When school violence erupts anywhere in the country, Fr. Roger Bosse prepares to answer the telephone. "I get calls from parents asking, ‘Do you have any kids like this?’ ", referring to the pair of eccentric outcasts who on April 20 gunned down more than 25 classmates and teachers in Littleton, Colo. "People get reactive," says Roger, principal of Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati since 1991. "They ask, ‘What do you have in place to prevent this?’ " The sad reality is, "There is not and will not be an entirely foolproof way of being protected at all times at school - or in the workplace or in your neighborhood." But at Roger Bacon and elsewhere, "It is one of the primary responsibilities of a school to ensure a safe environment for students."

By and large, that’s what happens, says Fr. Jim Bok, former principal at Bacon. "You get the impression because of the notoriety that these things happen all over the place - and they don’t. This is a teeny, tiny percentage of what goes on." In his 16 years at Bacon - five as a teacher - "There were times I had parents who were infuriated, hostile, threatening." But only once did that explode into violence, when an irate mother physically assaulted a female student because of an incident involving her daughter.

One stereotype about violence in schools - that it only happens in deprived, inner-city neighborhoods - has been shattered in the last year by incidents of student mayhem committed at middle-class, suburban schools in Jonesboro, Ark., West Paducah, Ky., Pearl, Miss., and Springfield, Ore. The statistics are revealing, Roger says. Five years ago, Ohio ranked 36th in the number of youth gangs in the nation. "Now it ranks in the Top 10." Only 8% of gangs operate in the inner city; 92% are active in rural or suburban areas.

The knee-jerk reaction to incidents like the one in Littleton is to install metal detectors in schools and bring in the police. "Those aren’t the answers at all," says Jim, who sees the problem as systemic. "Our society has some serious trouble and we’re not willing to admit it. We have a lot of kids who are messed up because parents don’t attend to them, care for them, love them. In a lot of instances in suburbia, they don’t want to be bothered. Sometimes parents just lose their kids."

Children have a couple of needs that are not being met, says Fr. Bart Pax, whose parish operates St. Mary of the Angels School in New Orleans. "We need relationships in our lives, and we need God in our lives." Last Friday Bart raised this very issue in the 8th-grade religion class he teaches once a week. One of the songs mentioned as a favorite of the Littleton shooters was a dark piece called We Love to Hate, "and that’s precisely what these kids were doing," Bart says. What can we learn from these tragic youngsters? "The importance of providing some kind of spiritual foundation," he says. It all comes down to values, and "You can’t teach values without teaching the source, teaching about God."

Because of new technologies like the Internet, "Students have access to probably a wider variety of knowledge of things than ever before," Roger says. "That knowledge is not necessarily supervised. It’s just out there." Couple this glut of information with a general lack of respect for humanity. "I think there’s a basic disregard for human life, in terms of how people look at their own lives and the lives of other people." One way to reverse it: "People need to demonstrate a care and concern for one another based on the fact that they’re created in the image of God. And there has to be greater supervision, dialogue and interacting on the home front."

As far as violence goes, Jim says, "I don’t know that anybody would be exempt from it if you’ve got some kids who are nutty. But I do really believe that in parochial schools one of the things that sets them apart is the care and concern for individual students. There tends to be a greater amount of intervention in the lives of kids." Columbine High in Littleton has more than 1,900 students - twice as many as Roger Bacon. In that kind of sprawling setting, "It’s easy for kids to get lost."

To make schools safer, Roger says, "You have to produce an environment whereby you get to know every student. You have to get to know the parents and the family situation. You hire people who can relate to a variety of students," not just the super-achievers with special abilities. "And if you’re smart," he says, "You ask yourself the question, ‘Could it happen where I am? And if it could, why would it?’ "

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The day after a deadly tornado killed two parishioners, Fr. Bill Reichel was homilist for the Saturday Mass at Good Shepherd Church in Montgomery, Ohio. The Mass was offered in memory of Lee and Jacqueline Cook, two of the four people who died April 9 when a storm with winds up to 260 miles per hour swept through suburbs northeast of Cincinnati, destroying almost 200 homes. "There was a pall on the whole congregation," says Bill, who handles a weekend Mass at the parish whenever he’s in town. "It was tough. These people (the Cooks) were communion distributors at noon Mass, and many people knew them. Their son was very active in the youth group at church." In Bill’s homily, which was recounted the next day in The Cincinnati Enquirer, he asked worshippers to remember what is important in times of tragedy: "The bottom line: Things can be replaced, but life comes to an end. When God calls, we must go."

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The massacre of 12 students and a teacher in Littleton, Colo., on Apr. 20 had special meaning for two friars of the Province. During his 17 years in Denver, Anthony Fedell said he occasionally visited Columbine High School, site of the attack, for musical programs in keeping with his interest in choral music. "Choral reading sessions were presented there," he said, "for choir directors in the area, so I sometimes took advantage of them. ItÍs a beautiful school in a nice area. I was really shocked to learn what had hap-pened there." Declan Madden, who for 30 years has ministered to his "Senior Roadrunners" through monthly bus trips around the Denver area, was asked for his own personal observations: "I help each Sunday at a nearby parish. A few of the young people from All Souls parish attend Columbine. None were injured or killed. These teens and families are known in the parish and are saddened deeply. "As soon as the students were freed and met their families, they went on their own to two Catholic churches, Light of the World, and Mother Cabrini to pray. They were joined by parents and friends but the students made the first move to God. Many prayer serv-ices have been held. All were well attended despite a heavy, wet, spring snowstorm. "Students are saying they do not blame God. Rather, they thank God for being spared. "One girl was in the library (scene of most killing). She and others tried to hide under a table. She said, ïI prayed that God would protect us. One of the the gunmen looked under the table but didnÍt shoot. I think God put a shield around us!Í "One victim was asked, ïDo you believe in God?Í She answered the gunman, ïYes, I believe in God.Í ïWhy?Í she was asked, and then he killed her. "I talked to a police lieutenant two days after the killing. He said they (police) are astounded at the sophisticated bombs used„32 were placed around and could be detonated by motion sensors. Knapsacks were used to carry the bombs. Since nearly all students carry knapsacks, it took hours to examine and defuse any bombs. All sacks and lockers had to be searched. "The police believe more than two were involved, because of numbers and placement of bombs. Both teen gunmen committed suicide, shots to their heads. Our area mourns."

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