Ten years ago, faithful around the diocese came to their parish churches and prayed for comfort, for steadiness as they reeled in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

It was in these parishes that they gathered in remembrance of the reported 160 persons in the four counties of the diocese who perished that day. It was there where they mourned with their bishop, clergy and religious; supported each other through the pain and where, gradually, over the years, they began to heal.

On the 10th anniversary of that day, scores would turn once more to those hallowed landscapes. There, commemorative Masses would be celebrated and memorial moments would be dedicated. It was in these parishes that they would find nourishment, strength and love.

Gathering with Bishop O’Connell in St. Mary Parish, Middletown
Just outside the towering exterior of Mary, Mother of God Church in the New Monmouth section of Middletown, stands a small monument containing a steel relic from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

The monument would be the focal point of a brief memorial and blessing following the diocesan Mass of Remembrance on the Tenth Anniversary of September 11 celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.

The burned metal is a poignant reminder of the terrible loss suffered in Middletown where 37 residents – said to be the highest number in any New Jersey municipality – lost their lives in the attacks.

Many of those lost were members of St. Mary Parish where Mary, Mother of God Church is located.

And in the old adoration chapel and office rooms that once occupied the same space as the new church, a “huge amount of ministry” related to those deaths happened, said Msgr. Michael Walsh, the pastor.

“The offices were consolation rooms. The coffee and tea were on all day and all night during the initial bereavement,” Msgr. Walsh said. “The actual geographic space,” like the footprints of the twin towers, “is a place of memories for a lot of people.”

It was for such reasons that the parish was selected as the site for the diocesan commemorative Mass, said Msgr. Sam A. Sirianni, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, who helped coordinate the Mass.

Christine Timpanaro, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at the 10:30 a.m. Mass decided to stay on for the noon Mass with Bishop O’Connell, and scrambled to find a seat. “It’s important for me to be there,” she said. “I want to be part of the memorial.”

Timpanaro said she was hopeful that the bishop would offer words of consolation and healing in his homily for, even after 10 long years, she said, the wounds inflicted by the events of Sept. 11 linger on.

And as the bishop spoke, offering a homily replete with emotion, power and faith, it was clear her prayers had been answered.

“We come together in this holy place to remember and we come together to pray and we come together to support one another ten years to the day,” said Bishop O’Connell. “We bow our heads again, we drop to our knees once more. We lift up in prayer those whose lives were lost, so many thousands, victims of terrorism and those who responded.

“We lift up in prayer those whose losses can never be measured (and) so many more thousands as the lines of loves lost are multiplied by families and friends and colleagues left behind to grieve and to mourn,” said Bishop O’Connell.

On this solemn and overcast day, so different, he noted from that earlier bright, blue skied day, he acknowledged the “hearts still broken with grief,” and a collective national psyche “still raw from these senseless acts of terrorism,” even as he challenged all within the vast church to respond to the Christian call to forgiveness.

The readings of the day, he said, “call us, as Catholic Christians, to forgiveness. Today, we are confronted with and challenged by the central theme of Christianity: Jesus’ message of forgiveness. And in this message alone can we find comfort and peace.”

After Mass, parishioner Lorrie Delaney reflected on the bishop’s message of forgiveness. She found her own challenge in coming to grips with the terrible losses sustained in the attacks. “I always did struggle with why some were spared and others not,” said Delaney who attended with her daughters, Amanda, 9, and Shannon, 11.

Throughout the homily, as she listened to Bishop O’Connell’s words, she focused her eyes on her daughters, both far too young to have remembered the day. She was heartened by the way they hung on his every word as he preached a message of reconciliation. “It was just very special to be there,” she said.

A Deep Awareness of the Day
Msgr. Walsh and Msgr. Sirianni spoke on the thread of forgiveness that ran through the Mass and the bishop’s homily.

Both said it is a vital message for these times.

“The weekend scriptures on the one hand consoled us and on the other challenged us,” said Msgr. Walsh. “The response from everyone was that they were glad they had the opportunity to have the bishop lead us in prayer.”

Msgr. Sirianni, who helped to coordinate the diocesan Mass, said the readings focused on encouraging reconciliation with an amazing clarity. “People came to church with a deep awareness of the day,” said Msgr. Sirianni, pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Freehold, where he celebrated a commemorative Mass earlier in the day.

“Probably many more people heard the readings than usual,” said Msgr. Sirianni. “When we talk about forgiveness, it’s not just the terrorists. It’s being reconciled with God, with life, with ourselves. I was looking out at the faces of the people and there was a real focus there and a sense of recognition that the bishop, our spiritual father, had come to comfort us.”

A Time of Remembrance in St. Clement Parish
On September 10, a day before the actual anniversary of the terror attacks, the parish community of St. Clement gathered with the community at large of Matawan and Aberdeen townships for a time of remembrance and prayer.

The focal points were a Memorial Mass celebrated by Father John Scully, pastor, and a ceremony at the monument dedicated on the grounds in 2002 to the six parishioners who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

Dignitaries, including Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr., a member of St. Leo the Great Parish, Lincroft, municipal and county officials were in attendance. Scouts were on hand to present the colors of the country and memorial flags bearing the names of the deceased. There was a wide representation from the firefighting, police and first aid contingents in both townships.

Standing in the back of the church looking on as that commanding assembly and hundreds of faithful and friends began to gather, was Carol Capasso, the retired director of religious education.

As the church filled to capacity and stretched to standing room only, her mind went back to Sept. 11 and the days just following. She recognized many of the same faces that she’d seen on parish grounds then answering a collective cry to “do something. We just had to do something,” Capasso said.

That “something” was an ongoing collection of supplies for the responders working at Ground Zero which volunteers managed to truck up to the site of the disaster.

“Just like tonight, the entire community came together,” Capasso said. “We turned the gym into a resource center filled with water, clothes, all kinds of supplies, from socks to dog food for the rescue dogs.

“This was a time of sorrow and this was a way to fill the need. It was amazing how it touched hearts. It was nothing formal,” she said. “It was spontaneous. There was a tremendous amount of good will and the kids participated, too. They made posters and cards for the responders.”

Ten years later, on this night of remembrance, that same sense of good will was palpable, wrapping the parish campus in a warm embrace of friendship, faith and love.

From the moment altar servers called the assembly to attention with the soft ringing of hand bells to  the concluding ceremony at the monument, the community spirit never faltered.  It echoed the scriptural message of the day, said Father Scully.

“For many of us, true healing began by coming together to help those who lost loved ones,” he said. “We know that bringing comfort and consolation brings healing and with healing…comes forgiveness.”

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