By Kasia Anderson, Managing Editor
Top photo caption: Attendees view the special Sept. 11 displays in the narthex of St. Mary, Mother of God Church. Matt Marzorati photos
Marking the solemn and significant 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bishop David O’Connell, C.M., lifted up the “innocent, righteous souls” lost on that historic day.
Among the full crowd assembled for the Diocesan Mass of Remembrance that evening in St. Mary, Mother of God Church, Middletown, were victims’ children, spouses and other family members, standing as living witnesses to their loved ones’ memories as well as to their shared faith.
Photo Gallery 1: 9/11 Mass of Remembrance
Photo Gallery 2: 9/11 Mass of Remembrance
“These are not simply statistics or numbers,” Bishop O’Connell said in his homily. “They are lives: our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, neighbors, friends, each with a name, a family, a story, a future cut short.”
The numbers, however, were also important to recall. Bishop O’Connell noted that, of the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks, and the 674 from New Jersey, the parish of St. Mary lost 26 members – with some parishioners counting 37 – making the setting for the Mass of Remembrance especially meaningful.
Living memory, living faith
The living memory of those parishioners was palpable throughout the Mass itself, from prayers and tributes to a roll call, delivered by Deacon Bill Ross of St. Mary, Mother of God, of victims’ names following the Gospel reading. Deacon Ross, who has served in his current role at the parish for nearly four years, was among some 15 clergy members from across the Diocese’s four counties – Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean – gathered for the event.
Family members of 9/11 victims from Middletown – such as Eileen Hoey, widow of Patrick Hoey, who proclaimed the First Reading, Isaiah 32:15‑18; and Rob Kinsky, cousin of Greg Reidy, who proclaimed the Second Reading, Philippians 4:6‑9 – played key roles in the proceedings. Gifts were presented by Laina and Marisa Minervino, daughters of Louis J. Minervino, and Minervino’s widow, Barbara Minervino, was also present to honor her husband and receive a special blessing from the Bishop.
Parishioner Barbara Minervino spoke of how God has strengthened her in the 25 years since the day she lost Louis, who worked on the 98th floor of 2 World Trade Center as an accountant for Marsh USA. “I know one thing I found out after 9/11 – that God is with you through your grief. I had so many people come into my life, priests, people, just everyday people in the store, and he never left me alone,” she said. “He walks by your side every day. So, I still live 9/11 when I close the door to my house – the pain is still there – but he shares it with me.”
Congressman Chris Smith, who represents New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District and calls St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, “Mother Seton,” Manchester Township, his home parish, held high praise for the Bishop as a “good Shepherd” and attested to how his faith guides his role as a public servant. “It’s the core. It’s the foundation,” he said.
Congressman Smith added that he is inspired by how “the clarity of the teaching of our Church puts on all of us a burden, a holy burden, to care for the least of our brethren – the unborn child, their mothers, the poor and disenfranchised – and it all comes from faith.”
Gathering in renewed hope
Music for the Mass, from “America the Beautiful” to the “Peace Prayer of St. Francis,” set a pious as well as a patriotic tone. Visitors and members alike were welcomed by a single American flag draped over the entrance, and commemorative displays in the narthex included a stone from the crash site and another flag etched with the names of those who died on Sept. 11.
Bishop O’Connell’s homily also played on themes of hope and healing, and of looking backward to keep memory alive while looking ahead to the “sunrise” of Christ. “Darkness cannot overcome darkness. Only light can do that. For us, that light is Jesus Christ,” Bishop O’Connell said. “He was the sunrise on September 12. On this anniversary, let that light in once more, let it shine again. Let it encourage hope.”
Several of the faithful present for the Mass of Remembrance picked up on similar refrains in their own reflections.
Deacon Tom Quinn of St. Mary, Mother of God Parish, remarked how, with 25 years since the terrorist attacks in New York City, Shanksville, Pa., and Washington, D.C., many young people “weren’t even born yet. [We] just try to keep that memory going,” he said. “It’s a whole generation.”
Longtime parishioner John Wesley Brandon, who served at the Mass with several other several other members of the Vincent T. Lombardi Council, Knights of Columbus, felt the pain of loss from his own experience of 9/11 while praising the parish community’s close‑knit bonds.
Brandon, who is a Fourth Degree Knight, worked on 9/11 at the Bayway Refinery in Linden, NJ, and served as part of an emergency response team, evacuating non-ambulatory people from a building near the crash site. “We had to wrap people in chairs and carry them down from the 15th floor down, not losing one person, and out of the 18 guys, there’s only 6 of us still alive,” he said. “The other guys died of cancer.”
Though the losses still resonate, Brandon said, there is solace and strength in fellowship. “This parish is very close. Everybody knows everybody. If someone has a need then we all support that person. If one person’s hurt, that means we all hurt,” he said. “That’s what I love about this parish.”
