There are many reasons why I am not a nun. The main reason is that forgiveness is not my strong suit.
In the tragic wake of Sunday’s accident on Bristow Road, where 1 sister was killed and 2 more lie in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life, the sisters of the Benedictine Order magnanimously have requested that their tragedy be viewed in terms of alcoholism and drunk driving rather than used as a platform to rail against illegal immigration.
Politicians and news stations have flagrantly disregarded the sisters’ request. Sister Denise and the driver of the other car, Carlos Martinelly, have been plastered all over every TV screen and newspaper since the accident occurred early Sunday morning, as the 3 sisters were driving to Mass.
The Washington Post has attempted to honor the Order’s request in their front page story today. They have attached faces to this tragedy. It is impossible to discuss this accident without the illegal immigrant issue creeping in.
Nuns at Virginia monastery find room to forgive while mourning sister’s death
About 8:30 Monday night, the doorbell rang at St. Benedict Monastery in Prince William County, and Sister Andrea Verchuck, the sub-prioress, rose from her desk to see who was there. On the slate front porch stood a man and a woman
They looked contrite,” said Verchuck, 81, who has lived with other nuns in the wooded monastery for 66 years. The visitors’ hands were at their sides, their eyes cast down, as Verchuck greeted them.
“They said, ‘We’d like to talk with someone about the sister who was killed,’ ” she recalled.
The day before, Sister Denise Mosier, 66, riding in a car with two other nuns in Prince William, had died in a collision with an alleged drunk driver. The other nuns, 70 and 75, were critically injured. The man and woman at the monastery door were the parents of the driver charged with manslaughter in the crash. They had come to seek forgiveness for him.
The suspect, Carlos A. Martinelly-Montano, 23, is a Bolivian national whose family says he entered the United States illegally in 1996 but was currently working legally. His status has become a flash point in the heated debate over immigration policy. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security began deportation proceedings against Martinelly-Montano in 2008, after an earlier drunken driving arrest. But immigration officials, citing privacy laws, have declined to explain why his case still remains unresolved.
They looked contrite,” said Verchuck, 81, who has lived with other nuns in the wooded monastery for 66 years. The visitors’ hands were at their sides, their eyes cast down, as Verchuck greeted them.
“They said, ‘We’d like to talk with someone about the sister who was killed,’ ” she recalled.
The day before, Sister Denise Mosier, 66, riding in a car with two other nuns in Prince William, had died in a collision with an alleged drunk driver. The other nuns, 70 and 75, were critically injured. The man and woman at the monastery door were the parents of the driver charged with manslaughter in the crash. They had come to seek forgiveness for him.
Amid the tangle of legal issues and cauldron of emotions surrounding Martinelly-Montano’s recent case, a moment of simple purity unfolded Monday night, Verchuck said. Alejandro and Maria Martinelly stood sobbing, telling Verchuck how sorry they were, saying that their son, a father of two young children, is a heavy drinker and that they had tried to set him straight.
“I said, ‘Please get help for him so he can stop, or he won’t be a good parent,’ ” Verchuck recalled. And true to the spirit of her religious order, the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia, she said what they had hoped to hear:
“We wanted to let them know we hold no grudges.”
‘He’s a good man’
Martinelly-Montano, who has a record of numerous motor vehicle offenses in recent years, including drunken driving convictions in 2007 and 2008, was not seriously injured in the crash near Bristow. Besides manslaughter, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, he has been charged with drunken driving and driving after a license revocation. He is in custody at a hospital and has been ordered held without bond, said Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert.
When Maria Martinelly learned by phone Sunday morning that her family’s Subaru Outback had collided with a car carrying three nuns, killing one of them, she thought of Carlos Martinelly-Montano, the oldest of her three sons, she said in an interview.
“Oh my God — how did he find the car keys?” she said.
The parents, who live in Prince William, said they had been hiding the keys because of his drunken driving convictions. They said that after an early morning drinking binge, Martinelly-Montano found the keys in a closet and left.
Maria Martinelly recalled the conversation with Verchuck and a novice nun when she and her husband visited the monastery. “He had a bad drinking problem, but he’s a good man,” she told them.
The family entered the United States illegally in 1996, when their oldest son was 8, they said, and spent more than a decade as undocumented immigrants. In 2007, the parents, their daughter and their oldest son got work permits from the Department of Homeland Security, they said, even though they had been in the country illegally. Anthony Guerrieri, a spokesman for the temporary employment agency that hired Martinelly-Montano in April, said in an e-mail that the suspect “successfully cleared the . . . employment verification process and upon hire, was eligible for employment in the U.S.”
