September 29, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the General Council issued the following statement in response to the mass shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
The horrific shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc brings close to home for Michiganders the terrifying nightmare of gun violence in our nation – and the urgent need for members of Congress to enact laws that ban military-style assault weapons and provide for safe and responsible gun use.
As a church full of Mormon families were at prayer on Sunday, a man rammed his vehicle into their sanctuary and sprayed the assembly with an assault weapon, killing two worshippers, wounding eight, and then causing the deaths of at least two others after lighting the church on fire. Our hearts ache for the victims and their families. We pray for their healing and that of all the Mormon children, women, and men who suffered the trauma of this violent attack while in prayer with God.
This assault comes on the heels of a similar one last month that brought gun violence close to home for us as Dominican Sisters when a gunman rammed into Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began shooting at a church full of children and adults, also in prayer with God at the opening Mass of their parish school. Our sister Dominicans of Sinsinawa (Wisconsin) were longtime teachers at Annunciation. Two children were killed and 21 people wounded.
During the past 15 years, people of faith have been victims of gun violence not only in various Christian churches but also in two Jewish synagogues, a Sikh temple, and outside of an Islamic mosque. The better known of these mass shootings are the 2012 shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding four others; the 2015 shooting during bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people, including the senior pastor, and wounding one more; the 2017 shooting at the First Baptist Church in Southerland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding 22 – the deadliest at an American place of worship; and the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 and wounding six – the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in American history.
As longtime educators, we have seen how the horror of gun violence in schools added security barriers to entrances and made lockdown drills a heartbreaking part of every American child’s school life. It is deeply disturbing to think that the rise of gun violence in our nation’s sacred places of worship might lead to barricaded sanctuaries.
We call on our elected leaders to enact sane gun laws that ensure our First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion is protected along with Second Amendment rights. We invite all people of faith to join us in this call – and in prayer for all victims of gun violence whether in schools, places of prayer, campaigning for public office, serving as elected leaders, engaging in public discourse and free speech or in other forms of public life.
Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.
The Dominican Sisters of Adrian, a Congregation of about 360 vowed women religious and 180 Associates, traces its roots back to St. Dominic in the 13th century. The Sisters minister in 15 states, the Dominican Republic, Norway, and the Philippines. The Congregation’s Vision is to “seek truth, make peace, reverence life.”