Letter from the Pastor
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September 11, 2022On this day, 21 years ago, life as we knew it changed forever. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania took the lives of 2,977 people, including 5 of our parishioners, and 81 Rockland County residents.
There are certain days that will live in infamy: Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President Kennedy, the explosion of the Challenger and today. We know where we were, what we were doing when the news first came to us at 8:46AM on that clear and beautiful September Tuesday morning. We need to remember, to console, to be with one another, we need to pray. We need to derive hope from our prayers. We need to understand the evil through faith, and hope, forgiveness and love.
We remember the innocents that died that day, the heroes who were created that day, and those who are still dying because of that day. We should never forget what evil can do to us.
Over the past 21 years we have seen the beauty as well as the sinfulness of humanity. I think, however, the most important thing to remember about 9-11 is what happened the days following. We as a nation and for a bright shining moment even the world came together—all the differences were gone, and together as one family of humanity we prayed, we helped, the most noble of human virtues came alive. Our sense of faith increased, the churches were crowded again, and people went to Mass and prayed the rosary. Life seemed to be changed; the word sacrifice was mentioned, even admired. People realized what was truly important in this life: God, family, nation. Out of the horrible evil, good was emerging. There was hope; a better world was being born. As time went on, however, we forgot, we began to feel secure in our own power and self-reliance. Faith and trust in God were forgotten, and sacrifice, once again, was for the fool.
We are called, indeed, to look back, to remember, to give pause to grieve the violence, destruction and death as well as to rejoice in the acts of courage, mercy and solidarity on the days that followed. But we are also called to look forward, into a future that is not defined by the evil of that day but instead is shaped by hope, possibility and the grace of God. The essence of forgiveness is the lifting of a burden, the releasing of a debt, the refusal to allow past actions and failures to define the future.
As we remember the events of this day 21 years ago when four hijacked airplanes wreaked such destruction and evil; neither can we forget the events of 2,022 years ago when God's own Son, surveying a world of sinful lives and forsaken hearts, chose to come down from heaven. He offered forgiveness, not vengeance, and opened a future marked by mercy, trust and hope. That's what forgiveness can do.
Ribbons, candles, even peaceful doves can never take the place of God and sincere prayer. No one will ever give us all the answers we are looking for, but faith tells us that despite the evidence, God still loves His world and all His people. God can bring out great good from the evil decisions of a sinful and sick humanity. May God rest the souls of those who died, and bring peace to their families and friends.Our hope is in God alone.
Welcome Back to School
We welcome back to the 67th academic year of our school our Principal, Mrs. Maldonado, our dedicated faculty and staff and our 265 students and their families. May the prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of schools bless our school family and our benefactors. We welcome new faculty and staff: Mrs. Rosario, Kindergarten; Mrs. Haley, Grade Four; Mrs. Conlan, Grade 6; Mrs. Purcell, teacher assistant;
Mrs. Maguire, Special Education. We say farewell to those who retired or moved on, and thank you for your love of our students and St. Margaret’s.
We also invoke St. Joseph Calasanz, who is the patron saint of Public Schools for our children who attend public schools. St. Joseph dedicated his life to the education of poor and neglected children. Being unable to convince the religious orders to teach the poor and neglected street children, he gathered them together to teach both the secular subjects, and especially their religion. Soon, other priests joined him, and in 1597, he and two fellow priests opened the first free public school in Europe.
