Violence

Pomazhe Bog! Call the Police - whenever there’s a threat, especially one as SERIOUS as shooting someone you must call the Police immediately because you never know if they are serious or not. Subsequently, since you really never know, it\'s unadvisable to deck this guy. This is notwithstanding the most important reason not to hit him which of course is God’s command to love, turn the other check and forgive infinitely. In my humble opinion if you are being attacked or someone is being attacked and unable to defend themselves (and you are able to) you should try to be defensive. When I was a child growing up in the Parish home we had a few such problems. Surprisingly, my father’s Parish is in a nice suburb as well. We’ve had everything from an Armed Robbery gang (before my time in the 70‘s) to destructive skateboarders, graffiti, and general hooliganism such as spitting at my dad and I etc.. Thank God all these matters were resolved with no physical confrontation. Believe me when I tell you I know how difficult that can be. On one occasion, after reporting some very belligerent teens to the Police, I rode with the Officer to one of the youths homes to identify him. Would you believe that the next day the boy and his father (he was about 16 or 17 I think) actually came to our Church rectory and the boys dad berated my Father accusing him of lying. He went on about how his son was an exemplary Roman Catholic Altar boy and would never do such things. That was a very difficult thing to see considering I was a young teenager myself and that I was there when this individual and his skateboard gang rode up our very long driveway and proceeded to harass myself and my father. I think I was really shocked so believe me when I tell you that I can understand how you feel. Thank God, though, it all subsided and without incident. In later years I would politely ask people who didn\'t belong on Church grounds to leave. Thankfully, all left without any problems. My honest advice is not to do anything “on the spot“. If you observe something, write it down and notify the Police. Keep track of anything suspicious. Make note of dates and times and keep the Police and your Priest informed. I wouldn\'t put yourself in any harms way unless you were protecting someone from harm or defending yourself from violence. Ultimately a physical confrontation will, 95% - 100% of the time, make things much worse and complicate them in ways unimaginable.