4 dead, 1 injured - Yes, it was a Tesla

Four people are dead and another is in hospital after a car driving through downtown Toronto at a high rate of speed crashed into a guardrail and struck a concrete pillar on Lake Shore Boulevard, just after midnight today.

Of course any vehicle that hits a guardrail at 70 or 80 mph is likely to be written off, but it may not have been the impact alone that resulted in the casualties. A Toronto FD inspector said "the vehicle lost control, struck a guardrail and then struck a concrete pillar. Upon impact, the vehicle then caught fire." And yes, it was a Tesla.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they discover a "significant fire", said Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop. "Our crews worked to quickly extinguish the fire and then, once the fire was extinguished, our crews noted a number of persons inside the vehicle. Under the direction of the coroner's office and the Toronto Police Service, Toronto firefighters carefully extricated the bodies, and they are now in the care of the Office of the Chief Coroner."

Images like the one above showed the charred and crumpled vehicle being hauled away from the site of the crash. Chief Jessop went on to say that the intensity of the fire was "directly linked" to the battery cells in the Tesla, and noted that "thermal runaway" has been a growing concern with lithium-ion-powered devices.

He explained that lithium-ion battery packs have been known to reignite, even weeks after an initial fire, so "we had to take extra care this morning in reopening the Lakeshore...and removing and transporting one of the battery packs that was ejected during the collision. We worked with Transportation Services, Solid Waste and Parks and Recreation to arrange for a dumpster to arrive where the Toronto Fire Service placed the ejected cell into the dumpster, covered it with sand, and we have escorted that that dumpster up to a yard to make sure that it is safely disposed of."

Walt is happy to see Elon Musk working assiduously for the re-election of President Trump [Good on yer, sir! Ed.] but that doesn't mean you should go out and buy one of his (or anybody's) sparky cars.

VIDEO: More on the meaning of the Notre Dame fire

This for all the non-Catholics out there who can't understand why Walt and others are making such a big fuss about the partial destructionby fire of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. In "Notre Dame in flames: part of the Great Chastisement?" (WWW 16/4/19) I saw the tragedy as evidence of God's displeasure with the modern Roman Catholic Church. A similar view was expressed by Michael Matt in "Notre Dame will rise again!" (WWW 17/4/19).

But Notre Dame was... still is... much more than a house of worship for Christians. The building itself embodies and symbolizes the history and culture of European civilization, for the history of Christianity is the history of Europe and the entire Western world. That stone truth is discussed in this video by Bill Whittle and the men of Right Angle. As far as I know, none of the 3 is Catholic is Catholic, and that's just the point.



Notre Dame is immensely important as a symbol of Western civilization. If it is not rebuilt, or if it is "modified" to make it "more modern" and "inclusive" -- say by putting an Islamic crescent at the top of a new spire -- that would represent the finality of the decline of the West. Now is the time to resurrect not just the cathedral but of the ideas and values that informed the building of the cathedral. God save Notre Dame... and God save us Christians!

How "Heaven" looked... before the fire

This magnificent depiction of "Heaven, from below" graced the interior of St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church, in Brampton, Ontario (in the Eparchy of Toronto), before the terrible fire of last Easter. The beautiful art and architecture embodied in the church building can never be reproduced exactly, but, thanks be to God, a new temple is expected to ready for consecration in 2016.

Thanks be to God, yes, and thanks also to all who have answered appeals for help with Rebuild Fund. Here is a true story of Heaven-sent support, as recorded by the church's Pastor, Archpriest Roman Galadza.

Those of us who were able to attend the Benefit Concert and Dinner arranged on our behalf by the Ukrainian Orthodox Community of Toronto had a wonderful experience of brotherly love. Some 300 friends of our parish were in attendance. The hall was nicely decorated, the concert by the Canadian Bandurist Capella was delightful and the food excellent. In the course of the evening a number of donors came forward to make the eventual total raised for our Rebuild Fund to approximately $28,000.

And then, the miracle! A Ukrainian philanthropist sent up a note to have the organizers announce his donation in memory of his father, +Illya. The amount -- $250,000! All were stunned. I had to have people assure me I had heard correctly. A quarter of a million dollars given our community by someone who was here just once! – for a wedding!- but that was enough to convince him and his wife that our community is special and deserved his support. Certainly he and his family will be in our grateful prayers for as long as we pray in the new temple!

I have been asked why we are accepting donations to rebuild the temple, since insurance is covering the costs. Actually, we were underinsured. The coverage was not indexed over the past 10 years and we were short at least 25%. Catholic Mutual will be making a lump-sum payout which will enable us to begin rebuilding. If we are very careful, using the resources in our parish, this, plus what was allotted for the contents, might almost be enough to put up the walls. But the contents, the iconography, the books and sacred vessels – without donations from the community, the interior of the church could be quite bare for years to come.

This donation, and the donations being received every day, mostly from outside our parish community, enable us to plan the interior at the same time that the structure is being erected. When our church is consecrated once again (summer of 2016, please God!) we look forward to entering through the doors into an interior that replicates what we once had. Yes, we were insured to replace the structure, but everything inside is still up to us, and our God-sent friends! God bless them!

