Priest saves children then drowns

Forthe · Post by **Forthe** » July 31, 2003, 10:39 am

Thursday, July 31, 2003 Posted: 1254 GMT ( 8:54 PM HKT)

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- An Italian parish priest jumped into the sea and saved seven children before drowning.

Father Stefano Gorzegno, 44, dived into the waves in his priestly robes when the children got trapped by strong undercurrents, but collapsed with his lungs full of water, local police said.

He had taken about 50 children aged between 12 and 16 to Termoli, on the Adriatic coast, on a day trip Wednesday. Seven of them got into difficulties.

"He saved all of them, but just barely," a local police officer told Reuters. "A hero's funeral will be held on Friday morning."

He said the priest, from the southern Bojano parish -- a mountain town west of Termoli -- was an expert swimmer and scuba diver.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europ ... index.html

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » July 31, 2003, 11:35 am

Yeah, and good morning to you as well

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » July 31, 2003, 11:57 am

i thought this was going to be a joke:

Priest saves drowning child....

by pulling out of his mouth and juking on his face

Carry on.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » July 31, 2003, 12:10 pm

Oh man Voronwe....oh man!

I guess someone had to go there!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » July 31, 2003, 12:13 pm

it was easy, but somebody had to do it.

Forthe · Post by **Forthe** » July 31, 2003, 1:06 pm

This man is a true hero IMHO. That is why I posted it.

The fact that he was a priest had nothing to do with it. The title was a copy\paste of CNN's.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » July 31, 2003, 1:15 pm

Definitely a hero. The epitome of a selfless act. The man should be canonized!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » July 31, 2003, 1:19 pm

i agree he is a true hero. and my joke was not only cheap, but tasteless.

i have no regrets!!

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » July 31, 2003, 1:22 pm

Speaking of canonizing, how fucked up is this??

http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/Cr ... Splits.htm

/boggle

oh the catholic church!

Kelgar · Post by **Kelgar** » July 31, 2003, 1:30 pm

He might be alive if he were smart enough to lose some of the articles of clothing that get somewhat heavy when soaked, ie: the robes. Nonetheless, congrats on the Catholic church for finally making headlines on a topic other than molesting little kids!

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » July 31, 2003, 1:46 pm

Kelgar wrote:He might be alive if he were smart enough to lose some of the articles of clothing that get somewhat heavy when soaked, ie: the robes. Nonetheless, congrats on the Catholic church for finally making headlines on a topic other than molesting little kids!

Maybe, but those few seconds could be the difference between a 7 year old girl being pulled out by riptide and not found for several hours. Nice potshot though. I am trying my damndest to not call you a moron right now, I really am.

Kelgar · Post by **Kelgar** » July 31, 2003, 1:55 pm

Say whatever the fuck you want. This is teh flamevault after all. I'll admit that the priest had cajones and deserves all the honor, recognition, and ceremony that will come at his funeral.

However, I really don't give a shit if you think my potshot at the Catholic Church is a low blow.

*edit* redundancy

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » July 31, 2003, 1:55 pm

It's not that he wasn't smart enough...he just didn't think about it. A SELFLESS act. He didnt think of himself at all, only saving the kids.

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » July 31, 2003, 2:04 pm

Kelgar wrote:Say whatever the fuck you want. This is teh flamevault after all. I'll admit that the priest had cajones and deserves all the posthumous recognition and ceremony that will come at his funeral.

However, I really don't give a shit if you think my potshot at the Catholic Church is a low blow.

The entire point of my post was not your low blow, I really dont care about that, I expected it on this thread. My point was how ridiculous you sounded saying he should have gotten undressed first, and had the audacity to insult his intelligence over a selfless act to save childrens lives. I am quite sure the parents of these children although saddened by his death, would probably not have the details of his rescue altered one bit. Stick to bashing the church, leave rational thinking to the adults you mental midget.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » July 31, 2003, 2:17 pm

I'm suprised that a priest surrounded by little kids wasn't nekkid.

Kelgar · Post by **Kelgar** » July 31, 2003, 2:19 pm

The entire point of my post was not your low blow, I really dont care about that, I expected it on this thread. My point was how ridiculous you sounded saying he should have gotten undressed first, and had the audacity to insult his intelligence over a selfless act to save childrens lives. I am quite sure the parents of these children although saddened by his death, would probably not have the details of his rescue altered one bit. Stick to bashing the church, leave rational thinking to the adults you mental midget.

Uh huh. Nice one, but needs a bit more salt.

My point was made. I'll rehash it again just for you, you mental midget. I'll start off by saying that anyone who has ever tried to swim wearing full regular clothing is aware how fucking hard it is. Wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and shoes is already hard as hell to just even tread water in a damn pool, let alone a large fucking body of water like a sea or an ocean. Wearing a damn robe to top things off would make it doubly more difficult.

Luckily for those kids, that priest must have been a very strong swimmer for him to have been able to pull that off. However, I'll still say that it was incredibly stupid of him to not take the 5-10 seconds it would have taken to make his job at least 50% easier.

