As thousands of students in the U.S. staged a National Walkout Against Gun Violence last Wednesday, March 14, and called for better gun control from lawmakers, some students from Christian and Catholic schools held a different protest by praying for the victims and their families.
Students at the Greenbrier Christian Academy in Virginia joined thousands of participants across the United States who walked out of their class at 10:00 a.m. Their community director supported the move and set up 17 empty chairs at a makeshift memorial in the school grounds to remember the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 Parkland High School shooting in Florida.
The teenagers did not, however, stage a political protest, unlike other students who staged a walkout. Instead, the kids from Greenbrier Christian Academy decided to pray for the victims. The students also asked for God's mercy to heal the United States.
"I think that prayer is part of the heart, and I think that there's a time to mourn and to take time out of your day to respect the families," a senior student, Jessica Ferebee, expressed via CBN. "But I also believe that faith without works is dead. There also needs to be something done to put the prayers into action," Ferebee went on to say.
Students at the Highland Catholic middle school, on the other hand, joined the walkout with their teachers and parents. The group marched to St. Paul in Minneapolis and stood in silence for 17 minutes in front of the church's steps. Some held up signs bearing the names of the victims.
A similar prayer event also took place at the Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, Missouri. High school students walked to the Our Lady of Peace grotto and held a short service with Fr. DePorres Durham.
The Providence Academy, also based in Minneapolis, held a symposium that day for the children to discuss gun violence. Benilde-St. Margaret students, on the other hand, passed out flyers containing details on the gun legislation and students at the San Miguel Cristo Rey wrote letters to their elected representatives after gathering for a prayer.
The Christian and Catholic school participants decided to change their protests from political to spiritual to promote unity and solidarity under God's guidance. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, in the past, been asking leaders to end partisanship in deciding on better gun control laws for the sake of the students and teachers.
