A decade later, we remember

Bishop Kicanas will be the keynote speaker at a multi-faith memorial service at St. Augustine Cathedral to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 on Sept. 11.
The service at 7 p.m. will include clergy from a variety of faith traditions united to offer prayers, readings and music in a message of hope, healing and remembrance.
The event is one of a number of activities slated to mark the anniversary of the worst foreign attacks ever committed on U.S. soil.
In Yuma, a Blue Mass will be celebrated on Sept. 11 at Immaculate Conception Church to commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon, and the crash of another commandeered plane in a Pennsylvania field.
Knights of Columbus Council 9378 has issued an invitation to any and all service personnel, Marines, Army, Air force, Navy, Coast Guard, Police, Fire, Sheriff, Border Patrol, American Legion, VFW, DAV, AMPOW, and anyone else who wishes to be involved.
The Mass will be held at 8:30 a.m. to honor those who lost their lives in the attacks and those who have died since, defending freedom.
At St. George Parish in Apache Junction, a silent time of prayer for the victims and their families will be observed at all Masses on Sept. 11. At the 8:30 a.m. Mass, the Knights of Columbus will be present and Father Domenico Pinti, pastor, will lead in the recitation of the rosary for the intentions of the victims, their families and for the gift of freedom.
At Catholic schools, too, students and teachers will pause to remember the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Salpointe Catholic High School will hold an all-school prayer circle on the football field, while Immaculate Heart School will conduct a K through 12 memorial service.
At St. Rita in the Desert Parish in Vail, the parish festival on Sept. 16-17 will feature the theme “Spirit of 76” and honor veterans and servicemen and women.  “It’s not specifically for 9/11 but it is somewhat timely in honoring our military families,” said Father John F. Allt, pastor.
The St. Francis de Sales Youth Group will be on retreat Sept. 9-11, said Marian Tierney/Gilbert, “and we will pray for the survivors to be at peace during the retreat and our Sunday Mass will be for all who were lost.”
As Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer of the New York City Fire Department sees it, the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a global trauma and the 10th anniversary of the tragedy provides a transformative opportunity for the world community to pause and think about its spiritual dimension and its aftermath.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Pfeifer was chief of the 1st Battalion, one of the first on the scene and in charge of directing firefighter response in the north tower of the World Trade Center. He met his firefighter brother in the lobby of the building as Lt. Kevin Pfeifer responded to the second alarm. They exchanged a few words, and Kevin headed up the stairs. He helped evacuate workers and directed other firefighters to safety, but he was killed in the collapse of the building.
“People were angry at God and they had every right to be, but that was not my experience,” Pfeifer said in an interview with Catholic News Service. “I was walking back to the firehouse from the site on the second day, when we knew there would be no more survivors. It was completely dark except for the lights we had brought in. There was no power and there was smoke everywhere.
“Instead of anger, I felt an encounter, as if I was coming back to an old friend, or putting on an old sweatshirt. I had wrestled with God and spirituality before. I had had the experience of being in a conflicted place and trying to understand what it means,” Pfeifer said.
“How do you encounter spirituality and what is your personal experience of God? Mine was very much on West Street, walking back in complete sadness, but it was a place I’d been to before.”
Pfeifer graduated from Cathedral College in Douglaston, N.Y., and studied two years at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y., from which he later earned a master’s degree in theology. He is now the chief of counterterrorism and emergency preparedness for the New York City Fire Department.
“We used to think the 9/11 attacks were just New York and D.C., and Pennsylvania, but they were more than that,” he said. “It was a global trauma, an entire world encounter and transformation occurred” when people could see that all local acts of terrorism, whether in Ireland or Israel or Afghanistan, were represented at the World Trade Center.
“It gave the victims of terrorism an international voice and showed that terrorism is a crime against humanity,” he said.
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Catholic News Service contributed to this report.