Kathy’s Encounter with Aidan

This is the second of three foundation documents that together capture the happenings that led to the initial institution of the Aidan’s Masterpiece club at St. Joseph High School.  The first is the story of the Servant King.  The third is Father Vince’s homily from the funeral Mass.  

Kathy Kershner is a theology teacher at St. Joe, and, at the time of the accident, was also the Coordinator for Christian Service.

A few days before the accident, she was substituting for another teacher in a class that included Aidan.  At the end of that class, she had an encounter with Aidan that made an impression on her.  The importance of that encounter was magnified for her in the days following the news. 

We went to our first all school Mass at St. Joe shortly after the accident.  This was before the Mass where I told the story of the Servant King.  At the end of that Mass, Mrs. Kershner came up and told Denise and I about her encounter with Aidan.  After hearing this, I asked Kathy to tell her story at the Wake service, and then again at a third all school Mass that culminated with the launch of the Aidan’s Masterpiece club.   

There is video of Kathy telling her story from both the Wake and the third Mass.  The video from the Mass is garbled in spots, but most of what she is saying can be made out.

What follows is my attempt to condense what Kathy said in these two videos into a single coherent narrative.  The writing is mine, not Kathy’s, but it should be sufficient to tell the tale.