Fr. Groeschel on the Mend, Hopes to Be Back Soon

NEW YORK — Four months after an accident in Florida nearly killed him, Father Benedict J. Groeschel, whose books and retreats have won him a wide following, is working hard at rehabilitation and making plans for new projects.

The priest, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, will be based at Trinity Retreat, a clergy retreat center in Larchmont that is his headquarters as director of the Office of Spiritual Development for the Archdiocese of New York.

"I'm preparing to get back on the job, giving retreats at Trinity and writing and doing some television," he said. He even hopes to have a book completed by Christmas.

Achieving those goals will take time; he faces more physical therapy and probably more surgery. He will not be able to resume his hectic schedule, which had him traveling throughout the country and overseas to give retreats and conferences.

"Even though I'm 70 years old, I've never been busier than I was in the last year, both at Trinity and around the country," he said.

While he was in Orlando, Fla., to speak at the International Institute for Priestly Formation, he was struck by a car.

"Suddenly my life stopped," he said. "It literally stopped." He had no pulse or heartbeat, and medical personnel were giving up hope of reviving him when one of his companions begged them to keep trying.

That close call put his current condition in perspective. "If I have some small, residual physical handicaps, like using a cane," he told Catholic New York, archdiocesan newspaper, "I can't complain. I started at zero."

As the news of his accident spread, e-mails began pouring in to his order's Web site. It has received 700,000 hits since the accident.

He was crossing a street in Orlando on his way to buy food for his companions. There were no traffic lights, so he waited for the stream of cars to let up.

"There was an old bus, and I did not see there was a car right behind it," he said. The impact left him with a broken right arm and leg and other injuries.

In the trauma center at Orlando Medical Center 11 miles away, where Father Groeschel was taken after the accident, "I began to slip away," he said. "For a period of some time I had no pulse, heartbeat or blood pressure registered. The staff was giving up, removing their gloves, when Father John Lynch beseeched them to keep going. In 15 minutes they had a heartbeat and so that's when I started over again."

It has been a slow climb. For two months he was on a respirator and could not speak, eat or drink.

"I said the rosary over and over again, and I was able to meditate particularly on the glorious mysteries," he recalled.

What about the sorrowful mysteries? "I didn't need the sorrowful mysteries," he said. "I was there."

For the first time in four months, Father Groeschel has climbed stairs and walked 500 feet with a walker. The therapy is physically demanding, and he probably will have surgery on his right elbow. In the end, he will be left with limitations, but he remains hopeful.

Since late February or early March he has been recuperating at a facility outside of New York City in Westchester County. At the time he was moved there, officials said they would not release the name of the facility to avoid having it overwhelmed with visitors, as happened at the Orlando hospital.

Father Groeschel is the author or co-author of close to 30 books and has made numerous audio and video tapes. His latest book is "The Rosary: Chain of Hope." He is planning to write a book this year on 20 centuries of prayers to Jesus, adding, "Sooner or later, I'll write a book about faith and catastrophe."

His own catastrophe has had an unexpected consequence: Many people wrote and told him that it brought them to conversion, "some to the church, some from sinful lives," he said. He has no idea why, but remarked that "the letters are incredible."

Father Groeschel also spoke about the effect of the ordeal on his own spirituality.

"You have to trust God every day in individual acts of trust," he continued. "You can't just say once and for all, 'I trust him.' You have to keep working on it, and I'm so grateful for the help of my friends who prayed for me, that I would sustain the crosses God sent to me."

Father Groeschel writes a daily message on his order's Web site — www.franciscanfriars.com — where messages also may be written to him.

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