Guns

At the start of their meeting Nov. 11, the bishops raised pressing issues that included the priesthood shortage, gun violence and the need to provide support services for pregnant women.

When local Catholic leaders Sept. 23 welcomed a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, including lay ministers who tend to migrants in various parts of the U.S., they proudly spoke of the "DNA" of the El Paso community, one that doesn't treat those who aren't from the area as

“We need to help our society to see our common humanity—that we are all children of God, meant to live together as brothers and sisters.”

God will not intervene to end the crisis of gun violence without our help, writes Bishop Edward K. Braxton, who offers steps for the faithful to listen, learn, think, pray and act.

I think of mentors and helpers, men and women of kindness and compassion, heroes who listen to their better angels, as triggers for good.

The ongoing violence itself is shocking and depressing, but another grim facet of the American plague of mass shootings is the way we have become inured to it, the Editors write.