(LifeSiteNews) — The “proper human response to evil is anger,” Fr. Mike Schmitz told Megyn Kelly on Wednesday, soon after the death of Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk.
Fr. Schmitz, the host of the popular “Bible in a Year” podcast, joined Kelly, a conservative commentator and Catholic, to process the assassination of Kirk, a 31-year-old father, husband, and conservative activist.
“Please help us understand, I don’t know how to process it,” Kelly said, fighting back tears. Fr. Schmitz began by saying he was praying for Kirk’s family and friends.
“We live in a broken world,” Fr. Schmitz said. “God is good,” but humans have used their freedom for evil, the priest said.
Soon after, Kelly shared her own frustration with processing the situation. “I feel so angry.”
She said a previous guest said to “react in love,” but Kelly said, “All I feel is deep, deep anger. And I know I’m not alone. And how do you process that,” she asked.
“That’s not a healthy emotion. It’s not something you should stay mired in, it eats, it corrodes you from the inside, and yet I know millions of people are feeling it,” she said.
Fr. Schmitz responded that “anger is the proper response,” even while there are other stages, such as grief and acceptance.
He then pointed out that “there were times when Jesus saw injustice, where Jesus saw evil … He was angry.”
“There were times when people refused to reach out or refused to say it was good to reach out to help the helpless,” and Jesus, Fr. Schmitz said, “looked at them with anger.”
If people did not react to evil, like Kirk’s shooting or the shooting several weeks ago at a Catholic school in Minnesota with anger, something would be wrong, Fr. Schmitz said.
“The proper human response to evil is anger,” he said. “God’s response to evil is anger.”
Kelly interjected that she wanted to know how to keep “the Devil” away from her kids and didn’t want “evil coming for them.”
She continued to say that “God expects you to work to get in,” you cannot just get into Heaven by being “a good person.”
She shared while she wants to help others, “right now I want vengeance,” including wanting the killer to “suffer” and to keep evil away from other loved ones.
“Anger can be a positive emotion,” Schmitz said.
“Sometimes you need to fight for the right thing,” he said, drawing a parallel to William Wilberforce’s fight against slavery.
He did warn that anger can be bad. “Anger is an active emotion. Resentment is when things settle,” he warned.
“Anger can move us to do good,” he said, pointing out how Kelly could use her platform to call for people to come together and move forward together.
“We can’t afford to go into resentment, but we have to know how to choose what to do with our anger,” the priest said.
Speaking through tears, Kelly expressed her feelings about the targeting of individuals for holding “core Catholic beliefs.”
“We just don’t want to see ours shut down for standing up for core Catholic beliefs … like children aren’t born in the wrong body and we shouldn’t be divided by race,” Kelly said.
Fr. Schmitz reminded viewers that Kirk said he wanted to go to campus to keep up dialogue, saying when people stop talking, violence ensues.
“We fight through debate,” he said, echoing Kirk’s sentiments.
Suspected killer arrested
Law enforcement reportedly has Kirk’s alleged shooter in custody, as reported this morning by LifeSiteNews.
Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old, reportedly made comments suggesting he killed Kirk. His father reportedly turned him into police after another person told Robinson’s dad.
This morning, Utah Governor Spencer Cox gave a press conference on the situation.
“Authorities also were told of a recent conversation between Robinson and a family member in which they talked about Kirk coming to UVU, and the reasons why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints he had, the governor said,” as reported by The College Fix. “In the conversation, Kirk was described as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘full of hate,’” Gov. Cox said.
