<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thedialog.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/10120843\/20260909T1105-9-11-MEMORIAL-MASS-ROUNDUP-1825880-scaled.jpg\" "\\"9\/11")
<\/a><\/p>\n
As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks<\/a>, U.S. Catholic bishops are offering Masses, prayers and reflections \u2014 while also stressing the need to seek peace amid a fractured global landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-five years have elapsed since that day and yet the chilling images remain etched in our minds,\u201d said the Ukrainian Catholic bishops of the U.S., led by Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of Philadelphia, in a pastoral letter for the occasion issued Sept. 4.<\/p>\n Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,<\/a> said in a Sept. 9 statement that \u201cfaith lifted us up and sustained us\u201d during the attack and its aftermath.<\/p>\n \u201cAs conflicts intensify around the world, let us renew our commitment to be Christ\u2019s instruments of peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The coordinated attacks began when four commercial aircraft were hijacked by members of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda and crashed into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Passengers on United Flight 93 overpowered their captors, with the plane crashing near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, rather than reaching a likely target in Washington.<\/p>\n In total, the attacks immediately killed 2,977, including 441 first responders. As of June 30, more than 9,000 tracked by the federal World Trade Center Health Program have died since. On Sept. 8, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released 170,000 pages of documentation \u2014 part of a settlement with the independent 911 Health Watch organization \u2014 indicating that city officials had knew toxins from the attacks remained long after the air was declared safe.<\/p>\n In their pastoral letter, the U.S. Ukrainian Catholic bishops called on their priests to celebrate a \u201cpanakhyda,\u201d a prayer service for the souls of the deceased, for 9\/11 victims on either Sept. 11 or 13.<\/p>\n On Sept. 11, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio<\/a> of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services will be the principal celebrant and homilist for the scheduled 5:15 p.m. Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.<\/p>\n In its online announcement of the liturgy, which will be livestreamed at www.nationalshrine.org\/mass, the shrine observed that the nation had \u201cgathered in prayer at the Basilica\u201d on the day of the attacks \u201cin shock, in tears, and in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, said the shrine, \u201cwe gather once again to remember those who died, honor the brave first responders and members of our Armed Forces who answered the nation\u2019s call in its aftermath, and entrust to the mercy of God all affected by that tragic day.\u201d<\/p>\n Bishop Mark L. Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, will participate along with other faith leaders in a Sept. 11 commemoration at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. That evening, he will also offer an opening prayer for the city of Altoona\u2019s official marking of the tragedy.<\/p>\n Multiple Masses marking the somber milestone will be offered throughout New York and its surrounding counties, according to The Good Newsroom, the official news outlet of the Archdiocese of New York.<\/p>\n Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York will celebrate a vigil Memorial Mass Sept. 10 at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral. The invitation-only liturgy, which begins at 5 p.m., will be livestreamed.<\/p>\n Masses will also take place at two cemeteries managed by St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral trustees, Resurrection Cemetery on Staten Island and Calvary Cemetery in Queens. The two are the final resting places, respectively, for 61 and 16 victims of the attacks.<\/p>\n St. Philip Neri Church in the Bronx will honor three New York firefighters \u2014 Lt. Mickey Conboy, Lt. Michael K. Healey and firefighter Donald J. Regan \u2014 who responded to the 9\/11 attacks. Conboy \u2014 who survived the attacks, which claimed the lives of his two colleagues \u2014 will be on hand as the church dedicates a plaque honoring all three.<\/p>\n The Good Newsroom noted that during a \u201cterrible fire\u201d at the parish in June 1967, Conboy, Healey and Regan had \u201crisked their lives\u201d to save the Blessed Sacrament. More than three decades later, Healey and Regan died at the World Trade Center on 9\/11 while \u201csaving other members of the Body of Christ,\u201d said the news outlet.<\/p>\n Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut \u2014 a state that lost 161 associated individuals to the attacks \u2014 will celebrate an evening Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in New Canaan, Connecticut, to honor 9\/11 victims.<\/p>\n In their pastoral letter, the U.S. Ukrainian Catholic bishops said that Christians \u201cmust do more than remember\u201d the horrors of 9\/11, and reflect on its profound lessons about evil, goodness and the faith-filled choices that lie between the two.<\/p>\n \u201cSeptember 11 confronts us with the terrible reality of the capacity of fallen humanity for evil,\u201d said the bishops. \u201cWhen hatred is allowed to take possession of the human heart, when another person is no longer seen as a child of God but as an enemy to be destroyed, the consequences can be horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet 9\/11 also revealed humanity\u2019s \u201ceven greater capacity for goodness, courage, compassion, sacrifice and love,\u201d they said. \u201cWe saw strangers helping strangers. We saw firefighters climbing stairways toward almost certain death. We saw ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of courage.\u201d<\/p>\n They added that \u201cone of the most important lessons of September 11\u201d is to refuse to despair when \u201cevil seems relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDespair is not the language of the Gospel. Hope is,\u201d said the U.S. Ukrainian Catholic bishops.<\/p>\n And, they said, \u201cin the face of death, we proclaim with confidence the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, over 57,000 first responders and survivors had been certified to have cancers related to the attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>