The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2025 (part 1)

9. Catholic school shooting leaves two dead, injures several others

Trans-identified shooter Robert “Robin” Westman opened fire on Catholic school students in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Aug. 27 as the young students gathered for mass at the Church of the Annunciation. Two students were killed and multiple others were injured. Westman took his own life after committing the mass shooting. 

The shooting led to a contentious debate about the value of thoughts and prayers, as well-wishes emerged for the victims of the attack. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted in an X post following the shooting that “Prayer is not freaking enough.”

“Prayers does [sic] not end school shootings,” she insisted. “Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.” 

Minneapolis’ Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey offered a similar analysis: “Don’t just say we need thoughts and prayers. These kids were literally in a church praying.”

While Psaki and Frey suggested that thoughts and prayers were inadequate, their comments received pushback from two prominent religious leaders: Greg Laurie, pastor of the California-based Harvest Church, and the Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “Those who criticize prayer could not be more mistaken,” Laurie wrote in a social media post reacting to the negative comments about thoughts and prayers. 

“Yes, it is heartbreaking that children were praying when they were shot in the Church in Minneapolis,” Laurie added. “Yet let us remember that Christ Himself prayed as He was crucified, Stephen prayed as he was martyred, and countless other courageous Christians lifted their voices to God in their final moments of life.” 

Graham also responded to the critics of thoughts and prayers, stating that “your words do not change or diminish the power and importance of prayer.”

“Because someone calls for prayer doesn’t mean bad things aren’t going to happen or that the emergency is going to disappear, we all know that.”

He added that prayer is “our opportunity to communicate directly with the God of Heaven and take our petitions to Him," and vowed to “continue to encourage people to pray.”

“Satan would like nothing better than to thwart the most vital tool God has given us: prayer," he added.  

Millions of dollars were raised for the survivors in the week following the attack, and the recovery of Sophia Forchas, a 12-year-old girl who was shot in the head and was once predicted to become the third fatality of the mass shooting, was characterized as “miraculous.” Forchas returned home from the hospital in late October, nearly two months after the shooting.

Ryan Foley contributed to this report.