Church mourns Texas bus crash victims

Texas Cable News has an article on a church congregation which is mourning the loss of 14 people in a bus crash last night. The bus was headed to Carthage for the annual Marian Days observance:

Those on the bus were heading to Carthage, Missouri. It is a small city known as the center of the annual Marian Days celebration.

Every year, as many as 60,000 Vietnamese Catholics from across the country head there for a three-day pilgrimage that celebrates the Virgin Mary.

It’s a trip parishioners from Vietnamese Martyrs have been making for decades.

“This is first time have a big accident happen here. In the past we always go up there. No problems. This time it’s a sad story,” said Tinh Trinh who is a parishioner.

Hai Le is one of the hundreds who has also made the pilgrimage.

He didn’t go this time, but his friends did.

Le said that many thought that boarding the bus would be safer than getting to Carthage by car.

“Usually people go on the bus because it’s the safest way to go. Rather than cramming into the truck like we used to,” said Le.

As one parishioner put it, it’s a tragedy for a tight-knit church group.

But for a people of faith, when God calls you home, that, he says, is a call you answer.