After two school shootings that occurred outside the State in 2022 and 2023 shocked the United States, the bishops of Minnesota begged state legislators to provide security funds for non -public local schools.
Now, two years after their orders were ignored, the tragedy hit one of his.
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On the morning of August 27, an armed man opened fire during a mass at the Catholic School Annunciation in Minneapolis, killing two students, 10 and 8 years old; Another 14 students and three adults were injured.
The tragedy occurs after the Catholic Conference of Minnesota (MCC), the voice of the six dioceses of the State, requested in 2022 and 2023 to state officials that extended funds for security improvements and training improvements in emergency response to non -public schools.
Orders, presented after the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and in the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, argued that students of Catholic schools and other non -public ones should receive the same level of protection as their pairs in public schools.
“We need to ensure that all our schools have the resources to respond and prevent these attacks from occurring in our schools,” wrote Jason Adkins, executive director of the MCC, in a carta of April 14, 2023 to Governor Tim Walz and Vice Governor Peggy Flanagan, both Democrats. The letter was also signed by Tim Benz, president of an organization of Independent Schools of Minnesota.
If the request of the MCC had been accepted, Catholic schools as an announcement could have used state funds for improvements such as safe entries to facilities or even hire school security officers.
But the requests of the bishops were rejected in both years, when the related bills were stuck in the state legislature, which resulted in the lack of additional funds for the safety of non -public schools. Meanwhile, during the 2023 legislative session, Minnesota enjoyed a historical surplus of 17.6 billion dollars.
After the shooting at the Annunciation School, the issue will surely be reviewed, including why legislators did not act before the request of the bishops.
In response to a request for comments, Walz’s office stressed that the governor “cares about the safety of students” and that “becomes a millions of financing for school safety.” However, the National Catholic Register – informative Socy of ACI Press – confirmed that none of the previously signed financing law applied to the safety of non -public schools.
“We are still committed to working with anyone who is willing to collaborate with us to stop armed violence and keep our students safe,” said a spokesman, noting that Walz gathers with the MCC regularly.
Meanwhile, Republican state senator Julia Coleman told the Register that the tragedy leads her to reflect on her “responsibility as an elected official.”
“There are no easy answers, but I know that our children – our most precious goods – must be protected,” said Coleman, who is Catholic. “Now is the time to make school safety financing a priority.”
In his first public statements after the shooting, the archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Mons. Bernard Hebda, begged prayers by those affected. He also asked for the end of armed violence.
“Our community is rightly outraged by such horrible acts of violence against vulnerable and innocent,” he wrote In a statement. “They are too common.”
Jason Adkins, executive director of the MCC, declined to make statements at this time.
Previous orders
The efforts of the Bishops of Minnesota to obtain school security funds occurred after state legislators approved in 2019 the legislation “Safe Schools”, which provided money for security improvements in public schools but not in non -public ones.
In 2022, after staging a bill to expand funds to non -public schools, Minnesota bishops urged Walz to convene a special session and approve an expansion of safe schools. The measure would have allocated $ 44 per student for security costs, regardless of their school affiliation.
“Although no legislation can stop the demonstration of evil, this legislation of safe schools is an important and common sense to establish a source of continuous financing for schools to increase security personnel, improve the safety of buildings and strengthen the programs for the prevention of violence and mental health initiatives,” wrote the Archbishop Hebda in a letter in May of 2022.
The version of the project in the Chamber was supported by several members of the Democratic-Agario-Laborist Party, the Minnesota affiliate of the National Democratic Party, which indicated bipartisan support. However, Walz did not summon a special session to approve the legislation.
The following year, the MCC urged Minnesota legislators to make non -public schools eligible for a 50 million dollars security subsidies included in the State Educational Financing Law.
The letter of 2023, co-filmed by the MCC, described “the exclusion of a school sector” of security funds as “a discriminatory act against our students.”
“An attack on any school, whether public, non -public, autonomous or other, cannot be tolerated or allowed in Minnesota,” said the signatories.
Meetings, but without funds
According to Adkins statements a The Daily Wirethe bishops of Minnesota had raised their concerns to Walz, exprofesor of public school, at a meeting.
“He expressed his conviction that people should feel safe in their schools and places of worship,” said Adkins. “But the game was not created.”
As governor, Walz exerts a significant influence on the budgetary process, even proposing the initial biennial budget with which legislators must work.
The Daily Wire’s article suggested that Walz focused that year on other priorities, such as ensuring the status of Minnesota as a “trans trans” state.
The support of the MCC to the safety of non -public schools in 2022 and 2023 is part of a broader effort to reduce armed violence. Bishops have also supported “red flag” orders, which temporarily restrict access to firearms to individuals who represent a risk to themselves or for others, and extensions of background verifications.
The Bishops of Minnesota did not adopt a public position on safety financing for Catholic schools in 2024 or 2025. Instead, efforts related to Catholic schools of the MCC in those years included opposing the exclusion of religious universities from postsecundaria registration programs and ensuring religious exemptions against the new legislation that included “gender identity” as a category protected under state law.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register.
Jonathan Liedl
Jonathan Liedl is a senior editor of the National Catholic Register. He has studied Political Science and Arab studies at the University of Notre Dame and has a master’s degree in Catholic studies from St. Thomas. He is currently completing a master’s degree in theology at the Saint Paul Seminary. He lives in the twin cities of Minnesota.