Yesterday, I listened to a group of graduating students talk about their school experiences. They were sure about their participation in group activities that affirmed them including their life at Saint Peter’s. What happens to those students who are not lucky enough to find groups of people at school or church? I recall that one of the students talked about how important crying was. This person was silently supported by at least four others, not all of them from the same school. Tears release the tension caused by frustration, anger, disappointment, and inability to understand. Tears are not normally accepted in our society, especially for males. Yet there are times these students seemed to be saying when they are very important. I suspect that they were supported by at least one or two groups to provide the release of tension that was advised. I raise this issue because of the increasing student violence in our nation. The perpetrators appear to be students who have no groups to support them. They are isolated, loners who are filled with anger to point of rage and express a state of hopelessness; a great contrast from the students we heard on Mothers’ Day. The Bishop-Elect of Colorado said in an e-mail after the recent shootings in Colorado: “It is the call of the Church to be communities of hope…hope in Love and the gift of life. I pray that our communities of faith will have to courage to address not only the pain within their congregations, and also the communities outside their doors…” I share this hope and the hope that, with God’s grace, we will have the wisdom and strength to address the vulnerable both within and outside our community who need to know hope.
