The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called for prayer and for Catholics to continue to be instruments of peace in a broken world in a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“As we prayerfully remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I invite all Catholics to join me in prayer for the victims taken from us in acts of unjustifiable violence 25 years ago at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley, USCCB president and archbishop of Oklahoma City, in a September 9 statement released by the conference.
Archbishop Coakley continued: “In a special way, we lovingly embrace in prayer the victims’ families and friends, who still mourn the irretrievable loss of their loved ones on that day. We also remember the first responders and emergency workers, so many who gave their lives in selfless acts of courage.”
Many of those first responders and emergency workers were Catholics. Fr Mychal Judge, OFM, a chaplain to the New York Fire Department, was the first official named victim of the attack. He was killed in the lobby of the North Tower, having been struck by debris from the collapsing South Tower. At the time of his death, “Fr Mike” was ministering to his fellow firefighters, who then carried his body to a nearby Catholic church.
Archbishop Coakley further called for people to remember how, in the aftermath of the attacks, “our faith lifted us up and sustained us”.
“As a nation, we found ourselves turning to God in prayer and looking to our faith with a new intensity and a sense of unity,” he said.
Today, amid the numerous conflicts around the world, “let us renew our commitment to be Christ’s instruments of peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world,” said Archbishop Coakley.
“The building of peace in our country and around the world – a mission that enables us to be called children of God – is the great challenge of our time,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV, noted Archbishop Coakley, described peace as a presence and a journey, not a goal. “He says that even in places where only rubble remains, and despair seems inevitable, we still find people who have not forgotten peace,” said the archbishop.
“As we pray for our nation’s continued healing, for the souls of all those lost on that day and the comfort of their families, let us implore the Holy Spirit to conform us, increasingly, into the image of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and together build a civilization of love and universal fraternity.”
