A mass shooting took place at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Sept. 4, local officials reported.

Two North Carolina pastors told öÏÓãÊÓƵapp News their parish security plans were put to a real-life test when an active shooting unfolded nearby -- and safety and mental health ministries are serving as a model for other churches, said lay leaders.

VATICAN CITY -- Gunmen broke into the home of the bishop-designate of Rumbek, South Sudan, shot him in both legs and fled, according to Church news reports, with three local priests among the 12 people arrested for their possible involvement in the attack April 26.

We all know that Christ died on the cross. He took on all the sins of mankind and destroyed those sins. He died and was buried and on the third day He rose again from the dead. We call it Easter and that is meant to give us hope that death has lost its final sting.

The small Catholic community in Oshawa has been left to wonder why it has lost four of its members while another clings to life after a Sept. 4 shooting in the city east of Toronto.

Persistence pays off.

WASHINGTON -- Two Texas Catholic bishops offered words of condolence and prayers to the members and families of the victims of a church shooting in which two worshippers were killed.

MEXICO CITY -- Two young men arriving for a Mass to be celebrated before a quinceanera in Mexico's Veracruz state were shot dead as they entered the parish parking lot. It was the latest atrocity in a steady string of mass slayings, which have highlighted a surge in the country's already shockingly high homicide rate.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis expressed his closeness to and prayers for the victims of a shooting at a Catholic Church in Burkina Faso, which claimed the lives of six people.