On February 14, Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida experienced a school shooting that devastated the United States.  McQuaid Jesuit chose to hold a prayer service for those who lost their lives, as opposed to a walkout that many schools around the Nation participated in. The service took place on March 14 in the school Gymnasium.

Many students and teachers in the United States walked out to protest gun violence. They stood outside for seventeen minutes to pay their respects to the seventeen people who lost their lives on February 14.

McQuaid Jesuit Senior Tyler Bergeron proposed this idea.  Bergeron said, “I get that the walkout is trying to make change in the government, but we are a private school.”  Bergeron continued, “I felt that a walkout was kind of divisive, so we wanted to do something more unifying.”

Principal Adam Baber also had words to say about the service instead of a walkout.  Mr. Baber said, “From the beginning, my sense was that we wanted to proceed in a way that was not unnecessarily divisive along political lines, and in a way that honored the victims not only in Parkland but of gun violence generally.  Walkouts and acts of civil disobedience have been incredibly powerful and important in our country’s history, and I respect those students and schools where more formal ‘walkouts’ occurred.”

The idea was to eliminate political ideologies and to take the service for the true meaning.  Mr. Baber went on to say, “Students and adults in our school may understandably differ about what policy or political position might be the ‘right’ one, but we can all come together in prayer, and in humble recognition that these questions are ones that demand reflection, patience, empathy, and ultimately God’s guidance.”

During the service, 17 candles were lit and a short bio for each person who lost his or her life was read.  At the end there was a moment of silence for the people attending to pay their respects to those who died that day.

This prayer service instead of a walkout represented the fact that McQuaid Jesuit is able to participate in a Catholic response to atrocities.  Compared to a walkout, political ideals were set aside and replaced with a peaceful way to commemorate those who died that day.