This photo by Bill Lovejoy, taken in front of Holy Cross Church the evening of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was on the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel the next day. It reflects the great sadness, dismay, and shock people felt as they gathered throughout the country and around the world to pray together and search for meaning and hope in what had happened in New York City, a field in Shanksville, PA and the Pentagon in Arlington that morning. It was incomprehensible.
Earlier that day the phones rang in the homes of members of the Holy Cross Liturgy Committee. Fr. Mark Stetz, and Sr. Barbara were calling a meeting to put together a Vigil Service, understanding that the community would need to gather and seek consolation in one another's sorrow. Music and scriptures were chosen and, of course, there needed to be candles.
At 7 p.m. that night, the Sentinel reported, nearly 800 people gathered around the Peace Pole in Mission Plaza and listened as Fr. Mark said simply, "I can't give you any answers, but we can do everything we can to share our hope this evening." The Easter Candle, called the "candle of hope" for this night, was lifted high by parishioner Patricia Shubeck who led the crowd across the plaza, the courtyard, up the steps and into the church, filling it to capacity.
Sentinel staff writers Heather Boerner and Liz Kellar wrote a beautiful description of the scene: "The sanctuary in Santa Cruz's Holy Cross Church dimmed with the setting sun Tuesday as 400 people gazed upon a single lit candle, holding vigil for countless victims of the day's terrorist attack. They prayed for the wounded, the families of the dead and themselves, confused and helpless at the end of a day that changed everything. A singular child's wail pierced the air."
At the end of the service there was total silence. And then, one voice was heard at the back of the church singing a familiar song. The single voice was joined by one or two others, then more until the whole church was spontaneously singing with joy and with hope, "God bless America, the land that I love....my home sweet home."
It was an experience everyone who was present will remember always.
My son‘s 6th Birthday. We lit a candle in the mission.
That was indeed a sad day. We will never forget it.