Targeting Gun Violence

On National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 3, Presentation sisters in San Francisco participated in events to expand their knowledge and understanding of the effects of gun violence, then stepped beyond their doors to raise awareness in others. They had been challenged by the president of the congregation, Sister Michele Anne Murphy, the day after the Uvalde, Texas, massacre: “Our hearts are so heavy as we witness the recent forms of violence in words and deeds surrounding us.  How incomprehensible!  How do we speak up and out, so our values are heard as women religious and/or part of the Sisters of the Presentation rather than stand silent and become a part of the violence?”

Activities included watching a video by Manuel Oliver, father of Joaquin Oliver who was slain in Parkland, Florida, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting on February 14, 2018, and other materials related to causes and effects of such incidents, as well as opportunities to reflect and discuss actions to be taken.

Many of the sisters and several staff members decided to make a public statement against gun violence on the steps of the convent, located at a busy intersection in San Francisco next to the University of San Francisco campus. They designed posters and wore orange, the color of hunter safety. The posters and ribbons remained at the motherhouse entrance through the weekend.

See more photos at https://presentationsisterssf.org/targeting-gun-violence.