Community Corner
Clergy of Woodbridge Remember 9/11 With Interfaith Service
St. Anthony of Padua served as home for the annual remembrance ceremony.
A single bell chimed nine times Sunday evening at a church in Port Reading, signifying the nine Woodbridge residents who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.
The Roll Call of Remembrance was one of several parts of the inter-faith program, one put together by the Woodbridge Interfaith Clergy Council to stress peace on the ten year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
"We try to work together throughout the year," said Reverend James Thomas of the First Presbyterian Church of Iselin. "We all work together. It's something we like to do."
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The program was held at St. Anthony of Padua Church. "It's something that's been done every year since the first anniversary," said Father William J. Smith of the church. "It's been held in different locations, and since the anniversary is on a Sunday this year, it seemed appropriate to hold it here."
The hour-and-a-half ceremony featured representatives from a variety of different faiths. "Peace is the greatest quality a person can have," said Imam Moustafa Zayed as he addressed the packed church. Later, discussing the terrorist attacks and the unity among Americans that followed, Zayed added, "...They will never shrink our love. They will not win."
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The service also featured choirs from all three Woodbridge high schools, as well as Sikh music from students of the Dashmesh Academy. Woodbridge First Responders were also there and received recognition and a blessing.
"The healing of the nations - that is what we are here about this afternoon, that is the cause that unites us across every line of creed, class, color, and caste," said Colleen Coppola in introducing the Tree of Life at the end of the service. Affixed to the tree were the names of the nine Woodbridge residents - Edward Allegretto, Marlyn Baustista, Patrick Dunn, John Adam Larson, James F. Lynch, Charles Mauro, Tonyell McDay, Narender Nath, and Saukara Velamuri - who where killed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. During the closing of the ceremony, attendees were urged to write their own prayer or petition on a leaf and add it to the tree.
The money collected in the offering was to be donated to Woodbridge residents whose homes or property were damaged by Hurricane Irene, said Reverend Thomas.
