USD Magazine, Fall 2001

Campus responds to terrorist attacks with prayer, education and fund raising T he terrorist attack on th e United States left most USD students with thei r first

All panelists urged the students to see past their anger and resist the urge to lash back. "Our first emotions of anger and sorrow can move us to act in ways that are unethi– cal," said Monsignor Daniel Dillabough, vice president of the Office of Mission and Ministry. "As one processes these emotions, we have to look at the principles that life is sacred and that violence is never j usrified." The university's Sept. 14 Mass of the Holy Spirit, held annually to celebrate the begin-

were fighting ourselves. Now we are united against an outsider. This will be the first war of my generation." And like chose before chem, students responded by supporting victims through prayer and calls for peace. Remembrance ribbons were handed out by the Associated Students shortly after the bombing, and caravans were quickly mobilized to the local chapter of the An1erican Red Cross for blood donations. Faculty and staff responded by organizing an open forum within 48 hours of the Sept. 11 attack, where more than 200 students asked professors, priests and peace activists for insight on why America was targeted, and what the nation's response should be.

bitter taste of a sensation that so many gen– erations before them experienced - the fear and pain of war. From the days spent huddled around television sets endlessly replaying scenes of the destruction in New York City and Washington, D.C., to the impromptu class– room discussions and moments of silent prayer in Founders Chapel, USD's students came face-to-face with a horror they had never witnessed before in their lifetimes. "I was in the second grade when we were in the Gulf War," said freshman Ashley Spi ndler. "And with (the bomb ing of the federal building in) Oklal1oma City, we

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