As many children were killed by guns between 1979 and 1991 as there were casualties in the Vietnam War. Abortion has killed 30 million children since 1972. And this rage of violence continues to fill television programming. There are so many causes of violence ranging from the disintegration of family life to widespread substance abuse and easy access to guns. And then there is also the slower but no less deadly violence of poverty, discrimination, self-abuse etc.
Violence is rampant beyond our borders as well.
Daily we see our brothers and sisters being killed because of ethnic or economic or political conflict. In the midst of this culture of violence, the Catholic Church has a responsibility to speak. There is so much at stake. There are thousands of Catholic initiatives to deal with the problem of violence. In Boston, the Ten Point Coalition is an ecumenical group of clergy and lay leaders working to mobilize the Christian community around issues affecting African-American youth especially those at risk.