From the guns on our streets to the guns in our foreign policy to the guns that steal away our loved ones: In this special report U.S. Catholic looks at the many ways violence weaves in and out of American life.
Under the gun
The death toll climbs even as the shock subsides. Are we surrendering a generation to indifference? Megan Sweas walks Chicago's streets to track the impact of urban violence on America's children.
Plus:
Confronting Violence: A Special Report from U.S. Catholic (video)
Videos (courtesy of Free Spirit Media):
Will I be next?
In the Pocket
American idol
Freedom has become a fighting word in U.S. foreign policy making. But, in Expert Witness, Boston University historian Andrew Bacevich asks if we really understand-or want-the freedom we are killing and dying for.
Plus:
5 Questions with Andrew Bacevich
My life after death
It's every parent's worst nightmare. Kathleen O'Hara shares a mother's survival story after a life she brought into the world was taken away.
Peace trained
In In Person Patrick Corrigan tells Heather Grennan Gary how he was catapulted from a peaceful college green to peace negotiations with Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army.
Let's really go in peace
In Sounding Board Father John Dear, S.J. looks at the cultural complex of violence and our personal complicity in it. In Feedback readers wonder how to practice the peace we preach.
Signs of peace
It's a wide world of violence and strife, and Catholic peacemakers have their work cut out for them. Their efforts, Gerard F. Powers says, offer the hope of a future at peace, not going to pieces.
Related resources:
See more of Carlos Javier Ortiz' photographs from his "Too young to die" project.
Learn more about youth violence from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has also compiled Best Practices for preventing violence and resources at safeyouth.org
The U.S. bishops released this statement on crime and the church's response in 2000. Cardinal Francis George, president of the USCCB, has backed Ceasefire, a national model of violence prevention (search "ceasefire" to find other local branches).
Read the Chicago Sun-Times four-part series on violence and education.
For more information on common sense gun control, visit the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Groups referenced in Under the gun
Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary
St. Sabina Church
Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
Homeboy Industries (not in story, but this Jesuit-run gang violence prevention program in Los Angeles is one of the largest in the country)
Contact your diocese to find out about local efforts to mentor at-risk youth and prevent violence
More about Andrew Bacevich
Bacevich at Wikipedia
Boston University site
On Bill Moyer's Journal
Related resources for My life after death
Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation
Resources on Christian Nonviolence
Pax Christi U.S.A.
The Catholic Peace Fellowship
Fellowship of Reconciliation
John Dear, S.J. home page
Resources on International Peacebuilding
The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at University of Notre Dame
Catholic Relief Services
Caritas Internationalis
Catholic Peacebuilding Network