As Father Galadza says, more help is still needed. Please click here to donate. The St. Elias Church community will thank you (and give you a tax receipt, if you're Canadian) and God will surely bless you!

St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church Christmas news

Archpriest Roman Galadza, Pastor of St. Elias Ukrainian Catholic Church, in Brampton, Ontario, has sent us this beautiful picture of the church building, as it was a year ago, before the great fire last Easter, which razed it to the ground.

 

Father Galadza writes:

A year ago, we were preparing to celebrate the Feast [of the Holy Theophany, the Nativity of Christ], as we had so many times before, in the beauty of God's temple, St. Elias, our spiritual home. There was so much to look forward to. Now, this temple is gone and we are forced to adjust, accepting God's will and the challenge of truly believing that "God is with us!"

As for the status of reconstruction of the temple, our architectural team is working on the drawings, intending to submit them to the city for approval shortly. Insurance coverage is sufficient to begin the work while donations toward the Building Fund will enable us to furnish the interior.

If all goes well, the foundation work will begin in May with completion by summer of 2016. We look forward and pray for the day when, God willing, what was will be -- once again!

If you would like to contribute to the Building Fund, please click here to make a donation online through CanadaHelps.  Or you can send a cheque in Canadian or US dollars, payable to St. Elias Building Fund, to St. Elias Church, 10193 Heritage Road, Brampton, Ontario, L7A 0A1, Canada.

Latest news on rebuilding St. Elias; your help is appreciated

Walt is pleased to note that "Rebuilding Saint Elias - UPDATE", posted nearly six weeks ago, is getting steady readership. The post consistently ranks in our top 5. Even better, it appears that some of you are being motivated to donate through CanadaHelps.org.

The St. Elias website reports that approximately $75,000 has been received from outside the parish for the rebuilding of this lovely Ukrainian Catholic church, which was completely destroyed by fire just before Easter. Father Roman Galadza, the pastor, writes: "This outpouring of support is most humbling – and it continues.... God bless our friends!"

The latest news is that the stone footings and foundations of the church building have been compromised to the extent that they will all have to be removed. Clearing of the site will take place shortly. This week, Ilya Galadza and a team of helpers will sift through the remains. Those salvaged items no longer able to be used for worship will be set aside and placed in a mohyla-mound on the property. Date and time of the burial service will be announced.

Concerts and other forms of fund-raisers are being planned. Details will be posted on the church website. If you're in the Greater Toronto Area and can attend any of these events, you'll receive a warm welcome. And remember, even if you can do nothing else, you should pray for the parish -- its pastor, its members and its church building -- and for peace, freedom and justice in Ukraine. The prayers of the faithful (at about 38:00) should be listened to carefully.

Today Walt has for you an excellent video of the visit to the church, earlier this month, of Patriarch Sviatoslav. It begins with aerial shots of the church property, the ruins of the building and the marquee in which services are now being held. Total running time is 54 minutes. If you have never heard the beauty of Ukrainian Easter music (much of it sung in English), you'll want to watch all of it! And there's a great aerial shot of the church ruins at the end.

St. Elias Church burned to the ground - PLEASE HELP!

This was the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Elias the Prophet, in Brampton, Ontario. The media describe it as an "iconic church", and so it was -- literally -- until yesterday morning, when it burned to the ground.

St. Elias was built in the early 1990s entirely of wood, in the traditional Boyko style which originated in western Ukraine. The main timbers were Douglas fir, imported from British Columbia. The cladding was western red cedar. The cupolas were shaped in the Cossack style of the 17th century. St. Elias was one of only two churches in the world with five cupolas rather than the usual three, the other being St. George's in Drohobych, Ukraine.

St. Elias had a magnificent Iconostas (literally "Stand of icons") in front of the Sanctuary, rising all the way to the highest dome. Even the ceiling over the Sanctuary was decorated with a series of icons. At the highest point was the "Pantokrator" icon of Christ "Ruler of the All" - an icon of consolation proclaiming the ultimate victory of love.

Now all of this is gone, reduced to ashes. Here is a photo of the great church in its death throes.

The fire broke out around 7 a.m. in the basement of the church. The cause has not yet been determined. By noon, only charred pillars and mounds of ash remained.

In a press release issued later in the day, the pastor, Mitrophoric Archpriest Roman Galadza, said the loss to the church is devastating. The church originally cost $2 million to build plus significant volunteer labour. Bohdan Turetskyy, an iconographer from Ukraine, spent ten years on the interior iconography.

Said Father Galadza, "This is devastating but no one was hurt and we will rebuild. The scriptures tell us 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord,' so we trust in His providence even in these difficult times."

"Expressions of sympathy and support have been coming in throughout the day and from throughout the world," Father Galadza added. "They are overwhelming and much appreciated."

If you are moved -- as I hope you will be -- to contribute to the rebuilding of St. Elias, you can send your cheque, payable to "St. Elias", to Father Roman at 10193 Heritage Rd., Brampton, ON, L7A 0A1, Canada. For the time being, online donations can be given through CanadaHelps.org.

Virtual tour of St. Elias - Click here for links to a YouTube series of short videos explaining the architecture and iconography of St. Elias. You will see how it was. Please help to rebuild it, to the glory of God!