Marking September 11 Anniversary, Archbishop Coakley Offers Prayers and Encourages Continued Commitment to be Instruments of Peace
WASHINGTON - “As conflicts intensify around the world, let us renew our commitment to be Christ’s instruments of peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Archbishop Coakley’s statement follows: “As we prayerfully remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I invite all Catholics to join me in prayer for the victims taken from us in acts of unjustifiable violence 25 years ago at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania. In a special way, we lovingly embrace in prayer the victims’ families and friends, who still mourn the irretrievable loss of their loved ones on that day. We also remember the first responders and emergency workers, so many who gave their lives in selfless acts of courage. “Amid that terrible day and the dark hours of fear and uncertainty that followed, we must also remember that our faith lifted us up and sustained us. As a nation, we found ourselves turning to God in prayer and looking to our faith with a new intensity and a sense of unity. “As conflicts intensify around the world, let us renew our commitment to be Christ’s instruments of peace in an increasingly fractured and divided world. The building of peace in our country and around the world -- a mission that enables us to be called children of God 1 -- is the great challenge of our time. Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, tells us that peace is more than just a goal, it is a presence and a journey. 2 He says that even in places where only rubble remains, and despair seems inevitable, we still find people who have not forgotten peace. “As we pray for our nation’s continued healing, for the souls of all those lost on that day and the comfort of their families, let us implore the Holy Spirit to conform us, increasingly, into the image of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and together build a civilization of love and universal fraternity.” ### Matthew 5 Message of the Holy Father for the 59th World Day of Peace 2026
21 days ago
The 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks prompted Catholic bishops and dioceses across the United States to offer Masses, prayers, commemorations and personal reflections. Their messages combined remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed and the suffering that followed with calls for peace, mercy, hope and continued solidarity.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged Catholics to pray for those killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, as well as for their families, first responders and emergency workers. He said the nation’s faith sustained it during the fear and uncertainty after the attacks and called on Christians to become “instruments of peace” amid current global conflicts. 1 2
Coakley also echoed Pope Leo XIV’s description of peace as more than a goal—as a presence and a journey. 2
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services celebrated a scheduled Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on September 11. The liturgy was intended to honor victims, first responders and members of the Armed Forces who served in the aftermath, while entrusting everyone affected by the attacks to God’s mercy. 1 2
Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York presided over an invitation-only vigil Memorial Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on September 10, with a livestream available. The Archdiocese of New York also arranged Masses at Resurrection Cemetery on Staten Island and Calvary Cemetery in Queens, where victims of the attacks are buried. 1 2
Other commemorations included Bishop Mark L. Bartchak’s participation at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and Bishop Frank J. Caggiano’s evening Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in New Canaan, Connecticut. Connecticut lost 161 people associated with the attacks. 1
The Ukrainian Catholic bishops of the United States asked priests to celebrate a panakhyda, a prayer service for the dead, on September 11 or 13. 1
Archbishop Hicks said the memory of September 11 remains visible in New York’s changed skyline, memorials, plaques and photographs of first responders displayed at firehouses and police stations. He emphasized the courage, service, sacrifice and compassion that followed the attacks. 2
The Archdiocese also recalled former Cardinal Edward Egan, who said healing would take time but that the extraordinary goodness of New Yorkers had accompanied the city’s pain. Bishop John Bonnici of Rochester similarly remembered acts of kindness and fraternal love that helped people begin to heal. 2
St. Philip Neri Church in the Bronx planned to honor firefighters Lt. Mickey Conboy, Lt. Michael K. Healey and firefighter Donald J. Regan. Conboy survived the attacks, while Healey and Regan died at the World Trade Center; a plaque was to honor all three. 1
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, who was bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 2001, recalled celebrating Masses, meeting traumatized commuters arriving from New York and visiting hospitals while searching for survivors. He described the weeks of funerals and urged people never to forget the victims or the courage of first responders, while stressing that terrorism and violence cannot resolve injustice. 2
