{"id":344634,"date":"2026-09-12T02:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T02:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/344634\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T02:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T02:42:16","slug":"bishops-byrne-ohara-lead-annual-remembrance-of-9-11-on-staten-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/344634\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops Byrne, O\u2019Hara Lead Annual Remembrance of 9\/11 on Staten Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne served as principal officiant of the 24th annual Eve of Solemn Remembrance at Our Lady of Pity Church<\/a> on Staten Island, in commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

Retired Auxiliary Bishop John O\u2019Hara was the homilist during the Sept. 10 liturgy, organized by the Notre Dame Club of Staten Island<\/a>. About 700 people attended. The church is located on Richmond Avenue in the Bulls Head section of Staten Island.<\/p>\n

Several adults and teens took turns reading the names of Staten Islanders who died on Sept. 11, 2001, and from 9\/11-related illnesses in the years that followed, including FDNY members and other first responders. Lost that day were nearly 280 Staten Island residents, and nearly 100 in the subsequent years. Bishop Byrne, dean of Staten Island, offered prayerful words \u201cfor the beloved souls\u201d of the 9\/11 departed in opening remarks.<\/p>\n

From darkness to light<\/p>\n

In his homily, Bishop O\u2019Hara said of the attack victims, \u201cEach one is a unique creation, created in the image and likeness of God, (having gone) from darkness to light, each one will be remembered in a very special way. In the midst of our grief, in the midst of our sorrow, the consolation of our faith tells us they live, they\u2019re eternally young; we will see them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has lost someone in this church,\u201d Bishop O\u2019Hara said, citing the general experience of grief after losing a loved one, but noting the significance of eternal life with the Lord, similar to the joy of the early followers of Christ upon learning of his resurrection, as outlined in the evening\u2019s Gospel reading from Luke 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do that, He begins to teach us. He begins to walk with us. He takes us by the hand, better yet, by the heart,\u201d the bishop said of the Lord, noting the importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, praying more deeply to the Lord, and maintaining strong trust in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd He does not vanish from our sight; He enters into the darkness of our hearts and challenges you and me to trust Him, to let go, not to stop grieving, but to take the next good step, to start over with Him. And to go forth from this church to be His light and goodness and peace and charity, my goodness gracious, that\u2019s so very, very important\u2026We know, as painful as this is, we will see them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop O\u2019Hara also spoke of the strong faith and good works of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the significance of the Ground Zero Cross, and the loss of Fr. Mychal Judge<\/a>, an FDNY chaplain who was identified as Victim 01 of the attacks. The bishop encouraged attendees to visit a 9\/11 Memorial inside the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Midtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n

This moment tonight<\/p>\n

Joe Delaney, a leading member of the Notre Dame Club, offered the welcoming and closing words of gratitude to the bishops and the concelebrants, and to all in attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the conclusion of tonight\u2019s service, we are having a brief social over in O\u2019Connor Hall,\u201d Delaney said toward the end of the vigil Mass. \u201cWe would really appreciate it if you could stop by, to share this moment that we\u2019ve had tonight, to meet some of our military folks, our honorable veterans, the families that are here with us. We can\u2019t thank you enough for being with us tonight on the 25th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacred music was performed by the Molloy Group; the entrance march was done by the Staten Island Pipes and Drums. The group led the faithful in singing the \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic\u201d to open the Mass, and at the end, all sang \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne served as principal officiant of the 24th annual Eve of Solemn Remembrance at Our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5301,6300,4840,9,24,63,4658,11803,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-344634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-9-11","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pentagon","tag-september-11","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}