Church of the Oaks in Cotati recently joined with a group of Petaluma churches in a bell-tolling campaign on the first Friday of every month to mourn and protest the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

This campaign was started on National Gun Violence Awareness Day – June 2, 2023 – when four Petaluma churches – Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma, St. John’s Episcopal Church, St. Vincent’s Catholic Church and Elim Lutheran Church – simultaneously tolled their church bells from 9:35 – 9:40 AM. This is the exact time and amount of time on Friday, December 14, 2012, that it took for a gunman with an AR-15 style rifle to kill 20 students and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Church of the Oaks, became involved on the first Friday in July, when its minister, Patrick McCarty, tolled the church bell in this 116-year-old Cotati landmark that is located on the corner of West Sierra and Page Streets. Other members of Church of the Oaks are volunteering to “ring out danger” on the first Friday of every following month. The plan is to continue tolling the church bells “until this epidemic is successfully halted by appropriate government action,” in the words of the June 2nd event organizer David Dodd of the Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma.

The original organizers of this effort are hoping that additional churches in the county, state and around the nation will join in to ring out the danger. Additional local churches who have recently joined in this movement include: Petaluma United Methodist (Rev. Herrmann rings a hand bell out front), B'Nai Israel Jewish Center (Rabbi Bochner sounds the shofar), and the North Bay Hindu Center (where a conch is sounded). In addition, First Presbyterian Church of Petaluma and the Petaluma UCC support the effort.

All churches emphasize that there is so much more to be done once the bells have awakened the citizens to the danger of gun violence. Individual congregants of the member churches and members of each community are encouraged to engage in other meaningful activities, such as phone calls and letters to legislators, working with local law enforcement to conduct regular gun buy-back programs and becoming involved with any of several nationwide organizations working to end gun violence, including Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, Sandy Hook Promise, and Brady United.