Washington: The deadly Annunciation Catholic Church shooting in Minneapolis has triggered an urgent debate within Catholic circles: are stained-glass windows long celebrated for their spiritual beauty now a dangerous liability in modern security.
On August 27, a gunman opened fire through the narrow windows of the church during a school Mass, killing two children and injuring at least 21 others. Authorities confirmed that while locked doors prevented the attacker from entering the sanctuary, the thin stained glass became the channel for mass bloodshed.
Security specialists argue that the tragedy exposes one of the most obvious vulnerabilities in parish architecture.
“Your glass is the weakest point,” said Joe Bockheim, account manager at West Michigan Glass Coatings, which supplies protective film to churches and schools. “Unless reinforced, windows offer little resistance to bullets.”
Former Michigan State Police SWAT officer Thomas Mynsberge, now a security consultant, explained that installing bullet-resistant film can help. While such film cannot withstand high-powered rifles like the one used in Minneapolis, it may reduce velocity and lethality when it comes to handgun fire. “It buys time,” Mynsberge noted, “and time saves lives.”
Authorities believe the damage could have been far worse had the gunman breached the church doors.
“Annunciation had a policy to lock the doors once Mass began. That likely saved dozens of lives,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters. He described the act of shooting blindly through stained-glass panes as “particularly heinous and cowardly.”
The church’s security measures for its windows remain unclear, but experts insist the issue must now take priority.
Protective glass films, typically made of polyester or newer urethane compounds, are thin yet resilient layers designed to prevent shattering under blunt force. While initially intended to resist crowbars and sledgehammers, thicker films can also slow bullets.
Still, stopping high-velocity rounds reliably requires polycarbonate glass up to an inch thick. “The bullets just stick in it, almost like gel,” said David Carson of Michigan Glass Coatings. He cautioned, however, that such upgrades come at steep costs.
Installing film averages $20–$25 per square foot, while polycarbonate can cost up to 18 times more. For instance, reinforcing eight glass doors and sidelights at a Grand Rapids parish cost about $2,000–$2,500 with film, but a full polycarbonate solution would have required tens of thousands.
For cash-strapped parishes, the dilemma is real.
“If they can’t afford bulletproof, then break-proof is a good alternative,” said Brian Eaton, an Arizona police officer who leads a Catholic apostolate training ushers in church security. “Even if a gunman fires through, it delays entry and that’s critical.”
Carson agreed, stressing that incremental improvements are still worthwhile. “You don’t have to change everything overnight, but churches must begin taking these threats seriously. We know where the risks are. We just need to act.”
For many experts, the debate goes beyond material costs. Bockheim, himself a Catholic, expressed sorrow at the cultural decline underlying the attacks.
“Business aside, I want us to fix our people, not just our windows,” he said.
Yet as the Minneapolis massacre revealed, churches across the United States now face the grim reality that sacred stained glass, once a symbol of protection and beauty, may also be their greatest security flaw.