Religious leaders ponder safety at sanctuary in aftermath of massacre

Sutherland Springs, Texas. “You just thought there was some bastion of a safe haven when you talk about the church. And yet, we as a society have gotten to the place where there just is no more. We should have learned this when a number of little children were murdered in Sandy Hook” elementary school in Connecticut in December 2012.

Other religious leaders echoed the theme.

“It isn’t a matter of providing safety within churches, it’s a matter of providing safety everywhere, whether it’s a WalMart or a concert or a movie theater,” said Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Bishop David Zubik. The Texas shootings happened just a few weeks after a gunman killed 58 and wounded hundreds of others at a country music festival in Las Vegas.

He said so much of modern entertainment treats violence as entertainment and gunplay as a way to solve problems.

“We’ve got to do something as a culture to turn things around,” Bishop Zubik said. “We’ve got to look for a better way to address mental health issues. We’ve got to find ways to keep guns out of the hands of people who intend harm to other people.”

For many religious communities, this is not a new problem. Rev. Welch, an African-American, said the attack brings to mind the bombings and arson attacks on black churches since the civil rights era, and she said churches have had to consider security against possible retaliatory violence when holding funerals for young men killed in gang feuds.

She echoed Bishop Zubik’s call for a wider cultural discussion beyond church security.

“We’ve got to start talking about guns, we’ve got to talk about the NRA,” she said, referring to the National Rifle Association, which opposes gun control.

Some church attacks seem to erupt out of domestic violence, such as Sunday’s shootings not only in Texas but in a California church parking lot, where a jealous husband killed his estranged wife and her boyfriend after Mass.

Other attacks have been identified as hate crimes, such as the killings of six at a Quebec mosque in January, nine black church attendees in South Carolina in 2015 and six Sikh worshippers at a Wisconsin temple in 2012.

Bradley Orsini, director of Jewish community security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, regularly consults with synagogues and other institutions to develop plans and protocols for safety.

These include having training sessions, encouraging awareness and reporting of suspicious activity and using cameras, locks and other things to help reduce buildings’ vulnerability.

“Although we’ll always be open and welcoming, we’re developing a culture of security in the community,” he said.

The Rev. Liddy Barlow, executive minister for Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, a multi-denominational group, said news of the massacre hits home.

“I used to serve a small country church,” she said. “Sometimes there were 26 of us in the sanctuary. I’m picturing their faces in my mind as I mourn for the 26 killed [Sunday] in Texas. Sunday school kids. Elders carrying tattered, much-read Bibles. People seeking a moment of peace to strengthen them for another week.”

She said Christians need to pray for the victims and survivors, but “our prayers are only the first step. We can and must do what we can to prevent future mass shootings.”

These could include legislative solutions, such as calls by the group Cease Fire PA to improve background checks and the reporting of lost or stolen guns.

“There may be behavioral answers, such as working to end the domestic violence that often correlates with mass shootings,” she added. “We must continue to seek these answers; we must not allow ourselves to be resigned, numbed or paralyzed.”