Bishop Andrew Cozzens led a reflection for the Catholic community near the site of the deadly Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis. The presentation, titled “A Wounded Church: Finding Peace and Healing,” encouraged attendees to express their pain to God through faith. Cozzens addressed reconciling faith with the horror of evil, stating that God does not will evil but always brings good from it. The bishop emphasized that Jesus's wounds became a place of grace and that believers must bring their deepest struggles to God in prayer to receive truth. Cozzens shared personal struggles with faith stemming from past sexual abuse crises within the Church.
about 2 months ago
On August 27, 2025, a deadly shooting occurred at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, resulting in the deaths of two children and injuries to many others.1 2 The incident has left the local Catholic community grappling with profound grief and questions about faith amid violence.
On January 13, 2026, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, delivered a presentation titled “A Wounded Church: Finding Peace and Healing” at St. John the Baptist Church in New Brighton, just miles from the shooting site.1 2 The event, bookended by Mass and Eucharistic adoration, was streamed online to reach a wider audience.
Bishop Cozzens urged the community to bring their pain and struggles directly to God through prayer, emphasizing that honest outpouring creates space for divine healing.1 2 He shared personal challenges with faith during the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis's sexual abuse scandals, where he served as an auxiliary bishop from 2013 to 2021.
Cozzens explained that God does not will evil but always draws good from it, rejecting simplistic responses to suffering.1 2 He highlighted humanity's destiny for eternal life over death and pointed to Jesus' wounds as a source of grace, even in his resurrected body, as a profound mystery of faith.
In confronting the problem of evil, Bishop Cozzens stated there is no easy answer, but God's definitive response is the cross.1 2 This perspective frames the shooting's horror within Christian redemption, offering hope for transformation through Christ's suffering.
How does the Catholic Church interpret evil through the cross?
The Catholic Church teaches that the mystery of evil—encompassing both moral evil (sin) and physical evil (suffering, illness, and death)—finds its deepest interpretation and resolution in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Through the Cross, evil is not merely endured or explained away but is confronted, redeemed, and transformed into a pathway for salvation. Christ, by freely accepting suffering and death, reveals God's loving providence, which permits evil while drawing ultimate good from it, inviting humanity to unite its own trials with His redemptive sacrifice. This perspective, rooted in Scripture and Tradition, underscores that evil, though a profound mystery, is vanquished by Christ's Paschal Mystery, offering hope amid affliction.
The existence of evil poses one of the most pressing questions in human experience: if God is almighty and good, why does evil persist? The Church affirms the inherent goodness of creation, established by a loving Creator who cares for all things. Yet, evil entered the world through the free choices of intelligent creatures—angels and humans—who turned away from God in sin. Moral evil, arising from this rebellion, is incommensurably harmful, while physical evils like suffering are its consequences. God is never the author of evil, neither directly nor indirectly; rather, He permits it out of respect for the freedom He bestowed on His creatures. This permission is not indifference but part of His mysterious providence, by which He ordains that "in everything God works for good for those who love him" (Rom 8:28).
As the Catechism explains, "only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question," weaving together the goodness of creation, the drama of sin, and God's patient love manifested in covenants, the Incarnation, and the sacraments. The Cross illuminates this mystery: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, "died and rose to vanquish evil," providing certainty that God would not allow any evil "if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life." Echoing St. Augustine, the Church teaches that God's supreme goodness ensures He can "cause good to emerge from evil itself." Thus, the Cross is not an afterthought but the divine response to evil, where God's power turns apparent defeat into triumph.
At the heart of the Church's interpretation is the Cross as the definitive conquest of evil. Christ, fully human and divine, took upon Himself the full weight of human sin and suffering, not as a passive victim but as the willing Savior. "Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases'" (Mt 8:17). His healings were signs of the Kingdom, pointing to a radical victory over sin and death through His Passover—the Passion, death, and Resurrection. On the Cross, Jesus "took away the 'sin of the world,' of which illness is only a consequence."
This redemptive act redefines evil's power. From the greatest moral evil—the betrayal, scourging, and crucifixion of the innocent Son of God, orchestrated by human sin—God brought the greatest good: Christ's glorification and humanity's redemption. As St. Joseph told his brothers, "You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good" (Gen 50:20), so too the Cross reveals divine alchemy, where grace "abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20). The world, "fallen into slavery to sin," was "set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one." Evil never becomes good in itself, but through the Cross, it is subordinated to God's salvific plan, ensuring that no affliction ultimately thwarts His purposes.
Papal teaching reinforces this: In times of global conflict and misery, the duty to unite sufferings with Christ's torments on the Cross becomes especially urgent, countering vice and worldly vanities that exacerbate evil. Christ, "having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame" (Heb 12:2), models the patience that triumphs over evil's despair.
The Church interprets personal and communal suffering not as meaningless punishment but as an invitation to participate in Christ's Cross, thereby sharing in His victory over evil. By His Passion, Jesus gave suffering "a new meaning: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion." This union—offering one's trials in reparation for sin and for the salvation of souls—mirrors the Christian life as a rejection of worldly corruption and an embrace of the Cross. "They that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences" (Gal 5:24), demanding a virtuous endurance that leads to eternal life.
This theology counters modern tendencies to blame God or religion for societal evils, such as poverty or conflict, which stem from human greed and rejection of divine law. Instead, the Cross reveals that true liberation comes through self-gift, as in the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (Jn 10:11). Even in leadership, such as the papal ministry, fidelity to the Cross means persevering amid burdens, imitating Christ's total dedication without abandonment. The saints' witness confirms this: through trials, God works good, as seen in figures like St. Thomas More or St. Catherine of Siena, who found strength in uniting their sufferings to the Cross.
In essence, the Cross teaches that evil's sting is temporary; by faith, believers "run to the fight proposed to us, fortified... with the same desire and the same arms as He" who endured it. This patience, obtained by grace, esteems trials as gain, fostering virtue and communal solidarity.
Ultimately, the Church's view through the Cross emphasizes God's providence: He permits evil to respect freedom but mysteriously derives good from it, often visible only in eternity. Historical evils—wars, persecutions, personal hardships—do not escape this dynamic; as in Poland's afflictions, faith in the Crucified One overcomes the world. The Cross assures that no evil is beyond redemption, calling the faithful to hope and action against injustice while trusting in divine wisdom.
In summary, the Catholic interpretation of evil through the Cross portrays it as a conquered foe: permitted by God, borne by Christ, and transformed for those united to Him. This lens shifts focus from evil's darkness to the light of Resurrection, urging a life of redemptive suffering that echoes Christ's love and defeats sin's dominion.