The scene of the crash in Macoun - 10 Jun 2012 Estevan RCMP.

14 June 2012

Estevan Priest Remembered After Train Collision Death

Macoun Saskatchewan - A gentle man with a great enthusiasm for the church was Father Joel Rama through and through.
 
Rama was the parish priest at Estevan's Roman Catholic church.
 
He died Thursday morning in hospital from injuries sustained when a train collided with his car in Macoun, just after 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
 
Father Lorne Crozon, rector of the Holy Rosary Cathedral and vicar general for Archdiocese of Regina, spent a short time with Rama, an assisting priest at the time, in Estevan.
 
"My impression of Father Joel was that he was one of those immediately likable kinds of men," Crozon said on Thursday.
 
"As soon as you met him, you liked him... and he really had a great enthusiasm for the people he was ministering to."
 
Rama immigrated to Canada five years ago from the Philippines, where he was a member of the diocese of Virac.
 
After initially assisting in Estevan, he moved to Assiniboia, where he served as parish administrator.
 
He returned to Estevan as parish priest close to four years ago.
 
According to the RCMP, Rama was driving north on Appleton Avenue in Macoun, 170 kilometres southeast of Regina, when his car was struck by a northwest-bound train.
 
Rama sustained serious injuries and was transported to Weyburn before being flown to Regina General Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
 
He died from his injuries on Thursday morning.
 
"Members of the parish are devastated," Crozon said.
 
"They are deeply, deeply, sorry that this has happened to their parish priest."
 
Funeral arrangements are yet to be confirmed, but Rama's family in the Philippines has been contacted and it is believed his brother is making his way to Saskatchewan.
 
RCMP said the intersection where the collision occurred is marked with railroad crossing signs and the train lights and whistles were working prior to the accident.
 
Macoun mayor Janice Blenus says the town has been asking for booms at the railway crossing for years, and Sunday's collision was the third incident there since January.
 
"It's so sad that there has to be a tragedy like this to get attention," she said.
 
"Everyone's very upset, because for years we've been saying the same thing, we need these, or someone's going to die, and now someone has."
 
The incident remains under investigation but charges are not expected.
 
Author unknown.