Christ the King Church in Ann Arbor will no longer offer concealed pistol license (CPL) classes, the church’s priest announced on Facebook Tuesday afternoon.
Edward Fride had sent out a letter defending his decision to offer the book-based portion of the course—not the live fire instruction—at the church after some parishioners expressed concern.
The Detroit Free Press reported Monday that the Lansing Catholic Bishop Earl Boyea said in a statement that guns and gun lessons do not belong in a Catholic Church. The Diocese of Lansing oversees the Christ the King Church in Ann Arbor and Fride said in his Facebook post that he would respect the bishop’s decision.
“As our Bishop, he is responsible for setting policy for our parishes and he has decided and publicly stated that CPL classes are not appropriate on Church property,” he wrote.
“That is his call to make and we will obviously follow his policy on this and on all decisions he makes as he shepherds this Diocese.”
Fride’s original seven-page letter was sent after an announcement during Palm Sunday mass that the CPL classes would continue at the church. He explained his reasoning by sharing his own history as a pacifist and conscientious objector from the Vietnam War who later embraced a more pro-gun stance.
“I began to consider a set of moral scenarios, ‘what would I do if’ scenarios. I eventually concluded that I was certainly no longer a pacifist absolutist; there were situations in which I would actively intervene, even to a lethal level if necessary,” he said.