Federal and local authorities, however, said they consider Martinelly-Montano to be an illegal immigrant.
It seems that Martinelly’s status really hasn’t been totally determined. The rest of his family is documented. Could it be that he was being deported because he was an habitual offender? Anyone who is not a citizen can be deported. That includes legal residents. More importantly, Let’s put a face on this tragedy. We have an 8 year old boy brought to America about 15 years ago. This boy, for whatever reason, has the same demons that many Americans have–alcoholism.
We pay a great deal of lip-service to alcoholism. Churches and businesses smugly host meeting rooms, often on a nightly basis, to AA groups. However, when it comes right down to it, we, as a society, are very judgemental about alcoholism and drinking in general. Drinking is fine if we never ever become intoxicated. The problem is, alcohol impairs judgement and judgement is what is needed to cut off intake. Those with a problem, a psychological or physiological dependence on alcohol, are doomed from the start. The nuns get it. The rest of us don’t.
Perhaps all of us in Prince William County need to take a closer look at how we contributed, at least in spirit, to this tragedy. I seem to recall that one of the components of the July 10, 2007 Immigration Resolution was that illegal immigrants would be ineligible to receive services for substance abuse. Now who does that punish? Alcoholism crosses all strata of society–all nationalities and races. Not allowing illegal immigrants access to alcohol rehabilitation seems like penny wise and pound foolish…especially when one weigh the potential consequences of untreated alcoholism.
I believe we need to honor the Benedictine Sisters’ wishes and re-commit to helping those with substance abuse problems. We need to mourn the loss of a sister from our community and pray for the speedy recovery of Sister Connie and Sister Charlotte. It is high time to stop politicizing this horrible accident. We should be able to discuss illegal immigration without disregarding the wishes of the Benedictine Nuns.
Thank you for writing such a comprehensive analysis on this very tragic event.
Although I have never had a DUI or DWI, I certainly have known good people who have made bad mistakes and found themselves suffering the consequences due to addictions.
There were 294 drunk driving fatalities in Virginia in 2008, an 11 percent decrease from the previous year.
http://www.maddnova.org/
I’d venture to say that not all of the 294 drunk driving fatalities in Virginia in 2008 involved illegal immigrants.
Methinks you are right, Starry.
One thing I want to highlight: Illegal immigrants are not eligible for substance abuse threatment in Prince William County as per the Immigration Resolution. Perhaps we need to rethink that restriction.
It seems to me that the community wins when substance abuse is under control.
I don’t know nuns. I’ve never known any nuns on a personal level. But the reaction of these ladies gives me a great respect for these individuals.
The majority of people who may some day be affected by similar circumstances aren’t nuns, and don’t forgive such blatant disregard for others, and so their wishes to discuss this tragedy must also be respected! I’m sure the illegal supporters would rather keep the focus on the Tea Party since they were on a roll for awhile, but the entire Tea Party hasn’t caused personal injury to anyone , and so the focus has shifted to the more obvious danger to the populace.
Great, now we want to add more burden to the taxpayer by treating substance abuse by illegals? Fantastic! How about throwing their butts back across the border instead! I’m not Mother Teresa and I don’t have to care for the world’s derelicts. You see, under lawful immigration these substance abusers wouldn’t be candidates for citizenship anyway. Don’t you get it? Lets help the citizens of this country first, and stop diminishing their aid by giving a portion to those illegally here. No support they’ll self-deport!
Hey Starry, but how do you know they weren’t illegal?
SA, you are aware that it isn’t an absolute that he is still illegal. He came here as an 8 year old child. Is that HIS fault?
You know, part of me feels the same way you do about rapists, robbers, and murderers…why should I pay to clean them up. Then I start feeling that way about winos and bums who don’t work. But then when I engage my brain, it makes sense that we don’t want addicted individuals as part of our society.
I don’t have a problem with deporting Martinelly, after he serves his time here.
Do you forgive those who are here legally if they drive drunk? What if they are involved in a fatal accident? Frankly, I think the entire focus on illegal immigration is disingenuous and disrespectful to the nuns.
I don’t think anyone should be asked about status to receive alcohol or substance abuse treatment. If we aren’t hypocritical, then it should be treated like any other disease. We don’t deny medical attention to anyone.
Funny thing about nuns, they’ll forgive someone for brutally murdering one of their own, but talk out of turn in class and they’ll beat the living sh1t out of you! ; )
SA, I am trying to figure out who you are considering an ‘illegal supporter’ and where the Tea Party is fitting in.
