Pittsburgh Catholic - (Sept. 6, 2013)
Father Greg Swiderski recalls two incidents in his life that cause him to become active in opposition to the possession of guns.
"At a very personal level, having had the funeral of a teenager who committed suicide with a rifle, his stepfather's rifle," said Father Swiderski, chaplain of Providence Heights of the Sisters of Divine Providence in McCandless Township. "I guess there's not words that could describe the feeling of totally inept, frustration, pain that comes in that kind of experience. It leaves me speechless.
"When I was in a parish (St. James in Wilkinsburg), there was a shooting right outside the church. People were grazed with the guns. I can tell you that that night, Saturday night, coming upon that scene, and then the next morning going into church to celebrate liturgy, it seemed so bizarre to be going in and doing something, celebrating the holy of holies, that to have witnessed the night before and seeing the blood on the ground …More