 ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., Sept. 11, 2007 — Victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America were remembered Tuesday in a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial on the St. Bonaventure University campus.
Some 200 students and community members fanned out in front of the stone monument and stood on the steps of the nearby Plassmann Hall academic building as University President Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., S.T.D., placed a wreath in front of the memorial.
A bagpiper opened and closed the annual service held to remember members of the University family killed in 9/11 and to pray for all those whose lives were impacted by the tragedy.
Fr. Mychal Judge, O.F.M., a 1957 St. Bonaventure graduate, became the first victim of 9/11 when he was killed by falling debris while attending to a victim at the World Trade Center in New York. Fr. Mychal was chaplain of the New York City Fire Department at the time and a beloved friar known for his outreach to all people.
The list of St. Bonaventure alumni, family members and friends killed in 9/11 numbers more than 20 and there are presently students on campus whose lives were impacted by the tragedy.
.gif "Sr. Margaret with wreath") Among those who spoke Tuesday was Br. F. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M., vice president for Franciscan Mission at the University, who was in New York City at the time of the attack. He said that as he made his way to Ground Zero that fateful day, he was struck by the scene of emergency medical personnel outside St. Vincent’s Hospital, waiting for the injured to start flooding in.
“Ironically, no one would come,” he said.
Br. Ed said each member of the University family has a similar responsibility to “stand ready, make one’s gifts available to those who might be in need” as he or she goes about the task of building “a good and better world.”
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