Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello was a liaison for the New York Police Department on September 11, 2001. He woke up that morning to get ready for mass when he got a phone call that a plane hit the World Trade Center.
MSGR. JAMIE GIGANTIELLO
FDNY Chaplain, former NYPD liaison
There were thousands and thousands of people just walking in chaos, but quiet, silence. It was like organized chaos. People just walking in shock.
Monsignor David Cassato was appointed chaplain of the NYPD just a couple of months before the 9/11 attacks. He remembers driving over the usually crowded Brooklyn Bridge in a police car, but it was completely empty.
MSGR. DAVID CASSATO
NYPD Chaplain
I remember hundreds and hundreds of people evacuating the city, leaving, just walking through the streets in droves trying to get out of the city. I remember people coming, crying that they wanted help with their phone to just try to communicate with someone on the outside.
They were both immediately put into action, responding to calls and working at the morgue. Both were there when firefighters laid Victim 0001, Father Mychal Judge’s body, on the altar, and they blessed him.
MSGR. JAMIE GIGANTIELLO
FDNY Chaplain, former NYPD liaison
That was the thing I remember probably most out of the whole day. And later on I became a fire chaplain. We owe it to them to continue the ministry that he did and so many did.
On a day of so much evil and destruction, people struggled to understand why this happened. But it’s not about how this impacts them at the moment. It’s about how they bounce back and recover from such a tragedy.
MSGR. JAMIE GIGANTIELLO
FDNY Chaplain, former NYPD liaison
I got up the next morning to celebrate mass. And I didn’t have time to prepare the reading or to look over the Gospel. I get out there and I open up the Gospel to read in front of the people. And the reading was the same reading that it was today. Where Jesus says “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.”
And I had to stop for a moment and say to myself “God are you testing me.” And that was really something I think we needed because we remember September 11th, but we also have to try to remember September 12th.
Monsignor Gigantiello and Monsignor Cassato continue to honor those lost in the September 11 attacks through their ministry and service. And they emphasize the importance of not just remembering that day, but also the day after.
