US needs prayer to end violence, says bishop after second Minneapolis death

After an Ice agent killed Alex Pretti, the bishops’ conference president Archbishop Paul Coakley appealed respect for human life in Minneapolis and other places ‘where peace is threatened’.

Catholic leaders in Minnesota and across the United States urged restraint and called for prayers after federal immigration agents killed another protester in Minneapolis.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officer shot dead 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti on Saturday during clashes with protestors.

“The loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace,” Archbishop Bernard Hebada of St Paul-Minneapolis said in a statement on Sunday.

While people of faith may thirst for “God’s justice and hunger for his peace”, Hebda said, he insisted they would not be accomplished with hatred and prejudice.

“That is as true for our undocumented neighbours as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws,” Hebda said, echoing his previous statements in response to recent violence. “They all need our humble prayers.”

Tensions were already running high in Minneapolis, with federal agents deployed to the city to carry out the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, when Pretti died. The administration claimed Pretti was armed and that the Ice officer shot him in self-defence, but video taken at the scene and eyewitness accounts refuted that account.

Pretti was the second civilian to be shot and killed in Minnesota by federal agents this year, after an Ice officer shot Renée Good in her vehicle on 7 January. Good’s death sparked national protests and multiple investigations.

Following Pretti’s death, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement calling for calm, restraint and respect for human life in Minneapolis and other places “where peace is threatened”.

“Public authorities especially have a responsibility to safeguard the well-being of people in service to the common good,” Coakley said.

“As a nation we must come together in dialogue, turning away from dehumanising rhetoric and acts which threaten human life. In this spirit, in unity with Pope Leo, it is important to proclaim, ‘Peace is built on respect for people!’”

Hebda said the Cathedral of Saint Paul would be open “all afternoon” on Sunday for extended Eucharistic Adoration, and that he would be offering a Votive Mass that day for the preservation of peace. On Monday at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, Hebda said a Mass was offered for Pretti, his family and the Twin Cities community.

Responding to Trump with a constitution in crisis

The faithful departing – why Catholic voters are turning away from Donald Trump

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: