Cardinal Keeler discusses accident that took life of his friend

Published: 2006-10-24

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore said he believes his longtime friend who was killed in an automobile accident in Italy had a premonition about his own mortality and was ready to be with the Lord. The 75-year-old cardinal made the comments during an Oct. 23 press conference, his first public appearance to specifically address the automobile accident in which his right ankle was broken and one of his traveling companions, Father Bernard Quinn, was killed. The driver of the car, Msgr. Thomas H. Smith, 75, broke several ribs in the Oct. 7 accident. Another vehicle struck the passenger side of the car in which the three vacationing American clerics were riding. Father Quinn, 78, mentioned at least four times during their trip to Italy that he was prepared to go to the Lord, Cardinal Keeler said at the press conference. "I found it strange, because we were having such a wonderful time," the cardinal said. "He must have had a premonition of it. He was ready. That gives us an enormous amount of consolation."

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