School Shootings

In 1995 in a Catholic school in Redlands, Calif., an elementary school student shot the school principal in the face. Four years earlier, at a Jesuit high school in Louisiana, one student shot another through the eye with a BB gun.

"In the 1995 shooting at the Sacred Heart School in Redlands, the school principal survived, but the eighth-grader who fired at him was killed when he slipped while running and the gun in his hand discharged. In the 1991 shooting in Louisiana, a lawsuit later filed charged the school with negligence for not checking students’ lockers for guns. The lawsuit was dismissed."
National Catholic Reporter

These are the only examples of school shootings in the history of Catholic schools. Of course, there are those who will come up with excuses, the number one being those attending Catholic schools live in more affluent neighborhoods and, hence, have the cash to pay for this education." 

I vehemently disagree. Go to any major city, an inner city, and you'll come across schools populated with welfare children. Parents and donors build up scholarship programs, allowing these children to thrive----even though they're required to wear uniforms and to be held accountable for their actions.

The Queen and I attended a private luncheon at our son's former prep school three days ago. The principal explained that a number of kids can't make the grade because of the rigorous acadeemic standards and after parental counseling are offered other options. In mid-town Columbus, Ohio there is a private religious school geared to the academic abilities of these kids. In essence, these kids aren't thrown to the wolves.

Everybody, one day after the Florida tragedy, has some kind of opinion about how to deal with this matter. I don't. Let's be realistic. Somewhere across this country there is a kid with a rifle and someday he's going to attack another school. On that you can take it to the bank.

I'm a believer in playing the percentages. If I wanted to offer my grandchildren a modicum of safety in the school building and assure an outstanding education I'd sacrifice anything to send them to the Catholic or Christian school. And we do.