Priests turned away from
entering the scene of the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April said
they understand the actions of the police in the heat of the moment.
After two bombs exploded near the finish line April 15, wounding more
than 260 people and leaving three dead, two priests rushed toward the
scene from nearby St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine on Boylston Street.
Oblate Father Tom Carzon, director of seminarians for the Oblates of the
Virgin Mary, reached out to The Pilot, Boston's archdiocesan newspaper,
after he saw media coverage surrounding their experience.
An opinion
piece in The Wall Street Journal described the priests in close
proximity to the victims when the police turned them away from the
scene. Social media and other news coverage spread the story from there.
"The twist that this story has taken in some places just doesn't
reflect my experience on that day at all," he said.
Father Carzon said
he understood the police turning people back, including clergy, in light
of the situation.
"They were trying to keep safe a very unstable,
chaotic area. Even the police who were there on the perimeter, they had
no idea what was behind them. All they knew was that they needed to
clear out the area, and they had no idea how much they themselves were
standing in harm's way," Father Carzon said.