National Catholic Register: After Annunciation Shooting, Lawmaker, Catholic Mother Warns Against ‘Political Theater’

When Minnesota state Sen. Julia Coleman heard on the morning of Aug. 27 that a shooting had just taken place at a Minneapolis Catholic school, she didn’t react as a politician — she reacted as a mother.

The Catholic lawmaker, a Republican representing Waconia, Minnesota, had just dropped her eldest son off for his first day of kindergarten at a Catholic school in the suburbs. Not knowing if the shooting at the Church of the Annunciation was isolated or part of a larger attack on Twin Cities-area Catholic schools, she felt an unprecedented level of panic — even more intense than when a gunman had been targeting Minnesota lawmakers earlier in the summer, and she had been urged to shelter in place. 

“This time, my kids were involved,” said Coleman, 33, a mother of three boys age 6 and under.

Like other Minnesotans, the Republican lawmaker is motivated to protect the state’s schools and children after a gunman killed two students and injured 21 others during an all-school Mass at the south Minneapolis parish.

And yet, Coleman is not optimistic that meaningful action will be taken to prevent another Annunciation, even after Gov. Tim Walz confirmed his intent on Tuesday to call for a special legislative session in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Instead, she’s worried that the conditions are ripe for “political theater,” with the special session being used to score points instead of advance solutions that have a chance of passing in Minnesota’s deeply divided state Legislature.

The governor, a Democrat, has already signaled that his focus will be on gun control, including a ban on semi-automatic firearms.

“If we call a special session and [Republicans] decide to deflect this to something else, my guess is that Minnesotans are not going to be too happy about that,” Walz said at a press conference announcing his intention to call lawmakers together.

State Republican leadership, on the other hand, has already criticized the governor for not reaching across the aisle and undercutting open discussion.

“I hope we can have a real conversation about all aspects of safety,” said Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, in a statement, mentioning mental health resources and security funding for non-public schools.

Minnesota’s House of Representatives is currently Republican-controlled by a one-vote margin, while Democrats maintain a one-vote advantage in the Senate.

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Avoiding Stalemate

First elected in 2020, Coleman knows that stalemates are nothing new in Minnesota politics, including on issues related to Catholic-school safety.

In 2022, the state senator co-authored a bill that would have given non-public schools the same level of security funding as public schools. The measure had bipartisan support, as a House version of the bill was authored by two Democrat legislators but stalled amid an acrimonious legislative session.

After the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that summer, Minnesota’s Catholic bishops urged Walz to hold a special session to pass the legislation, but to no avail. A similar measure failed in 2023, even after state Catholic leadership requested access to state funds for school security following a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We need to ensure that all schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools,” wrote Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), in a letter to Walz that was co-authored by the leader of an independent school network.

In 2024, advocates for Catholic schools found themselves unable to prioritize school safety. Instead, they were playing defense, as Democrats made efforts to cut state funding of non-public school services like standardized testing, busing and counseling services. 

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‘Put Their Heads Together’

It remains unclear if non-public-school safety will be a part of the forthcoming special session, even after the kind of tragedy that Minnesota Catholic leaders warned could happen has taken place.

Walz is expected to reveal the details of his proposed package for the special session later this week. The governor’s office did not respond to a request from the Register to clarify whether the proposal will include security funding for non-public schools.

Likewise, several Democrat legislative leaders did not reply to a request for comment on the matter.

A spokesman for Walz told the Register on the same day as the shooting that the governor’s office remains “committed to working with anyone who is willing to work with us to stop gun violence and keep our students safe.”

The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Minnesota bishops, has not issued comment on the likely special session nor Walz’s priorities as of Thursday afternoon. However, the state’s highest-ranking Catholic prelate has shared his thoughts on what’s needed going forward.

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Prayer and Action

Coleman urged Catholic school members to get involved in the forthcoming conversation and advocate for their community, given that the “squeaky wheel tends to get the oil in St. Paul.”

She also encouraged Minnesota Catholics to continue to pray, adding that criticism of prayer in the wake of the shooting “shows such a lack of understanding of what prayer means to us.”

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In terms of next steps, the state senator said lawmakers need to “take a look at this from all sides and consider actions that address the root causes of tragedies like this.”

The Republican has supported some gun-control measures in the past, such as boosting penalties for those who purchase guns for someone else. However, she also voted against a 2023 safety bill that included “red-flag” provisions, which permit the state to temporarily confiscate firearms from individuals deemed to be a threat to others or themselves. Minnesota’s bishops had publicly supported the legislation, which passed along party lines.

In advance of the pending special session, Coleman told the Register she supports “keeping firearms out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”

At the same time, she says security for non-public schools “should be a priority.” Coleman expressed support for a state-funded school-resource officer in every Minnesota school, “public or not.” Because too often, she said, the only thing protecting students in non-public schools from the outside world is “a couple of doors with locks.”

“And clearly, that’s unfortunately not sufficient any longer,” she said.

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Read the full article at National Catholic Register.