Turning Tragedy into Service at Pacelli Catholic School, Austin

Submitted by JEAN MCDERMOTT

On Wednesday, September 11, students and staff from Pacelli Catholic School in Austin gathered on their campus greenspace in the shadow of St. Augustine’s Church for their annual 9/11 Prayer Service of Remembrance.

The prayer service is organized by Social Studies Department Chair Nick McGrath. McGrath’s motivation to host such an event comes from the reality that none of the students in our school buildings were alive for the tragedy of 9/11, yet the images from that day are still seared into the memories of their teachers and their parents. “Days like today are important to foster generational connection and understanding,” McGrath said. “Students will hopefully understand why their parents think today is so solemn and important. And hopefully our students will begin to understand that 9/11 has so dramatically impacted the world they live in too; they just don’t realize it because it’s all they know.”

The 9/11 prayer service each year is open to the public and was well attended by members of the Austin community and St. Augustine, St. Edward and Queen of Angels parishes. The prayer service featured musical selections from the Pacelli Choirs, prayer from Father Andrew Beerman, words of reflection from Mr. McGrath, as well as a 21-gun salute from the Austin American Legion and VFW Color Guard. The centerpiece of the event each year is the “Field of Honor” which is a display of 2,977 American Flags - one in honor of each person who died on 9/11. This year’s Field of Honor was put on the front lawn of St. Augustine’s Church near the school, and members of the community have taken note as well.

Students at Pacelli are also using 9/11 to turn tragedy into service by raising money for the Tunnel 2 Towers Foundation. Tunnel 2 Towers was founded by the brother of a fallen NYC firefighter in the wake of 9/11. Tunnel 2 Towers raises money to provide mortgage-free homes to families of fallen first responders and gold star families from the War on Terror which resulted from the 9/11 attacks. If you would like to join Pacelli’s fundraising efforts, you can do so on the Tunnel 2 Towers website: T2T.org.

Jean McDermott is the principal of Pacelli Catholic School in Austin.