A story of forgiveness in the face of tragedy inspires students during Catholic Schools Week

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

A story of tragedy, loss, grief and despair turned into a story of love, hope, forgiveness and mercy when Matthew and Rebecca Seifried turned to their faith after the death of their eight-month-old daughter, Lucia Iris. The Seifrieds traveled from their home in Michigan to St. Henry District High School Erlanger, alma mater of Mr. Seifried, to tell students their story.

On April 26, 2025, just days after celebrating the risen Christ at Easter, the young family of four was enjoying a peaceful evening by the lake when, “We see this massive white Toyota Tundra coming straight for us,” said Mr. Seifried. “It ended up continuing to come and hit Lucia. We knew instantly that she had died.”

Mr. Seifried sustained injuries to his knee and leg after the truck pinned him against a tree before tumbling into the shallow lake. The driver, relatively uninjured, was later arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence and was charged with seconddegree murder. The driver pleaded no contest to the felony charge in a January court appearance.

Mrs. Seifried and the couple’s eldest son were uninjured and accompanied the ambulances to the hospital where Lucia was pronounced dead. “We don’t even really have the words to explain the feeling other than just a complete and empty hollowness,” said Mr. Seifried. “It felt like a darkness that was shredding us apart from the inside.”

When the Seifried family was able to see Lucia in the hospital, they made a conscious decision that, “No matter what emotions we feel in the coming days, we will not let this take us from our God, from faith, from Christ. This is the cross that God wants us to carry, and we will bear it,” said Mr. Seifried.

In the days and weeks following Lucia’s passing, the Seifrieds felt God’s presence and knew that he was accompanying them through this journey of loss.

“We say nobody should have to go through what we’ve been through. But we do wish everybody could experience what it was like to have the presence of God in those two-week periods. If you did, you would never question if God is real; you would never question your faith,” said Mr. Seifried.

Together, the Seifried family began to choose forgiveness and eventually offered the driver a plea deal of 13.5 years in prison.

“Through much prayer, we decided that in order to show mercy as Christ has asked, we decided to offer a plea deal,” said Mr. Seifried.

“Us forgiving him doesn’t mean that it just erases what he’s done to us,” said Mrs. Seifried. “It allows us to be able to have peace in our hearts and to then allow him to start reviving his own soul.”

“We could make the choice of anger, bitterness, hate, or we can choose what Christ wants us to choose. We can choose love, forgiveness, mercy,” said Mr. Seifried. “And, while some days it’s much easier than others, that’s the path that we really want to choose. We want to choose love; we want to choose mercy.”