Fesuni Chopsui · Post by **Fesuni Chopsui** » July 31, 2003, 2:19 pm

masteen wrote:I'm suprised that a priest surrounded by little kids wasn't nekkid.

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » July 31, 2003, 2:22 pm

Kelgar wrote:
The entire point of my post was not your low blow, I really dont care about that, I expected it on this thread. My point was how ridiculous you sounded saying he should have gotten undressed first, and had the audacity to insult his intelligence over a selfless act to save childrens lives. I am quite sure the parents of these children although saddened by his death, would probably not have the details of his rescue altered one bit. Stick to bashing the church, leave rational thinking to the adults you mental midget.
Uh huh. Nice one, but needs a bit more salt.

My point was made. I'll rehash it again just for you, you mental midget. I'll start off by saying that anyone who has ever tried to swim wearing full regular clothing is aware how fucking hard it is. Wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and shoes is already hard as hell to just even tread water in a damn pool, let alone a large fucking body of water like a sea or an ocean. Wearing a damn robe to top things off would make it doubly more difficult.

Luckily for those kids, that priest must have been a very strong swimmer for him to have been able to pull that off. However, I'll still say that it was incredibly stupid of him to not take the 5-10 seconds it would have taken to make his job at least 50% easier.

Dude, you and I disagree on a few seconds here is what it boils down to. I apologize for the name calling.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 31, 2003, 2:37 pm

masteen wrote:I'm suprised that a priest surrounded by little kids wasn't nekkid.

lol

regardless of his career decisions, it was a nice act.

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » August 1, 2003, 5:42 am

heh Kelgar talking like an idiot? No really?

I can guarantee you that if it was me I would not take the time to strip off my jeans etc. Shoes yes. Also remember there were stong undercurrents (or whatever it is called) which is VERY hard to swim against alone, never mind towing 7 kids.

Ridiculing what is probably a way more selfless act than you have ever or will ever do is stupid and shows quite a bit about your character. Make fun of the church, not the person who behaved like a true hero.

Kelgar · Post by **Kelgar** » August 1, 2003, 6:37 am

Right....

Please quote where exactly where I belittled the act of saving the kids. Try rereading again, smart guy. I belittled the act of either ignoring or not using common sense in how this guy spent his life saving those kids.

Also, I never implied that he should have stripped down to his undies before diving in. Shoes and robe would have taken mere seconds and he would likely have easily bought those seconds back with being able to swim far more efficiently.

Nice try though.

Kelgar · Post by **Kelgar** » August 1, 2003, 6:47 am

If anyone else's pussy is still bleeding, please let me know and I'll see if I can special order a few of these bad boys from that Canadian artist based out of Ontario.

Forthe · Post by **Forthe** » August 1, 2003, 8:27 am

Well Kelgar you assume that his robe was a huge factor in his drowning. Possibly, but just as possible it had little effect. Another assumption is he didn't remove the robe after diving in.

Silvarel Mistmoon · Post by **Silvarel Mistmoon** » August 3, 2003, 12:03 am

mental midget

I like that one, it will be great to use on my daughter who is a teenager.

IF you have a teenager in your house you will understand the humor to that.

Ceredwin · Post by **Ceredwin** » August 4, 2003, 4:00 pm

Skogen wrote:Speaking of canonizing, how fucked up is this??

http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/Cr ... Splits.htm

/boggle

oh the catholic church!

Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic are entirely seperate churches.

Skogen · Post by **Skogen** » August 4, 2003, 5:09 pm

Ceredwin wrote:
Skogen wrote:Speaking of canonizing, how fucked up is this??

http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/Cr ... Splits.htm

/boggle

oh the catholic church!

Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic are entirely seperate churches.

What's your point?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 5, 2003, 5:11 pm

"Priest saves children then drowns"

If it was "Priest drowns then saves children" we'd have more to work with! It would probably bring up a discussion about Jason vs Freddie with Jason having spent so much time at the bottom of the lake you'd have to wonder why the priest remained good after drowning and Jason flipped. This is all speculative of course.

Izna Marcos · Post by **Izna Marcos** » August 6, 2003, 5:57 pm

wouldn't it be the children were naked..not the priest?lol...or am i confused?*Ponders*

And as to the robe thing, if he was a great swimmer, as mentioned, and scuba diver, i do believe he prolly had a training course somewhere where he would have had to swim fully clothed. I know i had to,jeans suck btw, so i would've gladly taken the robe.Just thought i'd mention it..

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » August 6, 2003, 6:19 pm

You cannot graduate boot camp unless you can tread water fully suited up with combat boots on for 5 minutes.

Izna Marcos · Post by **Izna Marcos** » August 6, 2003, 6:30 pm

Mine was American Red Cross Lifeguard training, was long sleeved shirt and jeans, socks and at least tennis shoes, they prefer boots though.Then they give you a 15lb weight and make you tread water,i think 5 minutes...maybe it was less though. It was interesing,i'll say that. Least after we finished we could take all that off, and just wear our suit.

And i dont scuba dive, but i know they prolly have something you have to do for it, for emergencies. Those wetsuits aren't exactly light when wet.