I am not sure what constitutes an illegal supporter.
I’ll tell you how I know that not all of the 294 drunk driving fatalities in 2008 involved illegal immigrants: because three of those fatalities were high school classmates of my daugher. They were drinking after graduation and wrecked along 495 in Fairfax.
That’s how I know.
I am enjoying listening to the hypocrisy on TV this morning on the subject of birth right citizenship. 28% think that babies born of illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship and 67% say no.
Where is that rule of law now? “Rule of Law’ is such BS when used as rhetoric. How CONVEEENIENT. ‘Rule of law’ hits me like ‘activist judges.’ It all depends on whether the person agrees or not.
Amend the Constitution if you don’t like what it says. That idea should go the way of the flag burning amendment.
So MH, why do you think we have a problem with illegal immigration? It’s because those crossing the border get more support from us than their own people. The more support with offer, the more will come. Where is your compassion for those in our own country? The reality is that every dollar spent on an illegal is one less dollar spent on our own. Cold hard fact. At some point you have to draw the line, and this country has finally picked up the chalk!
MH, do you not consider historically why the 14th amendment was drafted? Do not circumstances change, and with that so must the intent of the original? I always consider the people who drafted the document and the norms of the period. If the founding fathers were here today what do you think their response would be? I know same sex marriage would have them rolling in the streets!
Corey said on WMAL this morning that he was “just waiting” for an incident like this. I’m not even going to comment.
Corey wasn’t the one ‘just waiting’ remember he was behind the Resolution, and it was the illegals that wanted him to ‘just wait’! He took action to try and prevent this, or at least reduce the possibility.
@Need to Know
Just waiting so he could politically exploit the situation? That would not suprise me.
Or perhaps it was because he supported the Immigration Resolution which made substance abuse treatment out of reach for illegal immigrants.
I thought that was a totally bone-headed move at the time. Penny wise and pound foolish politics.
Drug and alcohol abuse takes a tremendous toll on communities. It is medical treatment and should be treated as such. We don’t ask status for medical treatment.
@Second-Alamo
When will Corey crack down on illegal employers so there would be no jobs to attract people like Montano to our community in the first place?
SA, I could ask you the same thing about the 2nd amendment. Things have changed and folks don’t need to go hunt their food or defend themselves against hostile Indians, the British etc. It says what it says. The 14th says what it says.
Corey is using immigration for all its worth.
@NTK, Corey creates the magnet. He just created another magnet Tuesday night.
SA, yes, the chalk has been picked up by a Rule of Law crowd who wants THEIR rule of law, not what the law really says. Its simple. If they don’t like the 14th, amend the constitution rather than try to find loopholes.
Unfortunately, this case is a bad case to hang the national immgrant hat on. Martinelly was brought here as a child. He was working LEGALLY. He just didn’t have permission to be in the country. I didn’t realize there was a difference. I thought if you had documents to work, you were legal. Guess not.
“Just enforce the law” seems a little less clear the more I read. People say this rhetoric without knowing the law themselves. That’s part of the problem.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080406937.html
Today’s Grandy Group’s recorded show should be available tomorrow:
http://www.wmal.com/sectional.asp?id=37571
Stewart was giddy about having something to support his point of view, even if it is the death of an innocent person. Listen for yourself when it’s posted.
I agree with his point – government at all levels dropped the ball on Montano. However, he sees this as a political opportunity.
Again, if illegal employers faced consequences for their actions, Montano would never have been in Prince William County to cause the Sister’s death.
MH, thank you for this heart rending and thought provoking post. You need to shorten it and send it in as an editorial somewhere.
@El Guapo
The Benedictine Sisters in Bristow are just amazing people.
http://www.osbva.org/About_Us/aboutus1.htm
Repeating here….Carlos Martinelly, according to the post, had the paperwork to work legally. Apparently having papers to work legally doesn’t mean you are in country legally. How confusing.
Where was the outrage over the drunk driver who killed the grandmother and 3 year old? He was sentenced last week. 3 years. Susie Delgado watched as her mother and son were killed. What did Corey have to say about this incident? Not one word.
Thanks for the link, Pinko. I wish they would have a donation site at that website which includes paypal.
There’s an update on the Sisters’ page at the link I posted.
There is also a link to a description of the code of St. Benedict, one they still live by.
MH, we know why Stewart doesn’t care about the Delgados’ case. Caring about anything that doesn’t get him attention or power just doesn’t fit into his political day planner.
