NEWBURGH – Candles flickered in The Chapel of the Most Holy Rosary at Mount Saint Mary College Sunday night, as the college community honored the victims, survivors, and heroes of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Leading the prayer service was Fr. Francis Amodio, O.Carm, campus chaplain and director of Campus Ministry.
“Fifteen years ago, on September 11, 2001, hate and anger acted as the catalyst for a terrible and senseless act of violence. Thousands perished in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in the fields of Pennsylvania,” explained Fr. Amodio. “The Mount Saint Mary community gathers tonight to pray for peace. We remember those who have died, but look to the future with hope as we pray that instead of hate and anger, the world may come to know love.”
Alex Valentin, director technical services at the Mount, used to work on Wall Street near the Twin Towers. During the ceremony, he recounted his experience on September 11, 2001.
“I got a frantic phone call from my team…they said a plane had hit the towers,” he explained. “Many of our tech supporters were in the World Trade Center at the time and 174 people that died that day were our customers. My team, by the grace of God, did get out alive. But the two major customers we had all perished.”
Since 2001, thousands of students have graduated from the Mount. Today’s freshmen were toddlers at the time of the attack.
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