Members of the College of the Holy Cross community extend their sympathy and prayers to all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. In particular, our prayers go out to those who lost loved ones and to those who have friends and family still missing.
Resources for Support
In light of the recent tragic national events, the Counseling Center and Chaplains’ Office have co-sponsored support groups for students. Students who attend have a chance to express feelings and concerns focused on difficult questions such as: How do I deal with loss? How do I support a friend? Am I reacting “normally?” How can I ask for help from others?
Faculty & Staff Debriefing
The Wellness Corporation (provider of the College Employee Assistance Program) conducted a critical incident debriefing around the terrorist acts on Sept. 11 for all interested faculty, staff and support staff. At the debriefing, staff from the Wellness Corporation provided general information about trauma, coping strategies and resources as well as an opportunity for open discussion. The session took place on Friday, Sept. 21.
“Responding to the Terrorist Attack on America”
On Wednesday, Sept. 19, there was a roundtable discussion sponsored by the department of political science and the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Participants:
Professor Ward Thomas, department of political science; Professor George Lane, department of political science and former ambassador to South Yemen; Professor Predrag Cicovacki, department of philosophy; and Captain Labrecque, USN, naval science
“Understanding Islam”
There will be an open forum on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Hogan Campus Center. All are invited to join an open dialogue with specialists on Islam, voice their concerns and ask questions about the religion.
Participants:
Jimmy Jones, professor of world religions and African studies at Manhattanville College; specialist in Muslim-American identity; Qamar-ul Huda, assistant professor of Islamic studies and comparative theology at Boston College, specialist in Islamic spirituality and ethics; Christopher Alario, Yale University, specialist in theoretical Sufism and the modernist roots of “Jihadist Islam”; Todd Lewis, professor of world religions at Holy Cross; Laury Silvers-Alario, visiting lecturer and advisor to MECCA (Muslim Endeavor to Create Cultural Awareness) students at Holy Cross; Gary DeAngelis, associate director, Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies at Holy Cross. This event is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Assistance Efforts
As a result of the many requests and suggestions from students, faculty and staff, the Student Programs Office initiated fund-raisers and donation drives. In an effort to help the victims and volunteers of the tragic events, the community joined together and sponsored the following relief efforts:
Relay for Disaster Relief
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the country is experiencing a new sense of national shared purpose. The attacks perpetuated an unprecedented nationwide rescue effort as many people realized their obligations to one another. As a Jesuit liberal arts college that fosters a lifestyle of service, all of us are called to become men and women for others. Acknowledging that this belief is at the core of our tradition, the Holy Cross community will help seek justice by serving one another.
All students, faculty and staff were invited to participate in a campus-wide fund raiser for the families devastated by the terrorist attacks. On Friday, Oct. 12, there was a relay race at 6:30 p.m. at the Hart Center track. The challenge was for each team to complete 50 laps (run or walk) before 10 p.m.
Residence Hall Assistants organized teams on their halls, in addition to numerous departments and offices. Over 300 energetic students, faculty, staff and family members raised over $7,000; all proceeds were contributed to Families of Freedom, a scholarship fund created to provide education assistance for post-secondary study to financially needy children and spouses of those killed or permanently disabled as a result of the terrorist attacks in the United States.
For additional information contact Susie Kavanaugh ’03 or Betsy Cracco, in the Counseling Center.
Campus-Wide Salvation Army Supply Drive
Friday, Sept. 14 – Friday, Sept. 21
Items Obtained: Men’s and Women’s New or Used Jeans, Men and Women’s Underwear, Men and Women’s T-Shirts, Bottled Water, Gatorade, Toothbrushes and Other Toiletry Items, and Non-Perishable Food Items.
Blood Drive Shuttles
Tuesday, Sept. 18 and Wednesday, Sept. 19
Shuttles ran on the hour from 11a.m. – 4 p.m.
Monetary Donations
Friday, Sept. 14 – Friday, Sept. 21
The College accepted monetary donations to the relief effort on behalf of the Salvation Army.
Help the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks – Display Your Patriotism!
Starting on Wednesday, Sept. 26, the class officers will be selling red, white and blue ribbons in Hogan to raise money for those harmed by the terrorists on Sept. 11. The ribbons will cost $1, but larger donations are encouraged. Ribbons will be sold next to the Bookstore and across from Cool Beans until Holy Cross raises enough money to help those hurt most by the atrocities.
Thank you,
The presidents, vice presidents, secretaries and treasurers of the Classes of ’02, ’03 & ’04
Information about victims of the tragedy
Many members of the Holy Cross family have been in touch with us, passing on or requesting news about survivors and victims. Holy Cross has a longstanding policy of not revealing biographical information about alumni/ae. We want to protect the privacy of our alumni/ae, particularly, at this most difficult time when there is much unknown and unconfirmed information about individuals. When the College receives official notification (either from a family member or from a printed obituary) of an alumnus/a’s death, this information is provided to his or her classmates.