If he has any decency in him, he needs to make a public statement about this other case. there is a family hurting from that.
And I have to say this. There is something to be said about the father and mother Martinelly. They had the decency to humble themselves and go directly to the Monastery to apologize for their son and beg forgiveness. That is real decent. I wonder how many Americans would have done that?
There is darn little a parent can do if a child has a substance abuse problem.
@Moon-howler #25
MH – true, but why did his family come here illegally? Jobs from employers who knew there would be no consequences for their illegal behavior. My point remains that addressing the root cause of the problem (greed by employers – campaign contributors) must be dealt with effectively to get any progress.
I have no idea why the Martinelly-Montano family came here from Bolivia or how they came here. Much of this case is swathed in privacy. I don’t disagree about the employment.
The family might have come here legally and stayed, thus falling out of status. We end up with a situation where the kids know very little else other than America. We cannot blame Carlos Martinelly for being here illegally though. That situation really was out of his control. We can hold Martinelly responsible for drunk driving.
I will make this one encrypted statement: I can certainly understand why some of the people who have been so vocal want to steer away from the root problem which is drunk driving. I speak of several people.
So Stewart, the pro-development man, takes money from developers and builders that hire illegal immigrants. We buy the houses these immigrants have built. We elect Stewart into office. He openly says he is unwilling to help ANY immigrant here illegally. (Yes, I heard him say that at a VOICE meeting.) Then Stewart pretends he is championing all of us.
@Moon-howler
That is really a tease, MH. No fair.
“I believe we need to honor the Benedictine Sisters’ wishes and re-commit to helping those with substance abuse problems. We need to mourn the loss of a sister from our community and pray for the speedy recovery of Sister Connie and Sister Charlotte. It is high time to stop politicizing this horrible accident. We should be able to discuss illegal immigration without disregarding the wishes of the Benedictine Nuns.”
Thanks, Moon.
I disagree, however, that churches & businesses “smugly” offer meeting space for AA. I applaud clergy and business owners who recognize what a lifeline “the rooms” are to those struggling with addiction, one day at a time. For anyone who wants to understand alcoholism better, here’s the place to start: http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/
@cindy b
Are we politicizing the incident because we criticize Stewart for politicizing it? First and foremost, I want to honor the wishes of the Benedictine Nuns. Maybe we should not even be discussing this in the context of Stewart.
@cindy b
Many people are smug about it, Cindy. People are conflicted. Many people see it as a disease, offer help (such as meeting places, etc) and yet are all too ready to crucify drunks.
I can be smug also and I have alcoholic family members. I can talk real big about alcoholism being a disease, treatment should be given to all, blah blah blah. Then I can turn on someone and be very judgemental. I am not unique.
@Need to Know
Probably.
It is rather hard to get away from it though.
@Cindy (again) I do applaud those who offer space, volunteer time, etc. Perehaps I am harsh about using the word smug.
Religious issues are put in the press all the time. For example http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/08/prop-8-proposition-8-gay-marriage-judge-walker-/1?loc=interstitialskip With a title of “Prop 8 judge to religious believers: It’s not about you”
I think the media, politicians and those interested in the story will run with it anyway they want. Personally, I believe that you can’t really say the focus should be on drinking (substance abuse) and then say don’t focus on the (accused illegal alien) part of the equation. You either ask for privacy and to reflect on a tragedy or you say we need to look at what happened. As MH illustrated above — what if being an illegal alien contributed to his drinking? Could it be a ‘risk factor’.
I just don’t think you can splice the issue.
I just reread the article about how the Sisters are dealing with this and regret having said anything at all in the context of our political discussions. I will even apologize to Corey for what I wrote above. I will continue to criticize him for his actions on land use, immigration, etc., but we are not honoring the Benedictine Nuns and their sacrifice with what we’ve been saying.
Corey will have to deal with own conscience for what he says and does about this incident. I’m still very angry with him for Tuesday night but should have thought more about what I wrote here before posting. We should all try to be more like these Sisters.
There are a couple of issues here and they are not necessarily intertwined other than the people involved.
First, we should let the grieving grieve without the controversy. But unfortunately, the only way to keep the other issues in play, we tend to bring them up and prevent the grieving their due.
When this is over, we do need to get answers from both local government and the Federal government for what looks like failures that contributed to the tragedy. Not caused but contributed. To think that these other issues had a causal effect is to think that if the sisters had chosen to go to another mass, they wouldn’t have been there. And that is absurd thinking.
