In addition to the activities at St. Francis on West 31st Street in New York andSt. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street in Boston, the anniversary of Sept. 11 was also remembered at Siena College and St. Bonaventure University.
Siena College
By Bill Beaudin
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – A Memorial Mass was celebrated on Sept. 11 in St. Mary of the Angels Chapel to remember the deceased alumni and friends killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Close to 200 students, faculty members and staff attended.
Dennis Tamburello, who lost a cousin in the collapse of one of the Twin Towers, was the presider and homilist. Dennis selected two readings from the Masses for the Dead: Isaiah 25:6-9 and Mark 15:33-39;16:1-6.
The essence of Dennis’s homily was that the cross of Jesus isn’t a weapon. It’s the ultimate sign of God’s solidarity with human suffering. If we should have learned or re-learned anything in the last five years, it is that violence only breeds more violence, and that, as those who have been marked with sign of the cross, we need to re-dedicate ourselves to breaking the cycle of violence through our efforts at peace-making and solidarity.
The Prayer of the Faithful included the names of the 14 members of the Siena community — alumni, and family members of students, faculty members, administrators, staff and alumni — who were killed on Sept. 11. Included among the names was Mychal Judge, who had worked at Siena as assistant to the president.
There were a lot of tears. Obviously, there is still a need to provide opportunities for mourning in the context of our faith and the central ritual of our faith, the Eucharist.
St. Bonaventure University
ALLEGANY, N.Y. – At 12:25 p.m. on Sept. 11, bagpipe music filled the air on the campus of St. Bonaventure University as hundreds of students, faculty and staff joined uniformed ROTC officers and cadets marching in full color pageantry for a prayer service at SBU’s Sept. 11 Memorial site in front of Plassmann Hall.
After a moment of silence to honor and remember the lost, University President Sister Margaret Carney and Lt. Col. Richard Trietley placed living flowers in front of the memorial stone honoring the victims of Sept. 11.
Prayers and songs were shared with participants, and Michael Spong, a senior journalism and mass communication student from Buffalo, played taps on his trumpet. It was a moving ceremony that included everyone in attendance reaching out to one another in a sign of peace.