Flowers at the Abbey

Late summer flowers up at Mt. Angel Abbey.

Taken en route to the evening prayers with the seminarians, in the crypt chapel beneath the Abbey. One of the seminarians, now Deacon Bernie Starman, offered prayers for the seminarians (Matt Molnar and Jared Cheek, of the Kansas City diocese) from Mundelein who were killed in a car accident two days earlier just before evening prayers began.

Prosecutors have charged Robert Spaulding, 27, of Evansville, Wyo., with reckless homicide and driving under the influence, Mundelein Police Sgt. John Monahan said. Matthew Molnar, 28, of Overland Park, Kan., died early Thursday at an area hospital after the car Spaulding was driving lost control and smashed into a tree around 1:45 a.m., Monahan said. Fellow passenger Jared Cheek, 23, of St. Marys, Kan., died of his injuries Friday morning, he said. Authorities charged a fourth passenger, 36-year-old seminary student Mark Rowlands of Columbus, Ohio, with impersonating a police officer and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after authorities found a handgun and old deputy badges inside the car, Monahan said.

Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman Colleen Dolan said the students were driving back from having dinner at a restaurant when the car's driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid hitting a deer. Molnar and Cheek were sitting in the back seat and were ejected from the car, Dolan said.

And importantly, there seems to be a pretty good reason that Mark would have a badge...and finally, Matt had a blog that's worth a look...especially through the comments made by people to his last post.