In Memoriam
In honor of the memory of those we have lost.
* Edward A. (Ted) Brennan, III, Class of 1986
* Thomas D. Burke, Class of 1985
* Neilie A. Heffernan Casey, Class of 1990
* John G. Farrell, Class of 1991
* Todd A. Isaac, Class of 1994; Memorial Service – October 20, 2001
* Beth A. Quigley, Class of 1997
* John J. Ryan, Class of 1978
Kindly remember the repose of their souls in your prayers.
Related information:
9/11 NYC Mass Homily by Rev. Michael McFarland, S.J.
November 2, 2001
The twenty-third Psalm, which we just sang as a responsorial, contains this line: “Though I walk in the darkest valley,” or, in another translation, “Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death.” How prophetic. It seems like all of us, but most of all you here in New York, have been living in the shadow of death. There are the awful voids left by loved ones snatched away, the horrible images of destruction, the memories of carnage, the paralyzing fear, and the smoking pit of destruction on your doorstep. We know about the valley of the shadow of death. But we have to finish the sentence. “Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are at my side.”
There are four elements here. First, “I walk.” I am not just hanging around. I am going someplace. My life has a meaning, a direction, a purpose, guided by my deepest desires. I want peace; I want love; I want to be fully alive. Instead I encounter darkness, the complete denial and destruction of everything I value, everything I was striving toward. That is the second element. I feel empty and defeated. Everything I believed in, everything I have been striving for has been taken away. I am tempted to throw up my hands and think, “It is over.” But no, “I will not fear.” I will not give in to the evil. I will not submit to despair. I will look beyond the darkness in hope.
Why? “Because you are at my side.” It is God’s companionship and support, God’s compassion and love that I feel in the moment of darkness and despair. That is what pulls me through.
Paul describes exactly the same pattern in the second reading. Though led by the Spirit, he says, we encounter a menace that has the power to hold creation in subjection, so much so that “the world groans and is in agony.” But, he reassures us, “you did not receive a spirit of slavery that held you back in fear.” No, we go forward because God is with us, so intimately that Paul says we are not just companions but children of God.
This is a familiar road, one that everyone has to travel sooner or later. Jesus himself had to face it, as we heard in the Gospel. He was not immune to the darkness. As he faced his own death, he spoke of his soul as “troubled,” so much so that he considered asking God to rescue him from his fate. “Yet what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?” But no; he rejected that. “Father, glorify your name.” He went forward in companionship with the Father. And he asks us to walk the same path in companionship with him. “Anyone who would serve me, let him follow me. Where I am, there shall my servant be.”
Anyone who wants to follow Jesus has to follow that road, to face the darkness of suffering and death. There is no avoiding it; and it can be dark indeed. The revered Cardinal Joseph Bernardin wrote of his long and painful struggle with cancer, which would shortly lead to his death, “The essential mystery of the cross is that it gives rise to a certain kind of loneliness, an inability to see clearly how things are unfolding, an inability to see that, ultimately, all things will work for our good, and that we are, indeed, not alone.” Yet through faith and prayer, he was able finally to affirm God’s presence in his suffering and to draw hope from it. “For, in the final analysis, our participation in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus brings a certain freedom: the freedom to let go, to surrender ourselves to the living God, to place ourselves completely in his hands, knowing that ultimately he will win out!”
Those we remember this evening: Edward Brennan, Thomas Burke, Neilie Heffernan Casey, John Farrell, Todd Isaac, Beth Quigley and John Ryan, as well as our many other family and friends who died in this terrible tragedy, have already passed through the darkness and emerged into the light in the company of their loving Savior. Those beautiful lives have now reached their fulfillment, in joy and peace forever. They have found that place we heard about in the first reading, where the Lord will remove the veil that veils all peoples, and where every tear will be wiped away.
We, however, are still on the way, stumbling in and out of the darkness. Where do we find our light and hope? It is right here in our companionship. Coming together, offering our friendship and support for one another, praying together and remembering those who meant so much to us. That love for one another is where the healing power of Christ is most immediately and palpably present to us. And it is what unites us with those who have gone before us.
The extraordinary care so many of you have shown throughout this tragedy, maintaining communications, accounting for the survivors, searching for the missing, reaching out to the bereaved, and supporting those in doubt and pain, is both the power of Christ working among us and your affirmation of that power.
Jesus also talks about the seed in the Gospel. As long as the seed remains intact, and is protected by its hard shell, it is invulnerable, but also static and of little worth. It is only when it is swallowed up by the earth, that it breaks open and something far more wonderful, new life, issues from it. In some way we have been broken open by this tragedy. It is scary because we are not protected by our hard shell anymore. We can’t hide in our predictable, comfortable world. But, it is an opening to something new, as we have drawn closer together and learned to enter into one another’s struggles and hopes. It is, if we can accept it, Christ’s new life.