Bishop Caggiano said that 25 years had allowed the wound to become a scar and a new generation to know the attacks mainly through history, but that the period remained far too short for the families who lost loved ones. He identified resilience, resistance to fear and mercy as lessons from the years since the attacks. 2
Caggiano distinguished mercy from forgetting or abandoning justice, saying that justice without mercy can become vengeance and mercy without justice can become indulgence. He described forgiveness as a deliberate decision that begins with fully acknowledging the wound. 2
The Ukrainian Catholic bishops said Christians must do more than remember September 11; they should consider what the attacks revealed about evil, goodness and the choices people make in response to suffering. They said hatred can lead people to regard others as enemies rather than as children of God, with horrifying consequences. 1 2
At the same time, the bishops emphasized the courage and compassion displayed after the attacks: strangers helped one another, firefighters climbed toward danger, communities opened their doors, people donated blood, churches filled with worshippers and people across the nation and the world joined in grief and solidarity. 2
Their reflection concluded that despair should not prevail when evil appears relentless. Drawing on St. Paul, they urged people not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. 2
The anniversary observances also acknowledged the continuing human and health consequences of September 11. The attacks immediately killed 2,977 people, including 441 first responders, while thousands of additional responders and survivors later developed illnesses connected to the rescue and recovery efforts. 1
How should the Catholic Church define its role as peacemakers post‑9/11?
The Catholic Church should define its post‑9/11 role as a principled, active peacemaking mission: resisting terrorism and injustice, defending human dignity, promoting reconciliation, and addressing the social conditions that enable violence—without confusing peace with either passivity or military victory.
Catholic peace is more than the absence of armed conflict. It is an “enterprise of justice,” founded on truth, freedom, love, solidarity, and respect for the human person. Therefore, the Church should challenge both terrorism and the injustices, exclusion, poverty, and humiliation that can fuel resentment. This never excuses attacks on civilians: terrorism is an evil and a corruption of justice, not a legitimate response to grievance.
The Church should also insist that peacemaking begins with conversion of heart. Prayer, fasting, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not substitutes for political action; they form the moral conditions without which political solutions remain fragile.
After 9/11, the Church should reject the logic that security is achieved through retaliation without moral limits. Legitimate self-defense may be necessary against aggression, but it must respect moral and legal constraints, distinguish combatants from the innocent, and use force only when peaceful means have been exhausted.
This means the Church must scrutinize military action rather than automatically endorse or condemn it. It should ask whether force is truly defensive, proportionate, directed at responsible agents, and likely to protect rather than endanger civilians. Peace is not pacifism, but neither is war a normal instrument for resolving disputes.
The Church’s distinctive contribution is to remain present where political trust has collapsed. It should support negotiation, diplomacy, international law, and interreligious cooperation. Ecclesia in Asia describes dialogue as the “only just and noble path” toward agreement and reconciliation and calls the Church to participate in international and interreligious peace efforts.
That includes building relationships with Muslims and other religious communities, firmly rejecting the identification of terrorism with an entire faith. Religious believers should demonstrate together that faith serves peace rather than hatred.
Peacemaking must address conditions that perpetuate instability. The Church should advocate poverty reduction, debt and disease relief, fairer economic arrangements, religious liberty, protection of minorities, refugee assistance, and responsible international institutions. These are not merely humanitarian additions to security policy; justice and human development help create the social foundations of peace.
The Church should therefore defend both victims of terrorism and those harmed by war, displacement, sanctions, trafficking, and religious persecution. It should speak truthfully even when doing so challenges its own government or political allies.
Finally, the Church’s credibility depends on its own witness. Parishes, dioceses, schools, and Catholic organizations should form people capable of resisting racism, religious hatred, conspiracy, and dehumanizing language. They should support victims, welcome refugees, foster encounter across religious boundaries, and teach forgiveness without abandoning justice.
In short, the Catholic Church should be neither a chaplain to national power nor a voice of detached idealism. It should be a prophetic and practical instrument of peace: defending the innocent, confronting terrorism, limiting the use of force, pursuing justice, encouraging forgiveness, and working patiently for the conversion of hearts and structures that make violence possible.