—– Pennsylvania Priest Runs Over Good Friday Churchgoers; Elderly Woman Dies (The Washington Post/The Associated Press; April 10)

FOREST HILLS, Pennsylvania: Authorities and witnesses say a priest drove into a group of churchgoers after a Good Friday service near Pittsburgh, killing an 89-year-old woman and wounding four other people.

Madeline Romell’s leg had to be amputated shortly after the Friday afternoon crash in the parking lot of St. Maurice Catholic Church in Forest Hills. She was pronounced dead about five hours later.

Four others were hurt, but Forest Hills Mayor Ray Heller Jr. says their injuries weren’t life-threatening. He says the injuries included a broken leg and a broken arm.

Parishioner Angela Thomas tended to the wounded, including a man pinned under the car. She says the priest told her the accelerator just went.

Witnesses say the priest served at St. Maurice’s.

—– St. Maurice Church Accident Victim Recounts Deadly Scene (Sadie Gurman/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; April 12)

Three people remained hospitalized and a Forest Hills church community began to mourn yesterday for a parishioner who died in a crash just outside church doors.

“The Lord’s grace will heal,” the Rev. John Skirtich told hundreds of parishioners who turned out for Holy Saturday services at St. Maurice Church last night.

[Why believe that the "Lord's grace" will heal when it wasn't good enough or strong enough or compassionate enough to prevent this accident in the first place?]

On Friday retired priest Elmer Kacinko drove his Buick LeSabre into a portico where several parishioners were chatting after Good Friday services. Parishioners called the crash a horrible accident.

[Atheists who believe in evolution and the Big Bang are often hammered by Christians for allegedly believing that things happen by accident. Why don't these Christians similarly hammer other Christians who explicitly embrace the Accident Theory of Life when it serves their needs?]

During last night’s candlelight service, Father Skirtich and church-goers paused to mourn Madeline Romell, 89, of Forest Hills, who died from her injuries, and prayed for those who were injured.

Donna Rossi, 46, of North Huntingdon, and Anita and Bill Schockling, of North Braddock, remained at UPMC Mercy yesterday in serious condition. Ms. Schockling, 51, is Ms. Romell’s daughter; Mr. Schockling is her son-in-law.

Nancy Del Presto, 56, of Wilkinsburg, who suffered a broken foot and was released from the hospital, recounted the crash scene.

She said Ms. Romell was sitting on a bench when Father Kacinko, 79, drove around to the entrance of the church, lost control and sped into the crowd standing under the shelter as several people, including young children, looked on.

“We heard shrieking,” she said. “It was just chaos.”

Ms. Del Presto had her back turned, talking about lunch plans with Ms. Rossi, who suddenly said, “It doesn’t look like that car’s stopping.”

Ms. Del Presto said she turned around and was “clipped” by the Buick on her left side, while Ms. Rossi was struck on her right. She suffered a dislocated elbow.

Ms. Romell was somehow pinned between a brick pillar and the car, Ms. Del Presto said.

She said she sat down and “talked to Donna, and tried to get her not to pass out. It’s just tragic. I’m happy more people weren’t hurt.”

Forest Hills police last night referred questions to an Allegheny County police accident reconstruction crew now handling the case, but police couldn’t be reached for comment.

It’s still unknown why Father Kacinko crashed.

“It was an accident,” said Jack Onufer, an usher at the church. “But we will pull together and we will heal.”

Father Skirtich said that the injured, with “broken bones and shattered psyches,” were more concerned for Father Kacinko’s well-being.

The priest, who retired from St. Francis Parish in Coral, Indiana County, has been assisting at St. Maurice for about 10 years.

“The first thing they said was, ‘How’s Father Elmer? Tell him not to worry. Tell him it’s OK,’ ” Father Skirtich said, adding that Father Elmer was in shock but “doing better” yesterday.

“(Ms. Romell) was a daily church-goer, so Father Elmer must have known her well,” Ms. Del Presto said.

“Everybody is really fond of Father Elmer. He’s been kind of a fixture here because he has been Father (Skirtich’s) helper. We’ll be sad a long time.”

It’s a sad story – one that I’d reverse or erase from history with a snap of my fingers if I could. Why doesn’t Jesus?

Why did Jesus allow such a tragedy to occur in the first place?

What kind of sado-masochistic deity allows one of his priests to be the cause of such a tragedy on one of the holiest days of the year?

Had the victims of this tragedy chosen to skip church and stay home on Friday like I did, they almost certainly would all be alive and uninjured today. What lesson does this teach prospective Christians?

As an atheist, it’s easy for me to answer these questions. Jesus is a myth; gOd doesn’t exist; shit happens.

If I were a non-Christian theist, they’d be fairly easy to answer, too. Jesus is a myth; Christians are worshiping the wrong gOd. They should switch to worshiping the real gOd or be prepared to suffer further consequences.

If you happen to be a Christian, how do you answer these questions? Is your Jesus punishing Catholics for practicing the wrong form of Christianity? (How loving is that?) Is Jesus testing his followers? (How loving is that?) Was this accident Jesus’s way of calling Madeline Romell home to heaven? (How loving is that? And why is it ok for Jesus to call people home to heaven by cruelly running them over with a car but it’s not ok for us to send ourselves to heaven with drugs when we’re afflicted with an agonizing case of terminal cancer?) Was Jesus powerless to prevent this accident? (How do you square that with gOd’s alleged omnipotence?) Could Jesus have prevented this accident but he decided instead to just sit back and watch it unfold? (What would you think of a friend who acted so callously? Why judge an allegedly greater being using lesser standards?) Is it all a holy mystery? (If it’s a mystery, how do you know that your Jesus is not actually an unholy manifestation of an evil gOd?)

Before you spend another Easter praising Jesus and celebrating his divine love, you might want to be sure you have good answers to these questions lest you end up misleading yourself and others about his actual nature.

(NOTE: This story is hardly a unique one. To learn more about a few others, see the entries I posted on Dec 26 and March 21.)