Two decades later

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

We all remember where we were at the exact moment the first hijacked plane was flown into the first tower of the World Trade Center and, in what seemed like a matter of seconds, we saw another hijacked airliner hit the second tower.

A numbness came over my entire body as I raced out the front doors of The Beacon (then located in the building that served as St. Philip Parish’s first church at 775 Valley Road on the corner of Van Houten Avenue in Clifton). As I looked down Van Houten Avenue on that crystal clear day, I could see the black smoke billowing from both towers. At that moment in time, I said to one colleague, “This is our generation’s Pearl Harbor — a day that will live in infamy!”

Two decades later, these brazen terrorists’ attacks committed on our own soil, in which more Americans died than at Pearl Harbor, are seared in our memory as if it happened yesterday.

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, counting all the victims at the World Trade Center in New York City, those at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and those brave American heroes killed when they commandeered their flight from the terrorists’ hands, crashing in a field in western Pennsylvania, to end the terrorists’ goal of flying that plane into the U.S. Capitol building.

That day 20 years ago, all the rest of us were survivors. Tragically, some were immediately affected by the loss of a loved one; but all of us were truly stunned, just as we would be by the sudden death of someone in the family. Our diocesan family suffered a tremendous loss that day as not only did a great number of our parishioners perish but also numbered among those with a deep connection to our Diocese, was the former pastor of St. Joseph Parish in West Milford, Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, then serving as chaplain of the New York Fire Dept. He died when falling debris from one of the towers hit him as he gave last rites to a victim. For me, this was like losing a member of my family, as this gentle friar was my pastor when I lived in West Milford many years ago. I learned that he had died in the attacks as I was driving home from work that day, and it saddened me to tears to lose such a great priest.

On the hallowed ground where once the Twin Towers stood, is now the Freedom Tower, some 75 stories high, to remind us where so many died. A 9/11 museum memorializes those who gave their lives that day and honors all who selflessly answered the call for help: firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, citizens at large, many of whom did not return to their families that fateful day.

The tragic events of 9/11 came at us, figuratively and literally, from out of the blue on that picture-perfect cloudless day. For some time afterward, we were united as a nation in prayer and patriotism, two things we, as Americans, need to continue to do. St. Pope John Paul II once told America to cherish its history, its traditions, its natural beauty, its freedom to worship God, and the opportunity it offers for all, adding, “Every danger that threatens the overall good of our native land becomes an occasion to demonstrate our love for it.”

The tragic events of 9/11 certainly constituted that kind of danger, so much so that we will never, ever forget those who perished.

And God willing, nothing like 9/11 will ever happen again to the land we love.