Portland Bishop on Roseburg shooting

(Vatican Radio) Just days after Pope Francis’ Papal Visit to the United States came to an end, the town of Roseburg, Oregon, was rocked by a deadly college shoot out. The rampage at Umpqua College left ten dead, including the gunmen, and nine wounded. This is the 45th such incident in the US this year alone.

Christopher Harper-Mercer (26) entered the College, where he was enrolled in a writing class, with six firearms, five magazines of bullets and body armour. He, allegedly, asked people to identify their religious affiliation before he shot them.

On Thursday evening, hours after the shooting, auxiliary bishop of Portland, Peter Smith, visited Roseburg and celebrated Mass at the local parish of St. Joseph in English and Spanish.

Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Fr. Russell Pollitt SJ, Bishop Peter Smith tells of the Church’s response in this tragic moment.

Listen to the interview:

The Archbishop of Portland, Alexander Sample, sent a message to the people of Roseburg assuring them of his prayers. Bishop Smith said that Catholic Charities had made money available to the parish of Roseburg for emergency needs like grief counselling and “to support the parish in their ministry to people and for folks who come to them who are struggling with what is going on.”

Bishop Smith believes that several factors have contributed to incidents like this in the USA. “There is a growing secularisation trend in American society which is leading to an amoral society where the ethics we would normally assume would be in place governing our behaviour seem to be removed.” The bishop said this leads to “much more of a focus on the individualistic subjectivist view of reality” which in turn gives rise to somebody thinking they are “justified when doing some insane action” like the one we have just witnessed in Roseburg.

Bishop Smith believes that the break-up of family life plays a factor in what happened. “Studies are very clear that even if the marriage is only an ok marriage with the parents present it’s a more stable situation for the children being raised, and unfortunately here in the US there has been an ongoing breakdown of marriage and family life.”

The bishop said that a lack of stability is leading to a lack of formation which leads to other issues. This, the bishop said, leads to extremes such as the situation in Roseburg.

Bishop Smith said that some media are reporting that the gunmen asked people for their religious affiliation before shooting at them. “The ones who said they were Christians its thought he shot in the head, those who declared themselves to be other than Christian or did not answer he shot in the legs.” The bishop went on to say that if these reports are true it is a “very very troubling thing for us to see.” There are unconfirmed reports that the police are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.

Bishop Smith said that the State of Oregon has more stringent gun control laws than many of the other states do. “Here in Oregon there are more stringent background checks before you can purchase a firearm.” The Federal government has tried to introduce tighter controls with little success in recent years. “The problem with gun control in various forms is that there is a black market that goes on where you can go on the street and buy guns from people who have stolen them,” he said. It is still unknown as to where the shooter in Roseburg obtained the firearms he had in his possession.

Smith asked that prayers be offered for the people of Roseburg, the parish of St. Joseph and the pastor, Fr. Campos, who are struggling to deal with this issue which has affected some members of the local Catholic community. “Please pray for peace, consolation, freedom from fear and for God’s presence with all of them as they struggle with the grief and the tragedy that has overwhelmed them.”

The bishop also thanked all those who have offered prayers and sent messages to them for the community in Roseburg.