On March 7, 2018 the Bishops of the Episcopal Church unanimously issued a statement calling for the church to observe a Day of Lament and Action on Wednesday, March 14 and to join with youth around the nation in the March for Our Lives on Saturday, March 24.
Here at All Saints on Wednesday, March 14 as students around the nation participate in the National School Walkout, our Noonday Eucharist will be offered with special intentions: prayers of lament at the scourge of gun violence that plagues our nation and prayers of thanksgiving for the leadership of our youth. 12:10 p.m. in the chapel at All Saints Church. Join us.
More details coming very shortly about opportunities to participate in the March 24th events: stay tuned and mark you calendars.
The full statement from the House of Bishops is posted below. And if you’d like to take a minute to send a quick email to our own Bishop Taylor and thank him for his leadership on this important issue, just click here: jtaylor@ladiocese.org
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“At this critical moment young people of the United States are inviting us to turn away from the nightmare of gun violence to the dream of choosing life. The young people of Parkland, Florida are calling for elected officials to:
• ban the sale of assault weapons
• prohibit the sale of high capacity magazines
• close loopholes in background checks
Others are seeking to:
• ban the sale of bump stocks
• raise the age to 21 years to purchase firearms
• challenge the National Rifle Association to support safe gun legislation.
We, the bishops of The Episcopal Church, wholeheartedly support and join with the youth in this call to action.
At the same time, we acknowledge that black and brown youth have continuously challenged the United States to address the gun violence that they and their communities are experiencing. We repent that, as bishops, we have failed to heed their call.
As bishops we commit to following the youth of the United States in their prophetic leadership.
To that end we will observe A Day of Lament and Action on March 14, one month to the day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
We pledge ourselves, and we invite our dioceses, to participate in the “March for Our Lives” on March 24 in Washington DC and in cities and towns across the United States.
We recognize the urgency of this moment and we recommit to working for safe gun legislation as our church has called for in multiple General Convention resolutions (https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_topic_search.pl?topic=Gun+Control.) In addition, we pledge ourselves to bring the values of the gospel to bear on a society that increasingly glorifies violence and trivializes the sacredness of every human life.
We will walk with the youth of the United States today and into the future in choosing life.
