Last August, Father Mike Murphy arrived at a West Baltimore shopping center to find a long line of cars and trucks waiting. Each vehicle carried someone looking to exchange a gun for cash. Father Murphy, a priest from St. Joseph’s Monastery Parish in Southwest Baltimore, organized this gun buyback event. Inspired by Pope Francis’s call to remove firearms from communities and foster peace, Father Murphy sought to address the constant violence that plagued Baltimore. Nights filled with the sound of police helicopters left him worried and heartbroken over the loss of lives to gun violence.
Despite the relentless violence on Baltimore’s streets, the Archdiocese of Baltimore steps in to offer peace and comfort, embodying God’s love from Edmondson Village and Irvington to Loch Raven and Highlandtown. Our Faith in Action motivates the Catholic Church to uphold the dignity of every human life, serving one another through various initiatives.
“In the face of life’s difficulties, it can be easy to lose hope, to lose a sense that God is at work in our midst,” said Archbishop William E. Lori. “What are the needs we see around us and what has the Church done to respond to these needs?”
“The Church family responded by striving to carry out the mission that Jesus entrusted to us. The Church is called to continue Christ’s presence in history: sanctifying, teaching, serving, healing, feeding, and caring as Jesus did.
“Jesus is present among us and at work here and now. This is our cause for hope. Jesus Christ is still active and alive in his Church. His mission carries on.”
Last summer, the Church’s gun buyback, in partnership with the Baltimore Police Department, collected and destroyed 362 firearms, including assault weapons and stolen guns. With nearly $60,000 raised primarily through the Catholic community, the guns collected in one day represented 20% of the total firearms seized by city officers in the first eight months of that year. The event ended early when the funds were exhausted.
The next gun buyback is set for Saturday, August 10, in West Baltimore on Edmondson Avenue. Father Mike Murphy and the Archdiocese aim to raise $100,000 to remove more guns from the streets and homes. Excess funds will support the Archdiocese’s Grief Ministry, which assists families of homicide victims.
In three years, the Grief Ministry has served 500 families, including 2,000 people.
Through volunteers and generous financial contributions from the Catholic community, the ministry has helped relocate families in witness protection, cover back rent for parents of young people injured in the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting, and pay burial expenses for violence victims.
Each week, families of homicide victims receive care packages with fresh food, personalized sympathy notes, and interfaith prayer journals. Volunteers who pack and deliver these packages create a bridge between those directly affected by violence and the broader community.
With over 500,000 members, the Catholic Church is Maryland’s largest provider of aid outside the government. Like the Grief Ministry and gun buyback, this work is carried out across parishes, Catholic schools, hospitals, charitable organizations, and more than 80 programs run by Catholic Charities, including Safe Streets, a gun violence reduction program.
While care packages and gun buybacks are not a complete solution to violence in Baltimore or elsewhere, they show our faith in action. Gun buybacks provide a legal and safe way to dispose of firearms, potentially saving lives by preventing guns from falling into the wrong hands. The Grief Ministry helps reduce retaliation and offers compassion to those affected by violence.
“These efforts and more provide us with an avenue to channel God’s love toward peace and healing for Baltimore – and all of our neighbors who call the city home,” said Archbishop Lori.
