9/11 was personal for NJ, says Cardinal Tobin at special remembrance Mass
“Whom are you remembering this afternoon?” asked Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., during a special 9/11 remembrance Mass Wednesday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. “Here, 9/11 was more than a national tragedy for the people. Here, the carnage was personal.”
The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks directly impacted local New Jersey families and residents who “had no idea that morning they were saying a final goodbye to someone whose loss would rip out their hearts,” Cardinal Tobin continued in his homily.
Two of those residents, Vera Murphy-Trayner and her daughter, Maggie Murphy, attended with other family members. They participated in the Mass as gift bearers. Murphy-Trayner’s husband died in the World Trade Center attacks, and in 2006 she established the Patrick S. Murphy Scholarship in partnership with the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children (SFIC).
Representatives from two other 9/11 remembrance scholarships were also in attendance. These scholarships were newly endowed by Mother Seton Regional High School in Clark and Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
Each of these scholarships helps fulfill the SFIC’s mission of providing partial-tuition assistance to economically-disadvantaged children attending private and parochial schools within Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. Thanks to generous donors, approximately $150,000 will be given to those three scholarships and other schools in honor of the remembrance ceremony.
At a reception in the Cardinal’s residence following the Mass, Murphy-Trayner and Cardinal Tobin were presented with remembrance pieces forged from the steel of the World Trade Center with Psalm 37 etched on the back.
“Until we join them in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will always miss those whose lives were tragically cut short just a few miles from our Cathedral on 9/11,” Cardinal Tobin said before the Mass began. “One can never truly recover from such a profound loss. But God’s love provides the ultimate comfort.”
Cardinal Tobin said the remembrance ceremony is an opportunity to give thanks that God is with us and ask Him to bless all who have grieved for the past 20 years.
“The SFIC deeply cares about the innocent lives lost during the tragedy of 9/11, so we decided to hold this remembrance ceremony as a way of honoring their memory and helping loved ones heal on the 20th anniversary,” said Edward J. Garcia, SFIC’s Major Gifts Officer. “By offering these scholarships, we want to provide hope for the future while reminding all that the victims of 9/11 will never be forgotten.”
To learn more about the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children or donate to its scholarships, visit sficnj.org.
Sean Quinn contributed to this article.
Featured photograph: Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R. gives the homily during a special 9/11 remembrance Mass Sept. 8, 2021 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. (Photos courtesy of Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children)
