Wednesday is Day of Prayer for McLaughlin

The college flag will fly at half staff, and Taylor McLaughlin ’13 will be remembered at a 4 o’clock prayer service and 10 p.m. Mass.

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Taylor S. McLaughlin ’13 was killed in an automobile accident on Jan. 10.

CORRECTION APPENDED

The college has dedicated Wednesday as a day of prayer to remember Taylor S. McLaughlin ’13, who died near the end of winter break in an automobile accident.

The tribute will include flying the college flag at half mast, a prayer service, and offering the 10 o’clock mass for Mr. McLaughlin.

The day of prayer was announced Wednesday by college president Fr. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B.

“Whenever a member of our community dies, we all mourn the loss,” Fr. Jonathan said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is especially painful when one so young is called home to the Lord.

“At Saint Anselm we value every member of our community, whether here for many years or only a few months, whether old or young, whether well-known or just beginning to establish the bonds of relationships that endure even beyond death,” Fr. Jonathan continued.

A 4 p.m. prayer service will be held in the Abbey Church Lady Chapel (lower church).

The class of 2012, currently sophomores, are invited to a candlelight prayer on the quad between Brady and Bertrand Halls at 9:30 p.m. [CORRECTION APPENDED] The class will then process to the Abbey Church, for the 10 p.m. Mass. Campus minister Fr. Bernard Disco ’92, O.S.B., will celebrate the Mass and reflections will be offered.

Fr. Bernard and Fr. Anselm Smedile ’93, O.S.B., attended both the Montpelier, Vt. funeral. Campus Ministry director Susan Gabert ’91, campus minister Jocelyn Tremblay, and vice president for student affairs Joseph M. Horton joined Fr. Bernard and Fr. Anselm at the wake.

“Our faith calls us to look beyond tragedy to the redemptive power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we are called to prayer: to support the family and friends, classmates and teachers of Taylor and to pray that the Lord will take him, forever young, into the joy of God's Kingdom,” Fr. Jonathan said.

- gww

CORRECTION:

Several Dispatches articles (“Wednesday is Day of Prayer for McLaughlin,” “Taylor McLaughlin ’12,” and “Sophomore Killed in Vermont Car Crash”) have reported Taylor S. McLaughlin as a sophomore and member of the class of 2012. While Mr. McLaughlin did enroll at the college in the fall of 2008, but left the college only a few weeks into the first semester. He enrolled for a second time in the fall of 2009, and had completed his first full semester only weeks before his death. This article has been updated to reflect the college’s official classification of Mr. McLaughlin as a member of the class of 2013. Dispatches regrets the error.

“Wednesday is Day of Prayer for McLaughlin,” published on Jan. 20, 2009, correctly identifies the class invited to a prayer vigil as the class of 2012, the class with which Mr. McLaughlin first enrolled at the college.