Minnesota Catholic leaders have expressed urgent advocacy to Tim Walz for the School Safety Program

In a letter remaked to the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, the head of the Catholic Conference of Minnesota expressed that the Catholic and other non -public schools were “urgent and critical” of security improvements, saying that “our schools are attacked”.

The plea was not encouraged and two years later, the concerns raised by Catholic leaders materialized when a shooter opened fire on the students of a Catholic school in Minneapolis while they attended mass, killing two and 17 injured.

The letter was reported for the first time by the Daily thread And was sent by the Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Minnesota, Jason Adkins and Tim Benz, president of the Private Schools Defense Group Minndependent. The letter was sent on April 14, 2023 and is still accessible to the public on the Catholic Conference of Minnesota website.

“We write on behalf of our respective organizations concerning the urgent and critical need for Minnesota to ensure that our schools are safe and safe given the most recent and continuous attacks, against our schools in this country and in our state,” wrote the leaders.

In the letter, the leaders underlined the mass shooting at the Covenant Christian school in Nashville, which occurred a week before sending the letter, saying: “The last shot of the school in a non -public Christian school in Tennessee unfortunately confirms what we already know – our schools are attacked.”

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Susan Saly, on the right, and Meagan Pierlouissi place flowers during a memorial at the Annunciation Catholic Church after the shooting of the school on Wednesday August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr / AP Photo)

“In Minnesota, non -public schools, in particular our Jewish and Muslim schools, have increased in threat levels, which we must all take very seriously,” the leaders added. “Last week’s tragedy at Covenant school should never happen in Minnesota or in our country again.”

The leaders expressed seriously fearing that the 72,000 students enrolled in independent, Catholics, Jewish, Christian and Muslims in Minnesota schools are in danger due to the exclusion of non -public schools from the building and cybersecurity subsidy program of $ 50 million and the state -of -the -state school program, which provides training in emergency. mental health services and other safety measures.

The leaders said that they were particularly worried given “the most recent and prosecuted attacks against our schools in this country and in our state”.

“We must make sure that all schools have the resources to respond and prevent these attacks from performing in our schools,” wrote the leaders.

“An attack on a school, whether it is an audience, not public, charter or another school site, cannot be tolerated or authorized to occur in Minnesota,” added the leaders. “We want to make sure that Minnesota does everything it can to make sure that all of our students are safe. We ask you for $ 50 million in the final education bill and allow non -public schools to request funding.”

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A spokesperson for Governor Tim Walz told Fox News Digital “the governor is deeply cared for student security and has signed millions of funds for school security”. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the Catholic Conference in Minnesota confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Fox News Digital. Although refusing to comment more, the spokesman confirmed that requests made in the letter had never been granted.

The spokesperson also underlined additional requests that the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Catholic Bishops had made in 2022 in Walz for Catholic schools and other non-public schools to be included in state school security programs.

In a video of June 2022, Archbishop St. Paul-Minneapolis Bernard Hebda called Walz to convene a special session of the state legislature to adopt a bill granting permanent financing flows in all schools, including non-public schools, for safety improvements, prevention of violence and mental health programs, according to programs, Fox 9.

According to a recent political document from the Minister of Minnesota describing the construction and cybersecurity subsidy program, the program is still only available for cooperative units, school districts or charter schools, excluding non -public schools.

In addition, according to a status describing the Safe Schools program available on the Minnesota legislature website, the funding available for each school corresponds to its tax, indicating that private schools are not eligible for funding.

The Walz office, however, told Fox News Digital that “private schools are actually receiving state funding” and that “they are also eligible for the resources of the school security center, including training”.

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A person leaves the school of the Annunciation church while the police responded to a mass shooting reported on Wednesday August 27, 2025 in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr / AP Photo)

Walz spokesperson said that “the governor is deeply cared for student safety and has signed millions of school safety funds”.

The spokesman also said that Walz “regularly met the Catholic conference” and that the governor’s office “undertakes to work with anyone who is ready to work with us to stop armed violence and ensure the security of our students”.

On Tuesday, a 23 -year -old man born by the name of Robert Westman, who then changed his name to Robin Westman, opened fire during a mass which is held at the Catholic church of the Annunciation on Wednesday, which was frequented by students of the attached school. The attack left two dead and 17 injured, 14 of whom were children.

FBI director Kash Patel said that the shooter who had opened fire during a “barbaric” attack on a Catholic school mass in Minneapolis left several anti-religious references in his manifesto and on his firearms.

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Patel provided the update in an article on X, saying: “While we continue to investigate the barbaric attack of yesterday of Robert (Robin) Westman, the male subject, our teams collected information and evidence demonstrating that it was an act of domestic terrorism Motivated by a hateful ideology.

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“The subject has left several anti-Catholic and anti-religious references both in its manifesto and written on its firearms,” ​​said Patel. “The subject expressed his hatred and violence against the Jewish people, writing” Israel must fall “,” free Palestine “and using an explicit language linked to the Holocaust”.

The Minnesota legislature is currently considering a law on school security, the shield bill, which would increase state financing for school security systems. Until the bill, non -public schools would not be eligible for additional security financing granted if the bill was adopted.

Greg Wehner of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.