[saradippity]

Oh,that is so true and very sad.I was sure that the Church,at least in this country, would have put the St.Michael's Prayer back in after every Mass,after 9/11.

I also thought there would be a spate of articles ,remarking on,and analyzing why the majority of the "helping" professionals,who lost ther lives in9/11,were Catholic.Now it could be that they were buried with Catholic funerals but were not practicing,it could be that ,it was the natural outcome of nepotism,or,it could be that information that was initially reported,was not true.It's conceivable that there was an overreporting of the number of police and firemen killed,or that the number of Catholics was not as high as initially reported. While I,unlike many, do not believe that all that happens on earth is God's will,I do know He could prevent it,if He thought it necessary,I do think He expects us to use these trials to bring more of us back home to Himself.

As individuals I think many,many people did just that with their time,prayers,gifts etc.;as a Church,I think we did not use the gifts we really have to offer,wisely.Just my thoughts.

[american colleen]

From your comments I have to say something that has been bothering me tremendously... the USCCB has put together a booklet detailing the stories of Catholic Priests who were present and hearing Confessions, etc., on September 11, 2001 - "We were there". You know some of the stories and they are inspiring and courageous. I can't think why the USCCB wouldn't send multiple copies to the dioceses and have them distributed to the parishes or include them in the annual diocese fund drive. It would be expensive, but well worth it.

Unless one was fortunate enough to have seen the EWTN program on the huge role that Catholics played on 09/11, people just have no idea. Supposedly 85% to 90% of the firemen and policemen were Catholics and most of them asked for a priest at some point.