Orlando Shooting

[PhuturePriest]

I'd post a link, but at this point I don't see how anyone wouldn't know what happened in the early hours of this morning.

This shooting was bad enough, but hearing the personal accounts is even worse. My heart really breaks for all the victims and their loved ones. I have a soft spot in my heart for the LGBT community, and that this happened specifically because of hatred towards these people is simply beyond my ability to understand. Despite any sin, these are precious children in the eyes of the Father, and they deserve nothing less than our wholehearted love and understanding. I've seen disgusting comments from several Catholics who have stated very bigoted things against the victims, and this is incredibly disappointing to me, as I would have hoped a Catholic rooted in the Faith would know better.

On a related note, the hospital working on the wounded is in dire need of blood, and I've been told it is possible to donate blood and have it sent there if you live out-of-State. If anyone knows specifically how to do this, I would really appreciate it. Hearing about these tragedies and praying for victims sometimes feels insufficient, and I'd love to help in a practical way if possible. I'll probably pass out because my body smells of elderberries at handling change, but that's something I'm willing to offer up.

Edited June 13, 2016 by PhuturePriest

[Aragon]

Thank you for this post. Your comments on offering blood are very moving. I feel very hurt by the reaction of some Catholics to this crime, and it is nice to know that there are orthodox Catholics out there who love their gay brothers and sisters.

[BarbTherese]

Prayer for all victims, direct and indirect and for the USA and gun laws.

[NadaTeTurbe]

PP, call your blood center and ask them questions. They'll be more than happy to tell you how to help. 

http://www.cityoforlando.net/blog/victims/ : To pray for the victims by name. 

Prayers for the victims, the wounded, the family and the police. I'm horrified. 

[Maggyie]

I'm so sorry for the victims. It's terrifying that they could be targeted!!! I have to admit I'm also concerned for my Muslim neighbors. Liberals have been an important group saying "not all Muslims are terrorists" I'm afraid that between a sexual minority and a religious minority, many will choose to stop supporting Muslims. Especially in an American context where gay people are on TV but Muslims only appear when Jack Bauer is torturing them. 

[vee]

what if the shooter turned out to be a gay muslim.

[Guest]

[CatherineM]

There's always a need for blood in the summer. Regulars go on vacation and don't give. People play with chainsaws and jet skis so need goes up. This will have drawn down regional supplies across the continent. 

[Credo in Deum]

3 hours ago, vee said:

what if the shooter turned out to be a gay muslim.

That couldn't happen. Homosexuality is synonymous with atheism. Didn't you get the memo?

[Guest]

Prayers

Edited June 13, 2016 by Guest

[PhuturePriest]

Let's try and avoid politicizing this tragedy, please. I could easily go and talk about gun control, but this thread isn't for stuff like that.

 

[Credo in Deum]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

Not entirely true. The rainbow in the bible has 7 colors, the LGBTQ has 6.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Credo in Deum

[KnightofChrist]

This was yet another act of war by an enemy agent for ISIS in a Western nation. Not a criminal act, but an act of war by a declared enemy. The act of homosexuality is a grave sin but the fallen deserve our sorrow and mourning. 

Whatever Josh's point may be comes off as asinine, whatever it is it seems highly inappropriate at this time. Any potential discussion over gun control would also be asinine because this was an act of war and in France ISIS proved gun control will not stop their acts of wars.

Edited June 13, 2016 by KnightofChrist

[Peace]

36 minutes ago, KnightofChrist said:

This was yet another act of war by an enemy agent for ISIS in a Western nation. Not a criminal act, but an act of war by a declared enemy. The act of homosexuality is a grave sin but the fallen deserve our sorrow and mourning.

Is there any evidence indicating that the shooter had any tangible connection with ISIS prior to the shooting?

I would think that one would actually need to be a member of ISIS in order to commit an act of war on it's behalf.

[Ice_nine]

I'm not proud of the first thoughts I had upon waking to hear this news.

My knee jerk response was to consider the political ramifications of this. I thought, now LGBT advocates will have a concrete and pretty convincing argument to justify their victim-complex. People against gay marriage and the like, Christians in particular, will be blamed for this. We will become more stigmatized and reviled by popular opinion.

Again, not proud. In other words, I was thinking pretty selfishly. I had to take a minute to imagine the actual lives of the individuals. Their last moments. How some of them may have been far away from God, how perhaps many of them were trying to find him, and how close they may have been. How terrified they must have been.

