A morning that changed everything — burned in our memory, breathed deep into our souls.
A day that keeps taking, a death count that keeps rising. But tonight, on Currents News — the resilience that remains, unwavering and unshakeable.
Stories shared for the first time for a higher purpose. We pledged to never forget, but what about those who will never remember?
A new mission that’s perhaps the most tolling — teaching the next generation about Sept. 11 — 20 years later.
Currents News Staff
Even though 20 years have passed, most people still, and will always remember where they were on 9/11. Msgr. Robert Romano from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Brooklyn is assistant chief chaplain for the NYPD. He is one of those people who will always remember.
Currents News spoke with him in the days leading up to this somber anniversary and asked him where he was on that fateful morning.
By Jessica Easthope
Over the last 20 years, Colleen Kelly has made it her mission to get justice.
“I can’t get to the other side until people have been held accountable for everything that’s happened since then, not just the people who conspired to murder three thousand people but everything that’s happened,” said Colleen.
Her little brother, Bill, was at Windows on the World on September 11, 2001. In the months that followed her horrific loss, Colleen found her grief mirrored in so many others – people who also lost someone and wanted the same thing she did.
“On a walk for healing and peace we met and became the best friends you never wanted to know,” Colleen said.
Together they started Peaceful Tomorrows – an organization seeking nonviolence in the pursuit of justice for their loved ones.
“Our mission was to really think hard about ways to respond that would not continue cycles of violence, ways to bring them to account that wouldn’t harm others,” she said.
Peaceful Tomorrows sent 9/11 families to Afghanistan to meet with people there who lost family members during al-Qaeda’s terror campaign. But Colleen can’t help but remember the human loss she often felt was beyond her control.
2,977 people died in the terror attacks on 9/11. The war in Afghanistan claimed the lives of 2,400 U.S. service members and 50,000 Afghan civilians. 30,177 Global War on Terror veterans have died by suicide, and just hours before it was declared over an attack killed 13 service members and at least 90 Afghans.
“This could have been different, there doesn’t have to be a militaristic response all the time and I know that sounds really naive and certainly 20 years ago it sounded incredibly naive, but it’s not, it didn’t work,” Colleen said.
Throughout her work, Colleen has traveled to Guantanamo Bay, where five men have been charged for their involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks. She wants to see Guantanamo closed.
“I have this quote on my refrigerator that says “Justice will not come until those who are not injured are just as indignant as those who are,” she said.
Colleen stands firm in that viable nonviolent alternatives exist.
“I think that God wants a just world,” she said. “And that God’s not going to do this for us but He gives us the opportunity all the time to work toward justice.”
If you want to donate to Peaceful Tomorrows or become a member, you can visit peacefultomorrows.org
By Emily Drooby
Paul Veneto’s life is a miracle, a gift, and he’s using it to honor his lost friends.
Back on September 10, 2001, Paul was a crew member on United flight 175. After landing in Boston, he left the airport.
The next day, a new crew boarded that same plane, but they never made it to their destination. Instead, they were hijacked and the plane was flown into the Twin Towers.
Now, Paul is pushing a beverage cart over 200 miles, from Logan Airport in Boston, to Ground Zero in New York. He’s ending the trip on the 20th anniversary of the attack. It’s the path flight 175 took on that fateful day.
An emotional and physical fete, he’s relying on his Catholic faith and friendships to get through.
In the cart, there is a reminder of who he’s doing this for: photos of the crew members who lost their lives.
“I mean I loved working with these people,” Paulie said. “They were great people, they were just nice to be around.”
They were his colleagues, but also his friends.
“They were the first, first responders of 9/11,” he added. “They should have been recognized as American heroes, that’s the way I feel.”
He says after that day, he vowed to honor them but unfortunately the emotional toll of that day led him into a 15-year-battle with opiate addiction that almost killed him.
Now he’s six years sober and surrounded by family and friends. With that support, Paulie’s making good on that vow.
“As Americans we are supposed to recognize someone who stands up against terrorism,” he said, “and it bothered me that they never got that recognition. Because they left families behind.”
By Jessica Easthope
The Justice Department sued the state of Texas Thursday, Sept. 9 – asserting the law illegally interferes with federal interests.
“This law is a violation of your rights and we are going to do everything we can to provide assistance as quickly as we can,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
The pro-life law bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, or after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. The ‘Texas Heartbeat Act’ went into effect on Sept. 1 after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an injunction.
Biden, the country’s second Catholic president called the law an assault on women’s constitutional rights. The heartbeat law doesn’t make any exemptions for rape or incest but will allow abortions if a mother’s life is in danger.
“Rape is a crime,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Those outspoken against the law say it will not eliminate abortions but rather force women seeking them to travel elsewhere.
“One of the clinics I work at out-of-state is already booked with Texas patients throughout the whole month of September,” said Dallas OBGYN Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi.
This is the first time the supreme court has allowed a pro-life law to remain in place while litigation plays out in lower courts.
By Jessica Easthope
“The federal government telling people the air was safe to breathe,” said Richard Alles as he remembers back to September 11, 2001. “We were never prepared for that, there was no breathing protection.”
Breathing in that dust has proved more deadly over the last 20 years than the terrorist attack itself. A truth Alles knows all too well.
