Joan Marie Nagy
Thursday, Sept. 11, 2003

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, will always be with us, but for most of us the horrors of that day are neatly and quietly tucked away in the backs of our minds. We live days, weeks and even months in a kind of pseudo normalcy, never acknowledging that new huge elephant of reality sitting in the corner.

However, viewing just a single picture from the events of Sept. 11 can immediately open a floodgate of intense emotions, yanking us back in time, back to a place two years ago where our emotions vacillated between shock and rage. A place where a mere rumor of an attack could cause panic and where we waited uneasily and unprepared for that almost certain second attack. It is a place where Americans will inevitably journey to every Sept. 11.

Yet there remains that one tragic event among the occurrences of Sept. 11, 2001, from which a glimmer, a spark of hope for our future emerged from the ashes of destruction.

The crash of United Airlines Flight 93 into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, remains the single event on which our worlds pivoted, taking us from the naive pre-Sept. 11 world of assumed safety to the astute post-Sept. 11 world of inescapable reality.

For Flight 93 was the first battleground in the war on terrorism. It is the place where wide-eye religious fanatics, motivated by hate and hell-bent on death and destruction, came face to face with freedom-loving Americans motivated by liberty and intent on living life and saving others.

It is said that God speaks to us through the events in our lives. The hand of God can be seen in our life's actions, yet His touch is sometimes so imperceptibly light that we often feel as if we are acting under our own discretion during times of trouble or doubt. Its only when we look back on those events, and judge the occurrences, that we see His divine presence, perceive His guidance and, if we are lucky, acquire a shadow of insight on the totality of His mission for our lives.

The passengers of Flight 93 didn’t have the benefit of hindsight; they had only their faith in God and minutes to act.

“Jesus help me,” Todd Beamer called out after he had finished praying the Lord’s Prayer with GTE supervisor-operator Lisa Jefferson. Beamer then led his fellow passengers in reciting the 23rd Psalm, before leading them down the aisle of the plane toward their and America’s destiny.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

It was that imperceptibly light touch of God’s hand on the shoulders of the passengers of Flight 93 that might have made them feel as if they were going it alone, acting on their own limited immediate knowledge. They could not have known then the far-reaching wisdom with which God was blessing their actions.

For not only did their actions save the lives of many other Americans, but also their faith in God remains as a living testimony and their actions as an example of true heroism.

So then the question remains: What do we do with such a gift? How do we honor such Christ-like selflessness? While the town of Shanksville is still years away from a permanent memorial to the crash heroes of Flight 93, the hand of God has definitely and decidedly moved things in a different direction.

A retired Catholic priest living in Shanksville, the Rev. Al Mascherino, is being guided by the imperceptible but undeniable touch of God’s hand.

It all began with an offering to a temporary memorial in town.

The memorial started in one resident’s yard. Someone had put up a large wooden cross among all the flags, flowers and candles. Mascherino knew that a cross would never be part of any memorial the secular world would construct. That is when the seed was planted.

One month later he noticed a small white chapel for sale when he was on his way to donate patriotic buttons to local firefighters who had responded to the crash of Flight 93. When Mascherino inquired about the church he was told it already had a buyer. Ten days later the realtor called to say the church was suddenly available.

In January 2002, he purchased that 100-year-old chapel that, ironically, was formerly used as a seed warehouse. He purchased it at a time when he had only $300 in his bank account. And with an amazing series of events that only the faithful can recognize as the hand of God, the little seed chapel kept sowing seeds of miracles.

Mascherino had intended to renovate the chapel himself and bought lumber $50 at a time. As the activities around the church began, people who had previously been baptized or had once attended the little church started stopping by. Word spread and the donations started coming in, small ones at first from visitors stopping by.

Then gifts were donated. The very first gift to the chapel was the gift of light. A retired local blacksmith, David Weimer, designed and donated a perpetual-flame hanging lamp, whose unique design, inspired by the heroes of Flight 93, represents both tragedy and hope. "In the beginning, God made light," Mascherino said, quoting Genesis.

Then larger gifts started to arrive. Maggie Hardy Magerko, president of 84 Lumber, donated a check for $23,000 and then ultimately paid the entire cost of the renovation, estimated at $150,000.

Groups of workers arrived to volunteer their time. At one time 10 to 12 contractors were standing in line waiting for work directions from the Father.

The final work was completed in a marathon of activities beginning just 10 days before the first anniversary of Sept. 11, when workers constructed the wall pillars and matching altar, completed the new wiring, installed several brass lighting fixtures including five chandeliers, erected a 40-foot bell tower and installed Thunder Bell. They applied a fresh coat of white paint to the inside of the chapel and new white siding to the outside.

The little white chapel was reborn as Flight 93 Memorial Chapel.

Just three miles from the actual crash site, the non-denominational chapel is dedicated as a spiritual memorial and perpetual tribute in honor of the heroes of Flight 93 and all others who perished Sept. 11, 2001. The chapel is open to people of all faiths and is available for individual faith groups to worship together under the direction of their respective religious leaders. The Rev. Mascherino offers mass on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. The finished chapel is nothing less than awe-inspiring. Everything about the design of the chapel is reminiscent of the story of Flight 93 and so the visual experience keeps bringing the visitor’s thoughts back to that place and time.

The altar has a Federalist style, representing the Capitol that was saved by Flight 93. The chapel’s theme is “One Nation Under God.” A large gold eagle tops the altar, with 40 gold stars, representing the 40 passengers, dotting an endless-horizon painting that is lit by the perpetual flame.

There is a separate small meditation room, dedicated to the crew and passengers of Flight 93, that includes a framed picture of each person and a short personal biography. Red glass votive candles line a small ledge along the wall beneath the pictures.

The chapel occupies one corner of an intersection on the Boulevard of Heroes, Stutzmantown Road and Coleman Station Road. The three other corners are the perimeters of fields of corn. So the little church truly represents God’s voice in the heart of God’s country.

It is a pristine representation of all that is good about America. It represents our spirituality, our inclusiveness, our freedoms of speech and religion and all our liberties. It is the most appropriate and interactive way to remember and honor our American heroes and the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Author’s note: Visit the chapel online at www.flt93memorialchapel.org

Joan Nagy can be contacted by e-mail at JoanMarieNagy@aol.com

Editor's note:
Hear John Wayne, "Why I love America" – Click Here