Turning Point USA
Dolan: Charlie Kirk was ‘a modern-day St. Paul’ who wasn’t ‘afraid’ to say Jesus’ name
The cardinal believes the tragedy could inspire a renewed interest in faith among young people, a trend he says has already been growing.
“What they’re seeing is almost this kind of revival of a sense of value and truth and conviction, almost an elevation of the role of faith back into the public square where our founders intended it to be from the beginning,” Dolan said.
“They’re almost saying this overwhelming sense of appreciation for Charlie and the great solidarity that we’re sensing is itself an answer to prayers.”
I’m old enough to remember when it was possible to speak respectfully with those with whom we disagreed,” Cardinal Dolan wrote.
“Isn’t our overheated rhetoric, our automatic, knee-jerk reaction to, at a minimum, verbally attack anyone who has a different opinion, another point of view, at least partially, if not largely to blame?” he asked, for driving the kind of violence taking place in the country right now, like that which took Kirk’s life.
The previous week was “emotionally difficult for so many of us,” he said, with the “somber” anniversary of 9/11 and Kirk’s killing the day before, “another act of senseless violence” that “left a young wife and two small children without a husband and a father.”
“We recoiled at the images of this young man being fatally struck by a bullet from a high-powered rifle,” the cardinal said. “Sadly, these attacks seem to be happening more frequently. The two assassination attempts on President (Donald) Trump as he campaigned for office last summer, the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the attempted murders of Steve Scalise and Gabby Giffords, and, let’s not forget, the terrible school shootings in Minnesota, Colorado, and elsewhere. The list goes on.”
Among factors “driving this bitter hatred, this paroxysm of outrage and retribution” and contributing “to this climate of hatred and acrimony,” he said, “is the online echo chamber that many people now inhabit. … A great many, I fear, are consuming videos and posts that reinforce and deepen the idea that ‘the other guy’ is evil, a threat, something that must be destroyed.”
Most people “don’t respond with physical violence,” he said, “even those who consume such media,” but the question must be asked, “Does it engender violence in our hearts, minds, and souls?”
“What’s the solution? Is there a solution?” he asked. “‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘for they will be called children of God.’ How do we make peace?”