Woman Loses Leg When Pennsylvania Priest Runs Over Worshipers After Good Friday Service

[wolfgang]

Another accident where and old driver stepped on the gas instead of the brake. There’s a minimum age for driving, maybe there needs to be a maximum age.

Prayers for the good Father and all the injured.

I don’t think there should be ablanket age limit. It depends on the person and their reaction time and skill…Look at the dumb things people do and drive like testing or using a cell phone…These are most exclusively younger people

I agree about the age limit and as you have pointed out - it isn’t always the older ones causing the problem.

Still praying for Father Kacinko and all involved.

:angel1:

 

[patwolford]

Long time reader, this is my first post, unfortunately.

I was a parishioner at Father Kacinko’s last parish assignment, at the former St. Francis/St. Bonaventure churches in Coral, and Lucerne, respectively. Since then, St. Bonaventure has been closed, and St. Francis has been merged with the former St. Louis Church, in Lucernemines, to form Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. Father was always such a kind and gentle man, I have no doubt in my mind that he is very, very distraught over this terrible accident. I grew up just a couple of blocks away from St. Francis and the parish house, and Father was a good friend of my family. My mom would always send him baked goods, and my siblings and I would visit him often. He would always take time to help and listen to anybody that he possibly could. He is also one of the most generous people I have ever met, and I always respected him a great deal, ever since I was a very young boy. He had a very profound influence on my life, and I served as an altar boy at many, many masses for him over the years, and was his right hand man for many. Please pray for him and for all of the people injured, and their families. I just spoke on the phone with him last week about going to visit him after Easter when his and my schedules will slow down, since he is very active at St. Maurice’s and all of its various activities, and I was serving as the Master of Ceremonies at both parish sites for Holy Week. He was missed very much when he retired, he spent nearly fifteen years at St. Francis/Bonaventure. He was very committed to the parish. He was the one that baptized me as an infant in 1988, gave me my Confirmation, and First Holy Communion.

Again, he is such a kind, gentle, and compassionate man. Please pray for him, and the families of all involved in this terrible accident.

 

[redrosetea]

I wil pray for him and light a blessed candle. The poor man this is such a tragedy for everyone involved

 

[beckers]

i am so upset with my fellow catholic answer members. I can’t believe you turned this into a black mark on the church thread or about how old you need to be to drive!!! LEARN CHARITY!!!

This women that died in a accident is the grandmother of one of my good friends. When i got the news as i got out of good friday service my heart cried in sorrow for Jon over the loss of his grandmother and for the priest. The priest knew Madeline and her husband and the other family members that were injuried very well. He is grief stricken and in mourning himself. Please stop the bickering and prayer for Madeline soul and for those who are still in the hospital and for the church and parish as this has been a very hard easter.

 

[rlg94086]

i am so upset with my fellow catholic answer members. I can’t believe you turned this into a black mark on the church thread or about how old you need to be to drive!!! LEARN CHARITY!!!

This women that died in a accident is the grandmother of one of my good friends. When i got the news as i got out of good friday service my heart cried in sorrow for Jon over the loss of his grandmother and for the priest. The priest knew Madeline and her husband and the other family members that were injuried very well. He is grief stricken and in mourning himself. Please stop the bickering and prayer for Madeline soul and for those who are still in the hospital and for the church and parish as this has been a very hard easter.

Hi beckers,

I will pray during Mass today for your whole parish, especially for the woman who died, her family and the priest. It is such a sad accident. Additionally, we should all pray for an increase in charity.

 

[redrosetea]

Beckers if you see this priest in the near future, tell him how many people care about him and hope he will be able to get past this awful event

As sorry as I feel for everyone, including the poor lady that died, I feel the sorriest for Fr.,because he is carrying the largest cross

 

[patwolford]

Long time reader, this is my first post, unfortunately.

