PA Bill Number: HB917
Title: Adopting the Uniform Family Law Arbitration Act.
Description: Adopting the Uniform Family Law Arbitration Act. ...
Last Action: Presented to the Governor
Last Action Date: Apr 29, 2024
UPDATED: What Would Jesus Do? Pack Heat, Michigan Priest Says :: 04/22/2015
Once a Pacifist, priest says there’s nothing in Jesus’ teachings that prohibits Catholics from carrying and using guns in self-defense.
The Michigan priest in trouble with the Diocese of Lansing for encouraging parishioners to arm themselves has canceled concealed pistol licensing classes at the parish church, according to a message on his Facebook page.
The Rev. Edward Fride said that he will abide by a no-guns policy implemented by the Diocese of Lansing in 2012. Bishop Earl Boyea said the classes weren’t an appropriate use of church property. Fride’s message on Facebook follows:
“The Lord Jesus has blessed us greatly in calling Bishop Earl Boyea to serve us as the fifth Bishop of Lansing. I have been and continue to be very grateful for his ministry, especially his great work in leading the Diocese in the fulfillment of the Holy Fathers’ call to the New Evangelization that all people would hear the message of the saving love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“As our Bishop, he is responsible for setting policy for our parishes and he has decided and publically stated that CPL classes are not appropriate on Church property. That is his call to make and we will obviously follow his policy on this and on all decisions he makes as he shepherds this Diocese. No parish is an island unto itself and no priest operates on his own. I am his priest and I will continue to serve him to the best of my ability.”
Patch’s earlier report:
A Catholic priest in Ann Arbor is taking heat for a pro-gun letter that encouraged parishioners to arm themselves, and said Christians too often pretend they live in a bucolic “Mayberry”-like world where bad things never happen.
The lengthy, 4,150-word missive is a followup to controversial announcement the Rev. Edward Fride made during Palm Sunday Mass when he said the Christ the King parish was offering concealed pistol licensing classes in response to an uptick in crime in the area, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Fride’s remarks upset some Catholics coming together to worship during Holy Week. They complained, and Fride fired off the seven-page letter defending the classes, which the Diocese of Lansing says violate a diocese-wide gun ban implemented in 2012.
The priest clarified his position in the letter, which he titled “ We’re Not in Mayberry Anymore, Toto!”
He wrote there’s nothing in church teachings that prohibits Catholics from carrying guns and defending their families in a time of “significant reduction in the availability of an armed police response.”
Fride used the letter to trace his own journey from Pacifist to Vietnam War conscientious objector to a Second Amendment champion. He acknowledged he began to abandon his pacifist leanings as he pondered the question, “What Jesus would do?” if confronted with violence against women and children.
“I eventually concluded that I was certainly no longer a pacifist absolutist,” he wrote. “There were situations in which I would actively intervene, even to a lethal level if necessary.”
Fride wrote Christians can no longer trust that because they follow the gospel, “everything will always be fine and nothing bad can happen to them and their families.”
“How to balance faith, reality, prudence, and trust is one of those critical questions that we struggle with all our lives,” he wrote. “Pretending we are in Mayberry, while we are clearly not, can have very negative consequences for ourselves and those we love, especially those we have a responsibility to protect. If we are not in Mayberry, is there a real threat?”’
“Gun Thing Is Kind of New”
Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea has never granted permission to anyone to carry a concealed weapon in any churches or schools in the Diocese, spokesman Michael Diebold said in an email to the Free Press.
Diebold referenced a 2012 statement by Boyea when the Diocese of Lansing banned guns:
“We are followers of Jesus Christ, who raised not a hand against those who mocked, tortured, and finally murdered him. While we grasp both the Second Amendment and the legitimate right of some persons to defend themselves, our churches and our schools are dedicated to a far different approach to life’s problems.”
Fride’s longtime friend, Jay McNally, told the Free Press “this whole gun thing is kind of new.”
He said Fride has “become very vocal about it,” but defended the priest as “well-loved by parishioners at every level – the old folks, the young folks.”
“There’s a not a phony bone in him,” said McNally, a former editor of the Detroit archdiocese’s Michigan Catholic newspaper and conservative Catholic activist who is the director of the Ypsilanti-based Citizens Alliance for Life and Liberty.
In interviews with WXYZ-TV, Ann Arbor residents offered mixed reaction.
Renee Antonsen said whether to carry a gun should be a personal choice and the church shouldn’t be involved. Others interviewed agreed, but one man said he didn’t see a problem with the church sponsoring the classes, which have been advertised the church bulletin and are scheduled to continue for the next two Saturdays.
http://patch.com/michigan/birmingham/what-would-jesus-do-pack-heat-michigan-priest-says-0
