Monday, May 20, 2013

Boston priests praise police but want clergy seen as first responders

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.