When a gunman opened fire during a Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two and injuring seventeen, the tragedy shocked Minnesota and reignited debates over school safety. But for Catholic leaders in the state, the attack felt less like an unforeseen disaster and more like a grim confirmation of warnings they had raised years earlier.

A resurfaced letter sent to Governor Tim Walz in April 2023 reveals that Catholic and nonpublic school advocates had already sounded the alarm about the vulnerabilities of their institutions. The correspondence, signed by Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, and Tim Benz, president of MINNDEPENDENT, a private school advocacy group, urged state leaders to act before it was too late. Continues…