9/11 can divide us. 25 years later, let's build community

On Sept. 11, 2001, I resided in the rectory at Our Lady of Czestochowa parish on Sussex Street in the Paulus Hook section of Jersey City. Entering the rectory, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan were directly in the sight line on Sussex Street. I often wondered if the towers just fell over the Hudson, would they reach the rectory. Nineteen days before the attacks, however, a hang glider got caught on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, which was directly in the sight line of Warren Street, a short distance away. It made national news, though I never went out to see it myself. The morning of 9/11, I was putting final touches on preparations for the theology class at St. Peter's University I was due to teach later in the day. At about 8:48 a.m., the "Today" show on NBC broke into its programming to report that a prop plane had flown into the World Trade Center tower. This time, I thought, I am going to see it myself. I walked three blocks to the Hudson River and saw the flames shooting out of the building as other people also gathered. Then, suddenly, the second plane crashed into the second tower and people thought we were being attacked and began to run. I returned to the rectory and informed the Rev. Thomas Iwanowski, the pastor, what had just happened. I then returned to the waterfront as the first tower began to pancake, sending plumes of smoke and debris across lower Manhattan. I remember thinking to myself how many thousands of people must have perished as the building crumbled. Then ferries began to arrive on the Jersey side from Manhattan depositing people to get them out of harm's way. But they had nowhere to go. Going back to the rectory, Iwanowski sprung into action, realizing the parish had to open the doors of the church hall so people had someplace to go. He called about a dozen parishioners and asked them to go to the local supermarket to buy refreshments, cold cuts, bread, salad and fruit and snacks so people would have something to eat and drink. I returned to the waterfront and saw crowds growing. Most people looked stunned and wandered aimlessly outside or inside some of the lobbies of the new office buildings. I understood that the seriously injured were brought to Liberty State Park, and Montgomery Street was closed to vehicular traffic so ambulances could transport others to the old Jersey City Medical Center for treatment. Sadly, few people were brought to either place. As I walked around, I tried to talk to anyone who needed some direction. Most were simply unsure where they could go to get home. I directed people to OLC's church hall. There was a deaf woman among the crowd and a police officer asked me to go comfort her. She was inconsolable and was just walking around frantically. I do not sign and thought she might read my lips. I could see her anxiety was palpable — she just wanted to go home. We began to write on paper and I knew she lived on Staten Island. She did not know where she was but seemed to calm down. Eventually, she just walked along the promenade. On one ferry, there were about a dozen high school students whose school was right near the Twin Towers. I brought them to OLC. Iwanowski realized that they would not be able to go home, so he arranged for parishioners to put them up overnight and allow them to contact their families to let them know they were safe. I was so impressed with Iwanowski and how he sprung into action and made the church a hub of safety for scores of people. He empowered a few dozen parishioners to minister to the lost and frightened souls well into the evening. Alexander M. Santora: Nuns once dominated NJ Catholic schools. Why I miss them | Opinion Mike Kelly: This FDNY hero survived 9/11. He'll never forget that day | Opinion As we look back 25 years ago, we realize the hatred that fueled the attacks in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Thousands of lives were lost and this reverberated among thousands more as families contemplated how their lives were changed in an instant. I knew a dozen people personally who perished. One young man, Thomas Swift, grew up in St. Aloysius Parish, my first assignment as a priest. He worked in the towers and some coworkers said he could have gotten out safely but remained and are unsure about whether or not he went back to help others. He never came out. Swift was one of hundreds of ordinary people alongside public safety officers who risked their own lives to save so many and hundreds lost their own lives. We celebrate the selflessness of so many who showed bravery without regard for their own safety. As the smoke cleared and the enormity of the loss reached the world, we were united unlike anything we had experienced as a region and a country. But these tragedies showed the hatred that was bubbling up among global enemies of the U.S. and religion was intricate to those who plotted and planned the attacks in such a way to catch so many off guard. In our multicultural country, we took a lot for granted because immigration helped build up our country. But many people capitalized on the loopholes to hijack planes and make them weapons of mass destruction. Our ordinary lives changed on 9/11. Air travel would never be the same. Certain countries would be categorized as harboring terrorists. We became more suspicious of strangers, especially those who lifestyles differed from the prevailing culture in our communities. It would be easy to demonize members of the Islamic faith, and some did and still do. It was also an opportunity for many Muslims to reject the radicalism and violence that a small contingent of them had perpetrated. One of the benefits 25 years later is that we see how many of the Islamic faith live among us. Mosques are springing up all around and the vast majority of Muslims living among us display the kind of religious fervor that Christians and Jews have nurtured for generations. Interfaith understanding and sharing have grown. I've attended several Eid-al-Fitr celebrations ending Ramadan for Muslims and have been inspired by the esprit de corps I've seen from so many young families. There are some who want to sow wedges of separation but goodness and fraternity will prevail. Twenty-five years later, we know better. Dialogue and community trump despair and violence. 9/11 revealed that in tragedy people come together and try their best. We pray for the lost lives and ruined families but herald the goodness that rose up among us.