JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CNS) -- Sacred Heart Catholic School in Jersey City reopened Dec. 12, with a heavy police presence outside, two days after deadly gun battle took place at a kosher supermarket across the street from the school.

As someone who — thanks to his mother’s birth in Scotland and her emigration to Canada — enjoys both British and Canadian citizenship, never have I felt more of a “resident alien” living in the United States than when it comes to the issue of guns and the so-called right to bear arms which gets invoked after every atrocity, such as the Aug. 31 shootings that left seven dead in Odessa, Texas.

Over the Labour Day weekend, there sure were a lot of U.S. politicians conveying their “thoughts and prayers” for the victims and their families of the latest mass shooting, but no visible action on doing anything about the American gun epidemic.

WASHINGTON -- In this American age of violence, where 165 shootings happened this year alone, where politicians scream at each other across the aisle about gun laws and Second Amendment rights without even the common ground of mutual respect, religious leaders, scholars and TV personalities alike notice a more insidious problem with American culture.

PARKLAND, Fla. – One day before the anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, neighboring Mary Help of Christians School held a prayer service to pay tribute to the victims.

SAO PAOLO – A gunman opened fire inside a Brazilian church, killing four people and injuring four others before turning the gun on himself, police said.

HIGH RIDGE, Mo. – Music played a big part in a Mass of remembrance for Jamie Schmidt Nov. 20 at St. Anthony of Padua Church in High Ridge, which was fitting because it had played a big part in her contribution as a soprano in the parish choir and because words of the songs were consoling.

CHICAGO – A gunman opened fire at a Chicago Catholic hospital Nov. 19, setting off a frantic scene that ended with three victims killed and the assailant dead, police said.

In a fine interview following the recent synagogue killings in Pittsburgh, Ottawa’s Rabbi Reuven Bulka offered wisdom that went far beyond the specific act of terrible bloodshed. 

LOS ANGELES – After a shooting spree late Nov. 7 at a country-music bar in Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles from the heart of Los Angeles, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles asked people to "pray hard" for the victims and their families.

Beyond the competition, football is about brotherhood for the St. Matthew’s Tigers. 

Starlight, star bright

Re: Forgiveness is the greatest miracle (July 22-29):

Fr. Rolheiser states that “the miracle” of a starlit night sky “goes mostly unnoticed; we watch television instead.”

Deeper reasons for this may be involved. Humans spill so much light into the sky that few of our present generation have ever experienced what the natural night sky looks like. Most of the lighting industry displays a stunning indifference to this issue. And the amount of  “light-pollution” continues to increase by about six per cent annually in most places.

Sleeping in insufficient darkness suppresses our immune systems. Artificial light disrupts the life-cycles of insects, birds, amphibians and other animals. Many people think responsibility for our environment is a religious issue and light-pollution is certainly included in this. Does your porchlight shine upward?

James LaFramboise,

Thornhill, Ont.

Memorials continue to grow as Cardinal Thomas Collins asks for prayers for the victims of a shooting spree on Toronto's Danforth Ave. on July 22 that claimed three lives, including a 10-year-old girl.

This column started about all the gun violence in Toronto this summer, but then it changed. For some reason, thoughts moved from hatred and death that guns bring to unconditional love and affection that family pets offer.

BALTIMORE – While Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore offered prayers and support for the families and loved ones of five people murdered June 28 at the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, a former longtime sports editor for the newspaper mourned his friends as exceptional journalists who also were good human beings.