The heroic response of nurses and healthcare workers to the tragedy of 9/11 is a lived example of the wise counsel of Scripture and the Marian Renovator Blessed George Matulaitis: “Overcome evil with good.”
By Chris Sparks
I have an ever-growing number of colleagues here at the Marian Helpers Center who are too young to have personal memories of 9/11.
Time truly marches on.
9/11 in the dark
In 2001, Dad was stationed in Astoria, Oregon, as the commander of the Coast Guard base that serves the mouth of the Columbia River — literally, where the river empties into the sea. That meant that on the morning of 9/11, just after I got out of his car to go to pep band practice at Astoria High School, he got a call from the base telling him what had happened.
We of course were in a time zone three hours behind New York and Washington, D.C., so as 9/11 was happening on a bright blue-sky day, we were still in the dark.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 24 years now since that terrible day, that day where a nation began in one era, one set of assumptions about security, safety, and stability, and ended it looking at the world through eyes of trauma.
Everything changed
I enjoy history. I’ve listened to the recorded broadcasts of the news coverage on 9/11 over the years on the anniversary, and been fascinated how before the attacks, the coverage is firmly in the world of the 90s — Michael Jordan’s sports career is discussed; it’s all relaxed, all ordinary, all the firm self-confidence and assurance of the post-Cold War, pre-Global War on Terror United States.
By the end of the day, every facet of the years to come has emerged. Bin Laden is discussed as the most likely perpetrator, with his Al Qaeda terrorist network; the issues of surveillance and the way civil liberties are likely to be a casualty of this attack; the absolute clarity by the end of the day that whether or not Congress declares it, the U.S. is at war; that Afghanistan will be a focus of U.S. military action; all of it.
We had all the data points as a people, it seemed. We just hadn’t noticed the emerging patterns, the likely outcomes.
What a time to be growing up in a military family. The Coast Guard base at Astoria suddenly gained a front gate, a cardboard guard shack, and some makeshift barriers, till something more permanent could be constructed. For the first time, sometimes, Dad wasn’t there in the mornings to take us to school, and Mom couldn’t say why.
Eventually, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security meant Dad’s penultimate boss changed from the Secretary of Transportation to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Nurses respond
At the same time on that terrible day, on the other side of the country, Nurse Marie Romagnano was calling around to try to offer her help. But when the towers collapsed, she was told there was nothing more to be done.
She knew better.
In 2021, Nurse Marie recalled:
Looking back across 20 years to Sept. 11, 2001, it is difficult to recall the loss of life on this day, and the inspiration to pray for those dying in catastrophic events. Realizing that day that there was no hope of rescue for many, I, Marie Romagnano, MSN, RN, trauma nurse and catastrophic injury nurse case manager, wanted to mobilize a team of nurses to help and travel to New York to work front line with the firefighters and EMTs. Coordinating with the Red Cross, it became apparent that there were few survivors, so prayer was the answer. I turned to the Diary of St. Faustina and listened to the powerful words of Jesus:
"Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depends on your prayer" (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1777).
The importance of education
But education was also imperative, Nurse Marie discovered.
“In working with some of the nurses, I found that they had never heard of the Divine Mercy message and devotion or the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the sick and dying,” explains Nurse Marie. “This is when the inspiration came to found an organization that would focus on the spiritual care of the patient, incorporating the Divine Mercy message and devotion and the Sacraments of the Church.”
In cooperation with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, Nurses For Divine Mercy was born, and subsequently Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy when other healthcare professionals wanted to be a part of the organization.
Providence
On 9/11, I’d never have assumed my story and Nurse Marie’s story would someday intersect — yet here we are, by God’s providence.
I’ve been honored to become Nurse Marie’s colleague in serving the mission of the Marian Fathers, given to them most directly by St. John Paul II: “Be apostles of Divine Mercy under the maternal and loving guidance of Mary.”
I’ve covered several of the Healthcare Professionals’ extraordinary, informative, and spiritually enriching conferences; helped edit Dr. Bryan Thatcher’s booklet At the Bedside of the Sick and Dying, written with longtime Marian Helper Kathleen Wabick; and seen the extraordinary fruits of Nurse Marie’s response to 9/11.
It’s a lived example of the wise counsel of Scripture and the Marian Renovator Blessed George Matulaitis: “Overcome evil with good.”
Let us all go and do likewise with prayer, works of mercy, fasting, and the remedies for evil offered us in our Catholic faith. As we mark 24 years since the tragedies of 9/11, and pray for the lives lost and the loved ones left behind, let us trust in Jesus and recommit ourselves to overcoming evil with good.
Photo by Jesse Mills on Unsplash.
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