On the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Cardinal Timothy J. Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York offered this brief reflection on his first 9/11 in New York:
9/11 (is) a special day for America. A special day, as you might imagine, for us here in New York
I’ve told you this before, and I don’t know if you remember it, when I first got here over 15 years ago on my first 9/11 here, I was invited to St. Peter’s on Barclay Street, which is a block or two from Ground Zero. That church had been damaged, and that church had ended up being a morgue and the first aid station for victims of 9/11.
And I spoke to the pastor. I said, “This is my first 9/11,” and I said, “I’m very moved by this.”
And he said, “We New Yorkers have learned that 9/12 — September 12 — is as important as 9/11. Because that’s the day this city took a deep breath and, assisted by citizens throughout the world and in our beloved country, we said, ‘We can’t lose hope; we’ve gotta keep at it. We gotta get together and clean up and console and come together and make sure this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again.’”
I thought that was extraordinarily powerful, didn’t you? So, keep the observation of 9/11, but don’t forget 9/12.
To watch Cardinal Dolan’s video reflection, visit www.thegoodnewsroom.org/a-word-from-cardinal-dolan-9-11/
