Mount remembers 9/11

Students and staff filled Mount Saint Mary College’s Founders Chapel with candlelight during the September 11 vigil.

Candles flickered in Founders Chapel at Mount Saint Mary College Tuesday night, as students honored the victims, survivors and heroes of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Leading the prayer service was Fr. Francis Amodio, O.Carm., chaplain and director of the college’s campus ministry. He invited Rabbi Philip Weintraub from Congregation Agudas Israel in Newburgh, NY to join him. All present prayed that those still struggling will find peace.

“Today, Patriot Day, we remember those who died in the attacks on September 11, 2001,” explained Fr. Amodio. “Let us lovingly remember the victims in New York City, Washington DC, and Shanksville, PA. Let us continue to pray for the families of the victims as they continue to suffer the pain of loss.”

A paper chain, with students’ reflections written on each link, evoked emotions of loved ones lost and lives changed.

Fr. Amodio ended the service with the prayer which Pope Benedict XVI offered at Ground Zero in 2008.

Mount president Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, gave the same prayer on Tuesday at Dutchess Stadium, before a baseball game between police and firefighters to benefit children who have lost parents in the line of duty.

“Time helps us to renew our faith in God, our gratitude for the precious life He has given each and every person, our hope in this great nation, and our commitment to build a more positive and peaceful world,” he said.

Since 2001, thousands of students have graduated from the Mount. Today’s new students were still in grade school. Eleven years ago, Fr. Mackin, then president of Siena College near Albany, addressed a grieving crowd on the National Day of Mourning.

“Now is the time to renew our faith in God,” said Fr. Mackin. “Let us meet the challenges of the future with confidence.”

For many, the memories of where they were and what they were doing when 2,983 people died 11 years ago have become sacred to them.

But what if someone lied about being at Ground Zero?

Next month, the Mount will screen “ The Woman Who Wasn’t There,” chronicling Tania Head, former leader of the WTC Survivors Network. Head falsely reported that she was working at the World Trade Center at the time of the attack, crawled from a burning tower, and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. She was ousted from the network when it was discovered that she had, in fact, been in Spain at the time.

The screening, to be offered on Thursday, October 18 at 7 pm in Hudson Hall Auditorium, is open to the public free of charge and will include a discussion and book signing with filmmaker Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr.

The film and discussion are presented by the Mount’s Curtin Memorial Library and the divisions of social sciences and arts and letters.