We always have the expectation that God should come and rescue us from the darkness. Personally that’s the answer I prefer. But it is not always the answer we get. Sometimes God is in the darkness. That was what Cardinal Bernardin found. When he learned he had incurable cancer, he was certainly tempted to give up and feel sorry for himself. Instead he started to go around and visit the other people on his floor in the hospital. He discovered that suddenly he had much more to offer them than ever before, because he now shared their experience. He understood, in ways that only an insider could, and that brought tremendous comfort to them. And then, remarkably, he found it brought comfort and peace to him as well. It also brought home one of the great truths of our faith. “As Christians,” he wrote, “if we are to love as Jesus loved, we must first come to terms with suffering. Our years of living as Christians will be years of suffering for and with other people. Like Jesus, we will love others only if we walk with them in the valley of darkness.”
Understanding Islam, War, and Terrorism
Message from MECCA
On behalf of the Muslim community at Holy Cross, MECCA (Muslim Endeavor to Create Cultural Awareness) would like to express its deepest horror and sorrow at the terrible events in New York and Washington D.C.
Compounding this tragedy for Muslims and those who are sympathetic to Islam is the violence done to Muslims and the image of Islam by this terrible crime. The president of Mecca and the instructor for Islam at Holy Cross would like to clarify several points of importance concerning the perspective of normative Islam on war and terrorism.
First, we would like to say that it has come to our attention that the BBC reported that there were only small numbers of Palestinians in the streets celebrating on the day of the attack. Apparently, the footage of Palestinian celebrations shown on American television was supplemented by stock footage. The footage of several children and a woman, and several men shooting off guns is reportedly the only film shot that day. Please note if you should see the report again, that the film of these people is shot tight and the street behind them is empty. This clearly shows as the BBC has stressed that the number of people in the street celebrating was small. The BBC also said that the majority of Palestinians they approached were horrified and refused to comment.
1. The meaning of Jihad:
It is incorrect to understand the word jihad as “holy war.” The word for war in Arabic is harb, and jihad is not used in that context. In Arabic, jihad means “to struggle.” Muhammad defined two forms of jihad: the greater and the lesser jihad. The lesser jihad is a specific and narrowly defined struggle against religious oppression. Again, it is not the word used for war or warfare in Islam. Muhammad defined the greater jihad as the struggle with the soul’s negative tendencies.
2. Legal opinions on suicide, war and terrorism:
First, it is important to understand that there is no central authority in Islam and that there is enormous flexibility and diversity in Islamic legal rulings. Nevertheless, there is often great consensus among Muslim scholars on matters large and small.
Scholars argue their various perspectives in legal opinions called fatwas. Fatwas have no weight unless accepted by the community of scholars. Consensus among scholars is recognized by the broad acceptance of legal opinion.
We would like to present the consensus opinions among Muslim scholars, meaning these are the accepted positions of the vast majority of Muslims in the world.
a. Suicide: Suicide is understood by the majority of Muslims scholars to condemn a soul beyond redemption. A smaller but significant group of scholars say that there is still some hope of forgiveness demanded by God’s all-comprehensive Mercy. There is no sense among the consensus of scholars of a justifiable suicide.
b. Warfare: Muslims cherish the sanctity of all living things. The majority rulings of warfare state that no civilians or clergy of any religion may be put at risk in the fighting, nor may buildings and crops be destroyed wantonly. Combatants in war are not permitted to throw themselves into danger or risk beyond what is normal in warfare. In other words, along with the ruling on suicide, suicide attacks are expressly forbidden.
c. Terrorism: So if all this is true, then how do the very small number of Muslims who take part in terrorist activities justify their actions? This returns us to the discussion of the flexibility of Islamic law. A scholar may write a fatwa justifying terrorist acts, and he may be condemned by the consensus of Muslim scholars. But if anyone wants to rely on that fatwa, it is acceptable to do so.
Osama bin Laden along with several others wrote such a fatwa in 1998. But he is not considered by other Islamic scholars to be qualified to issue a legal opinion. It has been commented that writing this legal opinion justifying terrorism required significant twisting of the entire consensus legal tradition based on the Quran and the reports of what Muhammad said and did. In other words, in order to justify terrorism it was necessary to reject the traditional Islamic positions on this issue going back to the time of Muhammad.
Even so, there are a small number of individuals who choose to rely on his legal opinions even though his fatwas are rejected by other Muslim scholars.
That ruling and earlier ones written by bin Laden caused him to be condemned by Muslim scholars at large and ostracized by all Islamic nations with the exception of Afghanistan. In saying that, we must remember that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan does not represent the Afghani people who suffer under their oppression.
We hope this short explanation, despite its oversimplification of complex issues, is helpful to the Holy Cross community in understanding the perspective of normative Islam on the terrible events of the 11th of September.
Again, the Muslim students of Holy Cross would like to express their sympathy and sorrow.
Rabia Nizamani
Class of 2002
President of MECCA
Laury Silvers-Alario
Instructor of Islam
