9/11 a generation later 

An entire generation has grown up without firsthand memories of Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked passenger jets struck the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pa. Investigators later determined that the fourth plane’s intended target was the U.S. Capitol. 

Documentaries and television coverage cannot fully capture the emotional reality of that day, when much of the news arrived through frantic phone calls from family, friends and coworkers. 

The attacks, orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, killed 2,977 people, including the 19 hijackers, in New York, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville. 

For many families, however, the pain remains as fresh as ever. 

Two victims with ties to the Archdiocese of Baltimore were among those killed when the South Tower collapsed: Daniel McNeal, a 1990 graduate of Loyola Blakefield in Towson, and Sean Lugano, a 1995 graduate of Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore. 

McNeal was not the only Loyola Blakefield graduate caught in the attacks. He and Michael Addison Fitz-Patrick, both members of the same class, were in the same World Trade Center tower, just 43 stories apart. Both men called their families to say they were safe. Fitz-Patrick survived. 

Both McNeal and Lugano are memorialized by their alma maters. Loyola University named a rugby field for Lugano, while Loyola Blakefield established a scholarship fund and display honoring McNeal. When the planes struck, McNeal was on the 104th floor and Lugano was on the 88th. 

McNeal was 29 and Lugano 28. Both now have relatives who were born after the tragedy. 

“There’s not a day since 9/11 I’ve not thought of him or prayed to him,” said Kat Sheeler, McNeal’s younger sister and a parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Timonium. “And I wonder what my life would be like if he were here with us.” 

For John Lugano, Sean’s older brother, each anniversary brings painful reminders. 

“It’s on TV all the time this time of year,” said the parishioner of St. Joseph in Bronxville, N.Y., who still works in the financial industry. “It never ends, really, so you’re brought right back to the worst time in your life. We were just starting our lives. The guy was my best friend.” 

McNeal was able to leave a phone message for his mother, but his call to his father was cut off before it was completed. His remains were recovered two days later. 

“We were one of the lucky ones, to be able to retrieve his body,” Sheeler said. 

Sheeler said she has learned, in her words, that “you learn to pray to God. You learn to thank him for the time we had with Daniel.” 

Lugano said faith has likewise sustained his family. 

“We also have a big community supporting us all the time,” he said, estimating that as the anniversary approaches, he will receive about 100 phone calls. 

Sheeler’s wedding was scheduled for Sept. 29, 2001. McNeal was supposed to walk her down the aisle because their father was in hospice care and unable to do so. Their father saw the South Tower collapse on television and died months later. 

Today, Sheeler’s oldest son bears her brother’s name. 

“Every year, they always told us to never forget,” she observed. “But they’re starting to forget.” 

She added that with her son and two daughters, “we never had to hide the truth from them, even from a very young age.” 

John Lugano’s children were all born after Sept. 11. While they know what happened, he hopes they never experience such evil firsthand. 

“I don’t want my kids to know that kind of evil exists,” said Lugano. “So I try to delete it.” 

Their mother, Eileen Lugano, who died three years ago, found her own way to channel grief. She volunteered as a guide at the tribute center near the Twin Towers memorial, sharing the stories of those who were lost. 

Father Leo Patalinghug, now head of the Plating Grace food ministry, was serving as associate pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex when the attacks occurred. 

“I would say that grief is an unfortunately necessary part of life,” he said. “Much of our grief is created by our brokenness, our humanity and our inability to know and love God.” 

The attacks also altered his plans. With international flights suspended, he postponed a pilgrimage to Lourdes and a week later traveled to Ground Zero carrying the prayer intentions he had collected. 

Instead, rescue workers noticed his clerical collar and escorted him into the disaster site, where he prayed the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. 

“That was my role,” he recalled. “I was just a priest kneeling near the site and blessing people as they walked by.” 

He later brought both financial assistance and prayers to a nearby Red Cross center. 

In the years that followed, Father Patalinghug led several Catholic pilgrimages to Ground Zero. During one visit about a decade after the attacks, he witnessed New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan blessing a woman whose relative had died there. 

“She was able to feel that pain,” he said, “and you were able to feel it with her.” 

Father Patalinghug pointed to Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  

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