Catholic Bishop Issues Statement Following Terrible Tragedy
The massacre at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis has shaken the nation — two children dead, 18 others wounded during morning Mass — and yet, instead of offering solidarity with grieving families, Mayor Jacob Frey and his allies chose the moment to sneer at prayer itself.
Frey’s words landed with cruelty. “Don’t say this is about thoughts and prayers right now — these kids were literally praying!” he declared, almost echoing the very hatred of the gunman who scrawled anti-God messages on his weapons before opening fire on the worshipping children. Former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki joined the chorus, blasting out on X: “Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings… Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”
Friends, this morning there was a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Parish in Minneapolis. Please join me in praying for all those who were injured or lost their lives—along with their families. Let us also pray for the students, faculty, and entire parish community.
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) August 27, 2025
This is the coldness of modern politics — mocking the faithful even at the graveside.
Bishop Robert Barron, however, refused to let such contempt go unchallenged. His rebuttal to Frey was both theologically rich and profoundly human. “Catholics don’t think that prayer magically protects them from all suffering,” Barron reminded. “After all, Jesus prayed fervently from the cross on which he was dying.” In that single statement, Barron dismantled the cheap caricature of prayer as little more than wishful thinking.
Prayer, he explained, is not a substitute for action but the wellspring of it. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of deep prayer, yet he led a social revolution. Prayer and action are not enemies — they are companions. And in times of unbearable loss, lifting minds and hearts to God is not weakness; it is the only way many families endure.
Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron just delivered a scathing rebuke to figures from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to MSNBC's Jen Psaki, who seemed to dismiss prayers after the recent shooting: "Catholics don’t think that prayer magically protects them from all suffering. After all,…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 29, 2025
Barron also called the shooting what it was: anti-Catholic violence. He pointed out that violent attacks on churches in America have surged 700 percent in just seven years. Christians today are the most persecuted religious group in the world. If the same attack had happened in a synagogue or mosque, no one would hesitate to label it hatred. Why, then, the reluctance when Catholics are slaughtered during Mass?
The bishop went further still, calling the slain children martyrs. Their deaths, he said, bear witness to faith even in its darkest hour — a faith that does not deny suffering but insists God is present within it. “We cannot always understand why God permits evil,” Barron said, “but we know for sure that he accompanies us in our suffering.”
Compare that message to Frey’s derision, or Psaki’s bitterness. One offers hope in the face of evil. The other reduces tragedy to a talking point in the endless campaign against the Second Amendment.