Catholic op-ed expounds on Christians’ reactions to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, saying his faith ‘made him evil’s target’

Christians are particularly affected by Charlie Kirk’s assassination because “his loss registers as a personal attack on one of our own who died defending what we believe” and underscores a harrowing broader reality for believers, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association argued in a Sept. 12 New York Post op-ed.

“The setting of his death conjured Nero’s Rome. Encircled in the arena, speaking with Christian civility until his very last breath,” Ashley McGuire wrote. “The brutal execution. And then the heartless and outright cruel response from so many.”

“It’s all too familiar for Christians — and there is simply no doubt it will be the inspiration for countless young men and women to live their faith boldly,” she added. 

She expounded on how Kirk’s main message of the importance of faith and family “grew louder and louder over the years,” and how he spoke often about Christ, frequently quoted Scripture, and said he wanted “to be remembered for courage for my faith.” 

McGuire’s op-ed headline stated that “Kirk’s Christian faith drove him – and made him evil’s target.” Kirk’s faith was the inspiration and foundation of his message and work, which often involved going to the academy, which McGuire described as “the modern-day lion’s den,” to engage with students and help them encounter truth. 

“He boldly spoke the truth about the dignity of the human person, especially the unborn, about marriage, about gender,” McGuire wrote. “And it cost him his life.” 

The assassination came just two weeks after a shooter attacked students attending Mass in Minneapolis. McGuire wrote that that attacker “was mentally deranged,” and the same may be the case for Kirk’s assassin. 

“But that doesn’t change the reality that Catholics and Christians more broadly feel under siege,” McGuire wrote. There is now a constant police presence at the Catholic school her children attend, she noted, and a policeman stands outside Sunday Mass at her church. 

“This is our new reality,” she continued. “So Kirk’s death feels personal. Who will ever forget the image of Erika Kirk being driven to meet his casket, crying as she displayed his cross necklace and the religious medal he wore when he was murdered in cold blood.”

McGuire concluded her op-ed with a prayer for Kirk’s soul, after recalling a statement Kirk made years ago about how death cannot kill the names of good men. 

“The Christian’s only consolation in moments such as these is that while this world will fade away, the soul does not,” she wrote. “May the Lord receive Charlie Kirk’s. His name, and his witness, lives with us.”