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Brophy Advocacy Club Organizes Event in Remembrance of Parkland Victims

3/15/2018

Photo: Ross Franklin, Associated Press

PHOENIX – March 14, 2018 – The Brophy Advocacy Club organized a student walkout to honor the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and to support the student-led national effort to protest gun violence and lobby for gun reform. At 9:45 a.m., Wednesday, March 14, a member of the Advocacy Club took over the loudspeaker and invited students to join club members from 10-10:17 a.m. on a campus lawn for prayers for each of the 17 victims slain in Florida. Classes went on as scheduled for faculty and those students

who did not wish to participate.

Nik Kirk ’19, one of the organizers, said, “This effort was entirely student-inspired. Following Parkland, we felt called to take action and we have had awesome support from the administration. As Jesuit-educated students, we are asked to be agents of change, and to work to support all those who are vulnerable.”

Fr. Scott Santarosa, SJ, the provincial of Jesuits West, the province to which Brophy belongs, recently issued a letter urging adults to “listen to our young people and let them lead us.” In a letter to parents, Principal Bob Ryan said, “I am proud of the initiative our students are showing and for the mission-centered way they are electing to stand in solidarity with young people across the country. Be assured that…in the days ahead, we will seek to listen to your sons – those who elected to participate in (the) demonstration and those who see a different way forward.”

The day also included a lunch presentation on gun violence and how we should respond as a Catholic school. Two faculty members presented different viewpoints on how to move past the politics of gun debate.

Brophy’s Catholic, Jesuit mission that includes a mandate to respect all life, calls for whole-hearted support of an end to gun violence and, in that spirt, Brophy College Prep, too, says “enough” and “never again.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
PBS/CRONKITE NEWS