Virginia church shows great compassion to woman it never met

Chances are you never have heard of St. Stephen, Martyr Roman Catholic Church in Chesapeake, Va.

For the geographically unsure, Chesapeake is part of the sprawling Hampton Roads area in southeast Virginia most often recognized for Virginia Beach and the large naval presence in Norfolk.

Any connections between Chesapeake and Tampa, Fla., would seem thin outside of ordinary family relationships and friendships. That was certainly the case for Monsignor Michael McCarron until he read a newspaper story about two teens in Tampa who found discarded urns in a trash bin, and to their credit, handed them over to local police.

I don’t want to spoil the details of the story from The Virginian-Pilot for you, for the details are rich and worth investigating. As a teaser it ends with McCarron holding a memorial service for a woman he never met who died 10 years earlier in front of a huge congregation.

Once you read the story I hope you will agree it is a tale of compassion and caring that Christians regardless of denomination should respect.