion about the power of prayer after deadly mass shootings.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s diocese includes Annunciation Church and School, where a shooter fired into an audience of children attending an Aug. 27 back-to-school service. Two children were killed, and 18 others, mostly students, were injured before the shooter died by suicide.
The latest tragedy spurred another debate about the phrase “thoughts and prayers,” which critics say is a smokescreen used by gun-rights advocates to delay potential movement on gun control. When its usage came under fire last week, Vice President JD Vance and other conservatives pushed back, suggesting it was an attack on religion. Meanwhile, Pope Leo on Sunday referenced the Minneapolis shooting and called for an end to “the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”
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Archbishop Hebda, joining “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday, expressed support for prayer as a way for communities to heal. But he added prayer should be coupled with action. He said that could mean coming together “to work with our officials, to work with our legislators, to see how it is that we might be able to diminish that pandemic of arms.”
“What are the vaccines that are going to help us so that other families don’t have to experience … what’s being experienced at Annunciation in Minneapolis?” he said.
The archbishop did not elaborate.
Minneapolis archbishop on keeping faith after shooting
Asked how he keeps faith these days, Hebda said he’s buoyed by the good examples of humanity he sees around him. Hebda said he recently spoke with one of the shooting victims about her trip to the hospital.
“She talked about how she was sharing the ambulance with another student and how they held each other’s hand and how they prayed the ‘Our Father’ as they were taken to the hospital. She spoke about the tenderness of neighbors who were rushing in to help her.
“All of those things tell me that, even in the midst of such darkness, that God is really present and that we have to help each other to see God’s love and to experience God’s love.”
