The representative Student Association General Assembly voted 16-11 in favour of a motion supporting students carrying legal firearms.

The vote came in the wake of fierce debate following the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, which saw 32 people killed, and the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

But a spokesperson for the university's administration said there are no plans to change the rule that bans the carrying of firearms on campus.

Even the campus security at the Catholic University of America is not armed.

But a sponsor of the student motion, Matt Hanrahan, said even if students won't be allowed to carry guns, at least a conversation about safety on campus will have been started.

"We don't live in the safest place," Mr Hanrahan said.

"There have been armed robberies in the area around the school. Who knows who can come onto our campus?

"Metro police could be on campus within minutes, and lock the campus down, but police are only going to be able to react to a situation that has occurred."

Another student, Kyle Phanard, said he would back security guards being armed on campus rather than students.

But student Katie Bogdan said the student association proposal is polarising.

"The student body as a whole did not know about this until the decision was made," she said.

But the parent of a prospective student said the university should consider the allowing the motion.

"With the Second Amendment, it should be considered. And if the right security practices are put in place, perhaps it could be allowed," said Paul Eells

Because campus police are not armed, the school works closely with the city police department.

Carrying a legally purchased firearm is legal in the District of Columbia.

Sources

• Washington Post
• CBS Baltimore
• Image: Prairie Village Post

The grants were announced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Funding has come from the John Templeton Foundation, in an effort to bridge gaps between science and faith.

Catholic institutions to receive grants are the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara (Berkeley).

"Many (religious leaders) don't get a lot of science in their training and yet they become the authority figures that many people in society look up to for advice for all kinds of things, including issues related to science and technology," said Jennifer Wiseman, director of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion.

The grants will cover faculty, events, science resources, guest speakers and other related costs.

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While the results themselves were not surprising, the researchers said, the study suggests new ways the church can approach Catholics who are dissatisfied with what the church teaches or how it acts — including those so dissatisfied that they have decided to leave.

One of their key recommendations was for pastors, bishops and other church officials to respond consistently to questioning or angry Catholics with constructive dialogue rather than a simple reiteration of church rules or policies.

Jesuit Fr. William J. Byron, a professor of business at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia — who collaborated in the study with Charles Zech, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Church Management of Villanova's School of Business — several times cited a response of one disaffiliated Catholic who complained, "Ask a question of any priest and you get a rule; you don't get a ‘Let's sit down and talk about it' response."

Byron and Zech told conference participants at The Catholic University of America that many of the responses from lapsed or disaffiliated Catholics in the Trenton diocese matched what researchers have known from other surveys: They object to what they see as the church's unwelcoming attitude toward gays and lesbians or toward the divorced and remarried, they find homilies uninspiring, the parish unwelcoming, the pastor arrogant or parish staff uncaring, or they have suffered terrible personal experiences with a priest or other church official, such as rejection for being divorced.

Some of the former Catholics complained of priests being too liberal, while others cited "the extreme conservative haranguing" they heard in homilies - reflecting the intra-Catholic political divisions that reflect similar divisions in the broader U.S. society.

Surprisingly, Byron said, although all those who responded to the survey left the church for various reasons of dissatisfaction, "only half the respondents were pointedly negative" in their assessment of their most recent pastor. There were "many enthusiastic, positive responses" to most recent pastors, he reported. Continue reading

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Rhode Island Catholic