It's hard to empathize, at first at least, with people who are not like you. I remember hearing, and this may not be true, that at the time of the massacre at the Bataclan the Eagles of Death Metal were playing a song called "Kiss the Devil." Who knows, but there is a song they sing by that title. It stirs up conflicting feelings within me. I've been to a few rock concerts with er, questionable bands, but the whole nightclub scene stands as a symbol of debauchery, licentiousness, and everything against Christian morality. Does that mean people deserve to get brutally gunned-down? Of course not. Hell, I myself have been at clubs on the rare occasion (without partaking in the more seedy elements of the club scene). But it's still a stark reminder. Just going out and "having a good time." We as a culture are pretty good at that, maybe too good. I don't think we take enough time to seriously reflect on our mortality. It's a scary thing.

It's also hard because stuff happens like this, all the time it seems. And when it's not close to you it's just another sad news story. I only start to get feelings when I see first hand accounts, like Eddie Justice's frantic text messages to his mother moments before he was slain. That was hard to read.

It's also hard to consider, in an increasingly polarized society where sentiment rules the day and nuance is not often employed, that people like me (Christians) are the ones who have created the environment where things like this are possible. Maybe that's just because I'm prone to feeling guilty. I usually keep my opinions to myself anyway, except on the interwebs.

Anyhow, I offer my sincere prayers for the victims and their families. May God embrace them. Lord knows I've sinned greatly against Him, but He reached out to me in my darkest hours. I can only hope He did the same for the victims of that tragic night.

[Socrates]

13 hours ago, Maggyie said:

I'm so sorry for the victims. It's terrifying that they could be targeted!!! I have to admit I'm also concerned for my Muslim neighbors. Liberals have been an important group saying "not all Muslims are terrorists" I'm afraid that between a sexual minority and a religious minority, many will choose to stop supporting Muslims.

Nah, the political Left will continue to place the blame on the Second Amendment, the NRA, gun manufacturers, generic "homophobia," "Islamophobia," income inequality, George W. Bush, climate change - anything and everything but radical Islam (or the murderer himself).

And I know I'm a cynic, but the rapidly growing Muslim population is a voting constituency they don't want to lose

And both parties and their whores candidates will try to exploit this horrific crime for political gain. 

But enough politics for now - prayers for the victims and their families!

6 hours ago, Ice_nine said:

It's also hard to consider, in an increasingly polarized society where sentiment rules the day and nuance is not often employed, that people like me (Christians) are the ones who have created the environment where things like this are possible.

BULL.  CR@P.

This disgusting mass-murder didn't have a damned thing to with Christianity or Christians or "people like you."  The murderer was a radical Islamist who gave his allegiance to the vile Islamic terrorist organization ISIS.  It was the hateful and murderous ideology of radical Jihadist Islam, not an environment created by Christians, that made this possible.

Don't let the anti-Christian homosexual lobby and their pc left cronies use this to guilt-trip you.

Seriously. Get off the political correctness.  That stuff's a brain-killing drug.

[little2add]

This king of thing would not of happened in Texas, because ordinary citizens carry guns 

gun control as we know it is the problem not the suluition 

[Socrates]

1 minute ago, little2add said:

This king of thing would not of happened in Texas, because ordinary citizens carry guns 

gun control as we know it is the problem not the suluition 

As with most such mass-shootings, the killer chose a "gun-free zone" where he knew his victims would be unarmed.  By Florida law, guns are not allowed in bars and clubs and other places that serve alcohol.

[WhoamI]

So saddened by this.

By the event itself. Perhaps even more so by the vitriol that has been spewed from all sides.  Before anything else, those people killed were human beings. Sinful, yes, but so am I. Nobody deserves to be gunned down. I pray for their souls, for the soul of the gunman, for all those affected by this terrible event.  I pray for all those trying to use this for political advantage, and in the process,  spreading more hate and anger. 

I've been in touch with a friend who is gay, to see how she is doing in the wake of all this. It has been very difficult for her. She knows that I am Catholic, and knows the Catholic teaching on homosexuality. She also knows that I still love her, and that I am concerned enough about her wellbeing to reach out. There is a time and place for discussion of the Church's teaching, and we have had conversations, but now is not that time.

Spreading hatred and anger does nothing. 

[BarbTherese]

Love the sinner, hate the sin.  We are all sinners and what makes my sin less than another's?