Fr. Bob Bedard--Rest in Peace

Here's the Citizen's piece on Fr. Bob Bedard. I'll be doing my own, probably today.

Father Bob Bedard was loved by the students he taught because of his self-deprecating humour.

OTTAWA — Father Robert Bedard was 46 years old on Oct. 27, 1975, when a troubled student named Robert Poulin kicked open the classroom door and eyes glazed, began firing his shotgun.

“Father Bob” was a witty, charismatic teacher whose religion class was packed with Grade 13 students that Monday. One would die of shotgun wounds and several others were badly injured. Many more still carry the psychological scars.

In the basement at Poulin’s Ottawa South home, police would later find the body of a young girl he had befriended and who, we learned later, had agreed to go to his home because she felt sorry for him.

The killings were senseless acts that traumatized the city and ones that Father Bob was likely still struggling with when he died Thursday as fellow priests prayed and sang hymns, delivering what one described as “truly a beautiful and holy death.”

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Father+Robert+Bedard+1929+2011+Passionate+priest+caring/5521348/story.html#ixzz1aO9CAk7N