One of the greatest sports people to ever live, Kobe Bryant sadly was killed alongside his daughter, Gianna and a number of friends on Sunday evening (Irish time).
Bryant was a devout Catholic and himself and his young daughter attended Mass prior to getting on his fateful crash.
Fr. David Barnes of Boston said that Bryant had been at Mass the morning of his death.
“As sad as Kobe’s death is,” the Boston University chaplain tweeted, “a friend texted me today to tell me that a friend of hers attends the same Catholic church as Kobe and saw him this morning at Mass.”
“There can be nothing more consoling to those who mourn than to know that a loved one worshipped God just before his death because worshiping God is what heaven is.”
In 2015, Bryant credited talking to a priest as a turning point after he was arrested in 2003 in which he was accused of raping a woman in a Colorado hotel room. Kobe admitted to a sexual encounter but denied sexual assault and apologised to the accuser, later reaching a settlement in a civil lawsuit.
“The one thing that really helped me during that process—I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic—was talking to a priest,” he told GQ.
“It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ’Did you do it?’ And I say, ’Of course not.’ Then he asks, ’Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ’Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ’Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point,” Bryant explained.
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