Clonskeagh Parish RCN:20016166

A Few Words from Fr Joe……………

25 years ago, early on a Tuesday morning, I took a ride into Manhattan with my sister in law.

Terri worked with one of the senior people in Goldman Sachs, at I think, No 1 Wall Street. She insisted I came up with her to see the view from whatever lofty floor she worked on. As it happened there were coffee and donuts for everyone in the magnificent board room so I got to have a few moments socialising with her colleagues while looking across at the Twin Towers along with the less identifiable, but equally impressive skyscrapers. I had places to go and things to do before my evening flight back to Dublin, so I slipped out and carried on with my day.

Exactly a week later I was coming down the stairs in the offices of ACCORD Dublin heading to lunch. One of the receptionists stopped me, ashen faced, “Have you heard what’s happening in New York?” A plane has flown into one of the skyscrapers which might collapse.” As I drove the short distance home I listened to Conor O’Cleary, the Irish Times correspondent speaking live from Manhattan. His eye witness account of what he could see unfolding before him was chillingly awful, so terrible that it was scarcely believable. He reported seeing people jumping out of the highest floors, to a certain death, as the plane had crashed lower down the building and started an inferno. They had no

way out and no one could come to their aid. Then the second plane hit and the towers collapsed, thousands died in that morning of carnage.

But what about Terri? Granted she wasn’t in that building but she was very close by. So I phoned my brother, “Any news Michael?” Almost incoherent with anxiety he said that all he knew was Terri’s boss saw the first plane hit and immediately told all staff to get out, go home. Terri had phoned to say she was evacuating and then he’d heard nothing more. Hours passed, he waited, with countless other families, no news. As he watched the Towers fall, saw so many lose their lives, he just prayed that Terri would make it out of Downtown unharmed. Four hours later she called, the speedy evacuation into the subway meant she made it to a train which took her to safety. However it only got a certain distance and then she, alongside all the passengers had to wait, then in time disembark, and walk. There was no phone signal so contacting Michael wasn’t possible, so she made her way towards him on foot, while he nearly went out of his mind fearing the worst.

September 11th is one of those days forever imprinted in the mind. Whether you’d been there a week earlier, or just on a random trip to New York, the iconic Towers simply stood out on the skyline, much like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Looking at sheer size of them suggested that a lot of people worked there, and as all those workers stepped into their many offices on that beautiful day no one could have imagined it would be their last. The world has never really been the same again. There have been countless conflicts, wars and hostile events stemming from that terrible day. As we mark the 25th anniversary what more can we do than remember the dead, pray for peace and hope for a better world tomorrow.

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