I was a parishioner at Father Kacinko’s last parish assignment, at the former St. Francis/St. Bonaventure churches in Coral, and Lucerne, respectively. Since then, St. Bonaventure has been closed, and St. Francis has been merged with the former St. Louis Church, in Lucernemines, to form Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. Father was always such a kind and gentle man, I have no doubt in my mind that he is very, very distraught over this terrible accident. I grew up just a couple of blocks away from St. Francis and the parish house, and Father was a good friend of my family. My mom would always send him baked goods, and my siblings and I would visit him often. He would always take time to help and listen to anybody that he possibly could. He is also one of the most generous people I have ever met, and I always respected him a great deal, ever since I was a very young boy. He had a very profound influence on my life, and I served as an altar boy at many, many masses for him over the years, and was his right hand man for many. Please pray for him and for all of the people injured, and their families. I just spoke on the phone with him last week about going to visit him after Easter when his and my schedules will slow down, since he is very active at St. Maurice’s and all of its various activities, and I was serving as the Master of Ceremonies at both parish sites for Holy Week. He was missed very much when he retired, he spent nearly fifteen years at St. Francis/Bonaventure. He was very committed to the parish. He was the one that baptized me as an infant in 1988, gave me my Confirmation, and First Holy Communion.

Again, he is such a kind, gentle, and compassionate man. Please pray for him, and the families of all involved in this terrible accident.

I’d like to add an addendum to this post:

Before every mass, Fr. Elmer would sit in the confessional for at least half an hour, and if I remember correctly, he even did it before the 7 am morning mass. Now, if you compare it to most parishes now, which only have the 4 pm Saturday, or whatever time they use, confessions, he was sure sitting in there waiting a lot of the time. He cared very much for his parishioners. He was also the only priest from this area that would always wear his cassock, in my whole life, I never once saw him without it. I’m not sure if that changed after his retirement or not, but it was a very vivid memory when I was younger to run into him anywhere with his cassock on. He also used to have his altar boys use patens when he would distribute Holy Communion, and did not have EMHCs or even somebody with the a chalice with the Precious Blood of Christ in it.

He is such a good man, I hope that everybody that is involved in this awful tragedy can get through this.

 

[KathleenElsie]

I don’t understand. Who’s lacking in charity?

Anyone placing the blame on the driver, any driver, prior to knowing if the car had a mechanical problem is just wrong.

Also I am sure many drivers can remember having hit the wrong peddle no matter how old or young the driver is.

Praying hard for understanding and charity. Praying for the healing of those injured and the lady that died as well as her family.

 

[RedGecko]

Anyone placing the blame on the driver, any driver, prior to knowing if the car had a mechanical problem is just wrong.

Also I am sure many drivers can remember having hit the wrong peddle no matter how old or young the driver is.

Yes, assigning blame and passing judgment is the wrong course of action for us on the web. No one wanted this accident to happen, and there seems to have been no way to prevent it. The accident has caused much suffering. There is no reason for us to add to it, and every reason for us to pray for God’s mercy.

 

[Godfollower]

Anyone placing the blame on the driver, any driver, prior to knowing if the car had a mechanical problem is just wrong.

Also I am sure many drivers can remember having hit the wrong pedal no matter how old or young the driver is.

Praying hard for understanding and charity. Praying for the healing of those injured and the lady that died as well as her family.

Go back and re-read the thread. The original thread title (since renamed) was that this was “another black mark” against the church. We were all responding to that and saying that it was probably either (A) a mechanical problem with the car; or (B) a mistake by the driver – in either event, not a “black mark” against the church. The original thread title (preserved in the body of some of the first few posts) made it sound like the driver had deliberately driven into the crowd, and we were pointing out the much more likely scenarios.

No one (except, in the view of some of us reading the original thread title, the OP) was blaming anyone for anything. I don’t see how anyone could think that charity was lacking in this thread.

Of course we’re praying for all involved. But we felt a need to challenge the original description of this incident as a “black mark” against the Church. We meant no harm by what we said.