The following words were delivered by University Chaplain Jerry Streets at the memorial service for Sean Fenton ’04 on Sunday, Jan. 21 in Battell Chapel:

The burden of grief we share as a University community because of the death of Sean Fenton is compounded also by the deaths of Kyle Burnat, Andrew Dwyer and Nicholas Grass. We pray that their families will be comforted knowing how difficult or impossible it is for them to imagine being comforted as a parent who has lost a child. We pray that each beloved son is in God’s eternal care.

We pray for the recovery of Brett Smith, Zachary Bradley, Cameron Fine, Chris Gary and Eric Wenzel and strength for their families. Any forms of expressing our feelings about this accident seem inadequate and we search for answers that will not come or satisfy our grief. We are indeed vulnerable as human beings and need to care for one another and cherish the life given to us. We find in this moment strength in the weakness of one another’s arms. We are supported in our effort to endure the difficulties, fragility and pains of life through our relationship to one another. We experience an enabling spirit whether or not we consider ourselves religious or spiritual in some way or use religious language to describe what happens when we gather together in community to reach out to one another.