Why was a habitual offender continued to give apparently light sentences? It appears that he may have been involved in more traffic related things than drunk driving, which should have carried a penalty of up to 1 year in jail for the second offense within 5 years. I wouldn’t know how to confirm but another site had a list of offenses in Fairfax allegedly by the same person. We should be outraged about how our traffic laws are enforced especially when stiff penalties were prescribed for drunk driving. Does anyone really think that this is only the third time this person drove drunk (or only the 3rd time caught)? Stiff penalties were enacted to stop the persuade a person to stop the activity or even further penalties will arise. If you don’t follow the script, there is no disincentive. That is an issue the local prosecution/judicial system must answer.
Also, when this is all settled down, we should get an answer as to why the Federal government placed a low priority on a repeat offender also. Sure, one traffic violation should not raise of priority, but all press reports indicate that it was not the first time for this individual. Did the Federal government think that he “had gotten it out of his system”? Habitual offenders do not always just straighten up.
But these issues can wait–let the mourning have their time to mourn.
I will apologize to Corey when donkeys fly. I already said I was not nun matieral. I have tried to honor them but this conversation is not possible without bringing up status because of the airwaves and yes, Corey.
I will just be the bad girl who keeps trying to redirect towards the drunk driving.
TP, I agree with you about the drunk driving issues. Habitual offenders need some serious intervention, if not jail time.
Then there is that old question….how many people can honestly say, in their entire life, that they have never consumed alcohol in the form of beer, wine, hard liquor, brandy, sherry, etc and then driven? Afraid I can’t. Even my church serves sherry at communion.
Why can’t communities have pub rescues or other community services where those in bars can call for a ride? We do very little to prevent people form driving drunk but then we get all judgemental when someone gets caught.
Also before a restaurant gets a liquor license, they should be required to make breathalizers available so people can assume responsibility for their own behavior. These measures won’t do away with all drunk driving but its a start. Right now we do very little to change behavior. We only punish.
I saw it again! “Illegals built our houses” That alone should earn them the death penalty, not just deportation.
@Moon-howler
Moon – discussing drunk driving as a social issue is absolutely fair game here.
@Moon-howler #41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEep5BrexT0
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Corey is the most vile of human beings in my opinion. This is the message sent out by the Benadictine Sisters. I HATE that Corey has required people to respond to his disgusting opportunistic abuse of this Nun’s death. More hate and rhetoric is being directed at this this drunk driver than any recent tragedy I can recall. Where was the outrage over the grandmother and her 3 year old grandson that was killed by a drunk driver recently? Where is the coverage for Jean Smith and her son who were intentionallly brutally purposefully assisinated by a burglar?
The letter sent to the flock:
@NTK, and discuss it I have. However, I will not let the political agenda folks off the hook either. NAN…my new name. Not A Nun
“TP, I agree with you about the drunk driving issues. Habitual offenders need some serious intervention, if not jail time.”
Did you mean Rez? Did you confuse me with TP?
By the way, there is a huge difference between sherry at church and losing complete control of a vehicle. But you made my point, all we know about this person is three instances of drunk driving–what percentage of the time do people drive and get caught–I bet it is damn few. But when they are egregious enough to get caught, the law prescribes harsh penalties.
Making your own arrangement when you exceed the limit for driving is a matter of personal responsibility. No one should rely on a government program to drive you around.
Rez,
I agree, personal responsiblity is not replaced by any government mandate! I will say though, good substance abuse intervention is not accessible to all. I would WAY rather invest my tax dollars in prevention and treatment then jails and funerals.
Elena, you won’t find a stronger proponent of your opinion about prevention than I.
Elena, even if you have good intervention, how do you get people to go? Unfortunately, from my perspective, many attend because of some penalty action pending against them, not because they necessarily want help. In a lot of cases, substance abuse feels better than the situation they are in. So as much as one could hope and pray, feeling good usually trumps hopelessness, even if the feeling good is a sham.
As the old saying goes, you don’t start healing until you admit to a problem. That means that it comes very late in the process after much damage has been done.
@Second-Alamo
The “founding fathers” did not draft the 14th Amendment–a good many owned slaves.
Think you might find this Wikipedia comments about the 1th Amendment enlightening:
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.
Its Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving people (individual and corporate) of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken. This clause has been used to make most of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states, as well as to recognize substantive rights and procedural rights.
Its Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction. This clause later became the basis for Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court decision which precipitated the dismantling of racial segregation in the United States.
@Need to Know
You may have hit the nail on the head. Look how many words have been devoted to not discussing this issue. Is there something wrong with this picture or what?