How do you prepare for disaster? Here in Missouri we deal with tornadoes (rarely), hail (also rarely, but the other day was intense!), severe thunderstorms (quite often) and ice (at least once or twice every winter). Some things you can prepare for, and others you cannot. In ancient Israel the temple had "gatekeepers" who guarded the temple and anyone inside it to keep them safe. This was by the command of God and was practiced throughout her history (cf. 1 Chron 9:17ff).
This was their way of protecting the people of God and their priests, because the world hates God's people. What do we do today? Do we have "gatekeepers"? The fact that physical violence against the Catholic Church here in America is mostly a relatively new thing, means that we are still figuring out how to deal with it. Because it rarely came up in the past, we seem to have gotten a bit soft. We have gotten used to the idea of "religious freedom" which, while technically still "on the books" in America is not as much a reality in practice. Many people hate the Catholic Church and some go so far as to try to attack it. We know it happens, and we see it on the news.
In the Scriptures we find that this concept was referred to more than once. In the book of Psalms there is a wonderful passage that shows how they viewed this idea of safety and security for the people of God. We read there:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they prosper who love you! Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!” For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
Can we prepare for attacks from the outside and protect those inside the Church? Yes, and if we care about the safety of our parishioners at St. George we must do so. In fact, we already are doing so, and you may not even know about it. We do have a security team and they are already trained in how to keep their eyes open to keep us safe. They even have a website (https://towervigilance.substack.com/) to give information to show you how you can help us to have "peace" and "security" within the "towers" of our little parish. Pray for them.