As we end Mary's month of May...
Power of the Rosary - Ted Bundy
May 26, 2009 09:27:57 PM TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) —
Monsignor William A. Kerr, a leading human rights figure whom serial killer Ted Bundy sought out to be his spiritual counselor on death row, died Wednesday. He was 68. Kerr was hospitalized May 3 after suffering a stroke as he concluded celebrating a Mass.Monsignor William Kerr was once speaking about his very first hospital assignment, ministering to a young burn victim dying from his injuries.
Later, he was called on to perform an even more ghastly duty. In 1978, he was called out to the sorority house in Tallahassee where the young female victims of the serial killer Ted Bundy were lying dead or dying.
Msgr. Kerr got the call from the police in the middle of the night to rush out to the sorority house. When he arrived he was told that all but one of the girls in the house were dead or near death, killed by a serial killer who was later to be known to the world as Ted Bundy.
After giving those last rites to the dying college girl, Msgr Kerr (then Fr. Kerr) was asked by the police on the scene to talk to the girl who survived unscathed. They wanted to know how she survived the brutal attacks, because Bundy had stopped right inside the door to her room, dropped his weapon, and left without touching her. But the girl would talk to no one but a priest. When Fr. Kerr approached the near-catatonic girl, she told him that her mother had made her promise before going off to college for the first time that she would pray the Rosary every night before bed for protection, even if she fell asleep praying the Rosary, which she had that night, so that when Bundy came into her room with murder on his mind, the beads were still clutched in her hands.
Later, Bundy would tell Monsignor Kerr that when he entered the girl's room, he just couldn't go on, he dropped his weapon, and he fled. Such is the power of our Mother's protective mantle.
Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. (Tallahassee, FL)
Third Sunday of Advent - The second week of John the Baptist, he has some
advice for us to practice as we wait for the Lord's coming."
No comments:
Post a Comment