Attacks rattle veteran

The Divine Compassion sister was in a convent in White Plains (Westchester County) when she heard the news Sept. 11. The next day, she struggled to call The Evangelist because so many telephone lines were out of service.

"It was just unbelievable," she said. "It's so hard to focus or have your emotions come out, because it's such a tragedy. We had a holy hour right away."

Aftermath

"Transportation in and out [of New York City] is hard," she said. "The trains are not running as much as they could. Our TV channels are all knocked out; we only get one channel."

What news she could get was frightening.

"A grandniece just emailed me," she told The Evangelist. "Her husband was down there at the time; he worked in the [World Trade Center's] third tower. He got down there, got off the subway and saw the disaster. He turned around and walked to Grand Central [Station], but he couldn't get out. He went to his boss's residence and then got home at 6."

Close calls

When the elevator stopped, he tried an escalator, but finally had to jump eight feet from that down to the lobby of the building.

"He said there were pieces of airplane everywhere," Sister Mary recounted. He walked up to Grand Central Station and managed to get home.

"There are many stories like that," the nun noted. "It's going to hit home here very much."

Response

"We don't want just to vindicate, to go after people just to retaliate," she said. "But we're certainly going to have to deal with it in a military way. It's the whole world that's going to be affected by terrorism, and it cannot be."

However, she said, seeing the wreckage of the World Trade Center had taught her a lesson about using bombings as a solution. Back in 1945, she said, "We thought Hiroshima was wonderful; it ended our war with Japan. But this brings home the devastation those people experienced."

(09-20-01) [[In-content Ad]]