Two of the four nuns injured in multi-vehicle crash released from the hospital
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WTXF) - Two of the four nuns injured in the multi-vehicle crash on Route 322 in Delaware County December 10 have been released from the hospital. And, it takes a lot of faith to look at the mangled Buick and see the positive.
But Sister Barbara Jean, CSFN, the provincial superior of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth has an abundance of faith.
"What's in my mind and my heart is extreme gratitude," says Sister Barbara Jean. "It's almost as if God's hand was there, because when you look at the pictures of the car, I think it's a miracle that the sisters escaped the vehicle with their lives."
Four nuns, who are Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, were on their way back from visiting Longwood Gardens Sunday night, when their car was struck, head-on, by a vehicle that crossed the double yellow lines on Route 322 at Foulk Road in Bethel Township, Delaware County.
The nuns, and that other driver, were trapped inside their crushed cars for 30 minutes while emergency responders worked to free them.
Sister Barbara Jean paid a hospital visit Tuesday.
"There are cuts, there are bruises, there are stitches, there are broken bones," she says, "but there's nothing that would be as severe as you would imagine, coming out of that car."
Among the injured nuns is sister Mary Anthony, whom FOX 29 viewers met back on November 7th, when Good Day Philadelphia showed her students at Christ the King school in Northeast Philadelphia paying tribute to military veterans, just ahead of Veterans Day.
Sister Barbara Jean says kids and their families touched by the nuns have reached out to express their support in this time of need.
"God can use anything to bring his message of love and concern," she told FOX 29's Bruce Gordon.
Oh, and those Bethel firefighters who helped rescued the Sisters? They were working with Santa Claus in local neighborhoods, trading candy canes for donated toys, when the accident detoured them to Route 322.
"Their job was to help these people, and they came the way they were. Gave the gift of themselves. Not a bad gift."
The accident is still under investigation. Authorities say it was the other driver--a 21-year-old Delaware county man--who crossed into oncoming traffic and cause the crash. There is still no word on whether criminal charges will be filed.