Prayers, events mark Sept. 11 anniversary

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
September 14, 2006

Parishes, schools and other entities throughout the United States took time out on Sept. 11 to remember and reflect upon the events of that day five years earlier. The Diocese of Sioux City was no different.

Grades seven through 12 at Gehlen Catholic School in Le Mars gathered in St. Joseph Church for a prayer service to honor local law enforcement, medical professionals and firefighters. A PowerPoint presentation was also shown.

Lisa Sitzmann, director of campus ministries at Gehlen, pointed out they opted to have a service "because it seemed like we were such a unit on that day - no race, no religion, nothing divided us that day."

As the students entered the church, the choir from Gehlen sang.

Each slide of the PowerPoint presentation showed pictures of the events on Sept. 11 with quotes and sayings. Music played along with the presentation that was prepared by Carolyn Bickford.

Following the slideshow, Dick Seivert, teacher at Gehlen, reflected on Sept. 11 and the people that were affected by the events.

"Many were women, many were men. Some were young, many were old. There was one thing about all of them that was the same, there were no lines separating them," said Seivert. "The second group of people were the firemen, police and medical personnel, who gave their lives to save others."

Seivert honored the local service people that were present for the service.

Father Roger Linnan, pastor at Our Lady of Assumption in Merrill and St. Joseph Parish in Neptune, offered the final blessing.

"Dear God, protect our country from all evil... Take all those who died on 9/11 into your arms," said Father Linnan. "Heal the hearts of their loved ones. Today we ask a special blessing on those men and women who the first responders - the firemen, the policemen, the medical personnel... Protect them from injury and evil as they carry out their service to us. Let their spirit of service spread to all people."

The service concluded with a few moments of silence.

The kindergarten through sixth grade students at Gehlen had a similar service in the chapel in the school on Sept. 11. They watched the PowerPoint presentation and read petitions.

Briar Cliff University students, faculty, staff and community members from Siouxland gathered on Sept. 11 in the St. Francis Center on the BCU campus to listen to a panel of BCU faculty members who examined and discussed the realities of a post-Sept. 11 world.

The evening began with members of the Briar Cliff choir singing the "National Anthem." There were close to 300 gathered for the event.

The panelists included George Frangedakis, associate professor of business administration and chairperson of the business department; Michael Crowley, associate professor and chairperson of the mass communications department; Michael Hand, assistant professor of political science; and Paul Ermak, assistant professor of philosophy.

Eric Juhnke, associate professor of history and chairperson of the history department, moderated the panel.

"The question for our investigation tonight is where are we now? What is the legacy of 9/11 five years later?" said Juhnke. "Tonight we have four panel members who will address this and other questions from their unique perspectives and respective disciplines."

Each panelist talked for five to 10 minutes and explored topics pertaining to their subject area including financial and economic changes, how the media looks at and responds to society after Sept. 11, political and social changes and history leading up to Sept. 11.

"For the first time in the history of the Internet, the searches were about news," said Crowley. "A drastic change with the Internet was happening. It got so popular on CNN that they had to take down every graphic on their page because it was filled with stories. There is a sensational appetite to find out what is happening. That has continued since then."

At the end of the evening, Juhnke asked the audience for questions and comments.

The sixth through eighth graders at Mater Dei-Nativity Center in Sioux City were invited to attend the movie "World Trade Center" on Sept. 11.

After the movie, the students went back to classrooms for about an hour to participate in activities relating to Sept. 11. Julie Tebbe, campus ministry director at Mater Dei, pointed out that the students had a lot of questions and were willing to talk about it.

The day ended with a prayer service. According to Tebbe, the room was completely dark with one student singing "Christ be Our Light." During the song, candles were lit throughout the room.

"The darkness in the room and the candles reminded us of God's presence in our lives. Even in the darkest times, we know that God's light is there," said Tebbe. "We compared it to a sky. Even in the darkest sky, we need the dark to see the stars. Even in the darkest hours, God's presence, light is there with us."

There was also a reflection that went back and forth with how life was before Sept. 11 and after such as: "On Sept. 10, 2001, life was normal. On Sept. 11, 2001, life changed forever."

Each child was given the name of someone killed in one of the World Trade Center Towers and they read the name in a litany of remembrance. They said the name of the person, the age and where the person was from.

The service closed with three students reading prayers they had written.