President Message on Recent Acts of Violence

University President Joseph G. Marina, S.J., sent “A Message on Buffalo and Other Recent Acts of Violence” to the University community.
University of Scranton President Joseph G. Marina, S.J., sent “A Message on Buffalo and Other Recent Acts of Violence” to The University of Scranton community.
University of Scranton President Joseph G. Marina, S.J., sent “A Message on Buffalo and Other Recent Acts of Violence” to The University of Scranton community.

University of Scranton President Joseph G. Marina, S.J., sent “A Message on Buffalo and Other Recent Acts of Violence” to the University community.

Dear Friends, 

Over the weekend, our nation learned of three tragic acts of violence – a mass shooting at a flea market in Houston, Texas, a church in Laguna Woods, California, and a third at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. 

While all three tragedies were senseless and outrageous attacks on the dignity of human life, for the shooting at the Tops Market in Buffalo, the motive now seems clear. As a nation, we must continue to face the evil and arrogance of racism and white supremacy. In this, we join our sister Jesuit institution, Canisius College in Buffalo, in standing in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Black community of Buffalo, Scranton and across the country. As a Catholic and Jesuit university, we must be a beacon of love and healing as well as a voice against injustice, intolerance and hatred in all its forms.  

Please pray today and in the days ahead for all who were killed, injured and traumatized and for those who care for and support them. Let us also pray and work for a society built on peace and justice with a genuine concern for human dignity and all of creation. 

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness” (1 John 2:9). 

Yours faithfully,

Joseph G. Marina, S.J. 

President  

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