"Let's put this another way: does anyone you know run over to a murder scene and ask questions? Of the very small percentage of people who do such things, how many have no apparent relationship with the victim outside of social acquaintance?"
Last fall, the middle-aged daughter of a friend died. Within a short while, many friends were at her home, as the police investigated, to see what had become of their friend, and to comfort the family of the deceased, also our friends. The friend died of natural causes, but the police told us little in the first hours after her body was found. Their refusal to give any information made some of my friends ask their questions all the more insistently.
The article says little about the relationship between Cardinal Bernadin and the murder victim. Except, he seems to have been a senior faculty member at Loyola University, in the cardinal's archdiocese. I quote:
"Pellegrini had also served as chair of the Sociology Department of Loyola University of Chicago."
Knowing a little how the relationships work between chanceries and Catholic universities (I graduated from the Catholic University of America, and met our own archbishop several times at campus events - as a student - not even as a faculty member, or the CHAIRMAN OF A DEPARTMENT.), I would find it entirely unsurprising to find out that the two men knew each other.
Thus, it may have not been so odd, after all.
sitetest
I spent a number of years at Marquette U. During the period, the Archbishop of Milwaukee (Cousins) lived ACROSS THE STREET from MU and I NEVER saw him on campus.
Loyola, like Marquette, is a Jebby school. On the other hand, CU is a school run by the US Bishops, and the Bishop of Washington DC can be found there often, as you have related.
Further, your analogy re: Pelligrini v. your family friend is similarly flawed. For openers, your friend had a family; Pellegrini seemed to live alone and certainly was not married with children. BIG difference.
In the case at hand, Bernardin seemingly had no one to whom to offer 'help.' This is not like offering to bring a meal for the sake of the mother.
He just showed up at a murder scene.