small world

[llywela]

Damn. That vicar who got murdered a couple of days ago in Trecynon, just a few miles up the valley? In work, we received a letter from him this morning, a reference for one of our new volunteers. The volunteer who deals with membership is here this morning - she says she spoke to him on the phone last Thursday about the reference - they had a conversation about the trouble he had with the post, because the name of his vicarage is 'St Fagans', and the post office keep confusing it with the St Fagans in Cardiff. He was murdered right outside that vicarage. :( Delor put a new reference form in the post for him that day, last Thursday, so if he died on Wednesday, then filling it in and sending it back must have been one of the last things he did. :(

Comments

[rosie55.livejournal.com]

Such a sad business. From what they were saying on the news last night, he was much loved by many local people and valued as part of the ministry team there. I suppose one of the risks of being a priest is that you do open your door to people in trust. It must have been dreadful for his family to have him murdered in front of them.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It's a horrible thing to happen. I thought that when I saw it on the news. And then getting that letter and hearing Delor talk about her conversation with him...makes it very real and close to home.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

Oh, God... How *awful*! Am I missing why the guy killed him? Was it a robbery?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I don't think the police have released any information about why it happened, what the motive was. This guy just...killed him. I'd imagine, with his ministry work, he could have come into contact with some pretty dangerous types, so who knows. It's just a really awful thing to happen. And then getting that letter from him this morning was just eerie, knowing that he was dead.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

Ugh. No kidding! :::HUGS:::

[rosie55.livejournal.com]

I think, as I sort of tried to say earlier, that because of the nature of their work, priests tend to have have an open door much more than other people which must put them at risk sometimes.
I once knew an earlier Bishop of Gloucester who was an inspiring guy. Very approachable and down to earth. He used to answer the door at the Bishop's house to all sort of itinerants, tramps etc and always invited them in and give them something to eat. One tramp told a local reporter that he was amazed to hear, on a repeat visit, the Bishop reminding his wife that "This is the gentleman who likes Branston pickle with his cheese sandwich." He cared enough to remember what he liked to eat. And, when one tramp was found dead (of natural causes) in the city centre, the Bishop took his funeral service because "He was my friend." A good man, as this priest seems to have been and who would probably not have been expecting his visitor to have been carrying a knife.
And it must have felt very eerie to get that letter from him.