Some solace at St. Patrick's Cathedral
Firefighters leave St. Patrick's Cathedral with American flags in New York. (Sept. 10, 2011) Credit: AP
From the granite steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Peter Michael Gibbons looked down Fifth Avenue, where a decade earlier the smoky ruins of the World Trade Center could be seen in the distance.
"I'm just trying to make sense of it and hope that it doesn't happen again," he said Sunday. Moments earlier Gibbons had joined 700 others at a special memorial mass that featured New York's Roman Catholic leaders and the reading of an inspirational message from Pope Benedict XV1.
Gibbons, 46, an insurance executive from Houston, has been living on Long Island recently, dealing with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene. Like thousands of others, he felt compelled to visit ground zero on the tragedy's 10th anniversary.
This was his first trip to Manhattan despite the kinship he feels with New York -- the place his great-great-grandfather made home after leaving Ireland nearly 150 years ago.
Among the faithful filling the pews and lighting candles at St. Patrick's was former Rockville Centre resident Herb Schneider, now a New Jersey salesman. He called it a spiritual pilgrimage "to remember and pay honor to those who perished."
Matthew Byrge, 32, a firefighter from Milwaukee, came with his wife to remember the 343 firefighters who died on 9/11. Eighteen of them had funerals at the cathedral.
"It was the least I could do," Byrge said.
