Friends,
As faith leaders, my peers and I have counseled parents and students who live in fear. We’ve sat with families who have lost loved ones to firearm suicide. And we’ve led prayer services in the wake of mass shootings.
No matter where we live in Pennsylvania, we have seen or felt the pain that gun violence has inflicted on our congregations and communities.
As faith leaders, we often feel powerless when violence occurs in our communities. Thoughts and prayers are not enough to address the epidemic of gun violence.
Through With One Voice, we aim to use our collective voices to advocate for community violence intervention programs, secure storage of firearms, universal background checks for all gun purchases, and mental health resources to reduce homicides and suicides in the Commonwealth. This work is a sacred calling—and the time to answer that call is now.
Central to all faith traditions is the belief that all life is sacred, that we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers, and that we must stand against the forces that bring suffering into our world.
Our faith demands that we take action, prayerfully, to help advocate for passage of laws and programs that can reduce the causes of firearm deaths.
We cannot do this work alone. We need people of faith and good conscience across Pennsylvania to join us. Together, we will speak truth to power in our communities. We will flood our legislators' offices with calls for change. We will demand the safer future our children deserve and that our faith requires us to build.
I invite you to stand with us. Together, our voices can break through the silence that has allowed this crisis to continue. Together, we can build the safer, more compassionate Commonwealth our faith compels us to create.
Together we can create a future safe from gun violence,
The Rev. Martha L. Harris, Saint Paul and Saint Luke Episcopal Churches
With One Voice Coalition Member
P.S. If you are a clergy member or layleader and you wish to join our coalition, please send an email to [email protected]. If you are a person of faith who wishes to support this work, please take action with CeaseFirePA.
