Diocesan parishes, schools remember 9-11

Just as churchgoers throughout the country and world observed the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, through prayer services, in homilies and moments of silence, special observances were made in the Diocese of Sioux City.

Here is a sampling of a few special events held in diocesan parishes and Catholic schools.

Recognizing today's heroes
Gehlen Catholic School of Le Mars held a 9/11 Prayer Service on Sept. 9 titled “Honoring Our Living Heroes, As We Remember September 11, 2001."

Organizers of the event, Lisa Sitzmann, director of campus ministries, and Richard Seivert, 7-12 guidance counselor, said the 9/11 prayer service was three-fold.

First, the prayer service began with a flashback and remembrance for the victims and their families of 9/11.  Second, the prayer service was designed to educate Gehlen Catholic students, many of whom were not born or too little to understand the tragic events that transpired 10 years ago.  Finally, the service expressed the school's admiration and gratitude for the courage and service of the local law enforcement, fire and emergency personnel.

Gehlen Catholic fourth graders, under the direction of technology coordinator Lori Schuch led a blessing for the local law enforcement, medical and emergency personnel.

Bill Rosacker, a member of the Le Mars Rescue Department and St. James parishioner, after the service told Seivert that he cried during the blessing and he noted that he rarely cries.  He was so touched and moved by the blessing and the prayer service.

During the service Sitzmann shared a story from her cousin, Kathy Sitzmann, whose father died on 9/11.  Kathy's dad was a fireman for the New York City Fire Department.  The story reinforced this year's Gehlen Catholic Gospel value – “In Christ Alone…my hope is found."

Gehlen has a PowerPoint presentation available for viewing on their school website.

Healing service
In Kingsley, St. Michael Church organized an ecumenical healing service.

Father Mark Stoll, pastor, estimated that about 200 people were present for the outdoor portion of the service that drew parishioners from St. Michael and Immaculate Conception of Moville as well as members of other denominations. This portion of the service included a bonfire, presentation of a prayer paper chain to Nick Rogers, a military 21-gun salute, recognition of members of the police, fire and ambulance and military services. B.J. Mulder, director of Leadership of Christian Athletes at Kingsley-Pierson School gave a talk about seeking joy.

“This was followed by participants writing down on a piece of paper their burdens which were then thrown into the bonfire and participants received a small rock with the cross painted on it to remind us of the foundation of our faith," Father Stoll said.

A procession with the statute of St. Francis led participants into the church where adoration was held with live music while the monstrance was processed through the people.  Benediction concluded the evening.

Afterwards, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was offered and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy was prayed.  About 125 attended the Adoration/Benediction.

Barb Sitzmann, a member of the committee that helped to plan this service, said she was amazed at the number of people who showed up.

“I have heard many positive comments from community members about the service and I also thought it was amazing," she said. “The part of the service that stood out the most was seeing how many people were willing to write down their burdens on paper and burn them in the bonfire."

She had wondered if people would come forward.

Sitzmann said she was also excited about the many positive comments about adoration and how it was so much more effective with the monstrance moving around the room rather than sitting on the altar the entire service. Parishioners found this portion of the service to be very meaningful.

“I decided to be on this committee because I thought it was important to do something to honor our local military and EMS personnel on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Both of our communities, Kingsley and Moville, have been in need of physical and spiritual healing," Sitzmann said. “We have had many tragedies in both our towns and parishes and thought this would be a great way to help those involved, deal with their issues."

Father Stoll said they offered this healing liturgy/service to give people the opportunity to experience Christ's joy and healing for all the pain experienced in life, from the tragedy of the attacks on the country on Sept. 11, 2001; to the loss of loved ones due to illness; to those who have suffered serious accidents, to those who have experienced other losses including divorce and abuse.

Matthew Putze, CICC team member and parishioner at Moville, said the evening was a blessing to all.

“During adoration, Father Mark brought the monstrance right in front of each person in attendance, close enough to touch.  Every third pew had been blocked off prior to people being seated to allow the procession to walk down through those pews during adoration.  I heard one person refer to this as ‘Steubenville style'."   

Jordan Hunter, director of faith formation at Moville, said he was very humbled in adoration.

“I had been so focused on making sure everything was going smoothly, I forgot to be a part of the experience, but when Father Mark processed by with the Eucharist in the monstrance I froze and I saw God, I physically had the air knocked out of me for that moment," he said. “After Father Mark and Jesus had processed on, I fell to my knees and worked on catching my breath."

Remembering history
At Spalding Catholic students reflected on all the people affected by 9-11 at a prayer service on Sept. 9. Senior Christian Leadership Team members planned the service.

Local firemen and paramedics were invited to attend. They were seated in a place of honor for the ceremony.
When students entered the darkened gym, they walked past a candle-lit path next to a replica of the fence at Ground Zero that firemen hung their own shoes on before they dressed in their firemen's uniforms and entered the towers.

Students and Father Richard Ball read Scripture and led prayers. The CLT also presented two slide shows and led the assembly in song.

Granville paramedic Steve Christensen spoke on behalf of all the volunteer firemen. He reminded the students that the local first responders will always be ready to help them.

Spiritual Life Director Mary Arens said, “The day was to show appreciation, respect, remembrance, honor and freedom. It's a part of history, and we have to know God is always in our midst through the good and bad."

Educational project
At Holy Cross School in Sioux City, they not only used the anniversary as a time to offer prayers but the seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher, Gina Stukenholtz, decided to focus on it for educational purposes as well.

With the help of the English teacher Jackie Yaneff and the school's technology coordinator, Cindy Spenner, the social studies teacher was able to make it a bigger project than what she had originally planned.

“I realize that this is the last group of kids I will teach that will have any recollection of that day because they were 2, 3 and 4 years old," Stukenholtz said. “Even though we have talked about this being a major part of U.S. history, I wanted them to really understand what a big moment this was."

Through various projects, she said she believes it helped them comprehend the significance of the terrorist attacks. The students were to review two sources of news coverage, conduct interviews with family, friends or staff members related to what they remember about the day, watch oral histories of 9/11 survivors and view an online photo gallery taken by onlookers that day and offered at a site called Here is New York.

“They had to interview three people and no matter who they asked, they remembered where they were that day, what they are feeling, how they found out," Stukenholtz said. “After having those conversations with people at home or relatives in New York, they could start to see that it really was a big deal."

Many students discovered they had some connection to relatives or family friends who lived or worked in New York or Washington, DC.