He was a battalion chief coming off a 24-hour shift at his firehouse in Canarsie when he jumped onto a rescue truck for a job that would define his life and career. A ride that took him to Ground Zero for three straight days. He says his Catholic faith carried him through, it kept him strong inside – as he was weakened by the horrific sights and sounds.
The air surrounding the wreckage had the same toxic pH level as Draino. Alles learned just how harmful it was when he was diagnosed with skin cancer.
“The paper masks we were using would clog up and you’d discard them, so I pretty much went mask-less for the first couple of days,” Alles said.
Alles now works at Barasch and McGarry Law Firm as the 9/11 Director of Community Affairs, helping other survivors get the justice they deserve through the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and World Trade Center Health Program.
“Not a day goes by without one of my clients dying, it’s truly heartbreaking,” said Michael Barasch the managing partner of the law firm.
Barasch defines a 9/11 survivor as anyone who lived or worked in downtown manhattan following the attack. The firm still has 25,000 clients, sadly 1,500 have died from 9/11-related illnesses including 68 different cancers. 80 percent of all 9/11 first responders have enrolled in the Victim Compensation Fund.
But you didn’t have to be running into the towers to get sick, those running from them were just as susceptible.
“We were all exposed to the same toxic dust, not surprisingly we’re all coming down with the same illnesses and dying from the same illnesses, this is not just about first responders,” said Barasch.
This anniversary Alles and Barasch & McGarry are encouraging survivors to look at their health within the scope of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The day might live in their minds forever, but it doesn’t have to live in their bodies.
If you or someone you know is suffering 9/11-related symptoms, you can register for the Victim Compensation Fund and World Trade Center Health Program at vcf.gov
It appears the Biden Administration is going to sue Texas over its new law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
Mexican bishops are speaking out after that country’s Supreme Court ruled a pro-life law in one border state is unconstitutional.
Kabul airport is back up and running for the first time since our military withdrawal.
It’s back to school season — even those who are way past retirement age! We’ll introduce you to a Queens native who is heading back to Fordham University to complete his degree online. He’s 87-years-old and hasn’t taken a class in over 60 years!
Wednesday was the first day of Catholic school here in the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the pandemic has led to lots of changes.
For parents who want to keep their kids learning from home, the Diocese of Brooklyn is offering the city’s only online option.
One Port Authority officer has turned his 9/11 story into a book that is inspiring the next generation.
By Jessica Easthope
No longer a last resort during the pandemic age, online learning has become a first choice for some families in the Diocese of Brooklyn and beyond.
“Online learning is here now,” said St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Online Academy’s principal Stephen Haessler. “The educational visionaries in the Diocese of Brooklyn have committed resources and are determined to make this option available.”
The St. Thomas Aquinas program (STA) is now a Catholic online academy. It’s the same Catholic education students throughout the diocese are getting but in a completely online space.
“It is an option that takes its rightful place among other options for families who want this for health reasons or faith formation reasons or whatever reason,” Stephen said.
Most of the school’s 125 families are from right here in New York City, but STA’s private, universal curriculum through great minds allows a handful of others to log on from all over the country.
“It’s good for them to still have that community and broaden it beyond their home academies and make friendships they wouldn’t have had before,” said STA teacher Ashley Vonksky.
And STA isn’t just a better option for its students, but for their teachers too.
“I have family members who are immunocompromised,” Ashley said. “So we really can’t risk bringing COVID or any of the variants around our families and a lot of families have shared that sentiment.”
This year, St. Thomas Aquinas is an officially sanctioned diocesan academy that’s here to stay and keeping faith at the core of education.
Enrollment at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Online Academy will remain open for the next few days. Families can register at Stacoa.org and find more information about tuition and financial aid.
By Jessica Easthope
Will Jimeno is an author. His stories are about overcoming fear and living your faith. But there’s nothing fictional about them – he did both on September 11, 2001.
“I always say if God left me on this earth for a reason as a survivor, it’s my responsibility and obligation to help other people,” Will said.
But get this: one of his 9/11 books is for kids. “Immigrant, American, Survivor,” is about that day, his journey to the U.S. from Colombia and his Catholic upbringing.
In the years following 9/11, Will was asked to talk to young students who were afraid to fly and his speaking engagements evolved into a message – never give up.
“How do I talk to kids about the darkest day in U.S. history and I think it just came from my heart,” he said. “I went through the same trials and tribulations as every other child, I am no different than them.”
In the children’s book, you see Will as a Port Authority police officer, trapped, crushed beneath the World Trade Center’s 220 stories of concrete and steel.
“Something I always did to my wife and my daughter is the sign language ‘I love you,’” he said, “so I took my hands and crossed them against my chest because I figured I was gonna die and they’d find me like this and be able to tell my wife I was thinking about her.”
After 13 hours, he was only one of two people pulled alive from underneath the collapse.
His experience even went on to become the plot of the 2006 Oliver Stone movie, “World Trade Center.”
To the world who watched in horror on that day, 9/11 was a tragedy, but for Will he’s been able to take the good with the bad.
“Jesus died for us if we just look that they nailed Him on the cross it’s just a tragedy,” said Will. “It’s not a tragedy he gave his life for us. On 9/11, I don’t look at what the terrorists did, I look at all the good that happened.”
That’s a lesson he hopes to pass to the next generation.
You can buy Jimeno’s 9/11 children’s book – “Immigrant American Survivor” on Amazon. Paperback and digital editions are available.