Sept. 11 is a day of historical significance as the school now joins in a tradition with Indianapolis firefighters, more than 100 of whom will attend the 9/11 memorial Mass in the Welch Activity Center on Sept. 11.

As part of the event, Mr. John Shluge ’03 will present an award from the Emerald Society to a student. 

There will also be two fire trucks holding up a banner of the names of the heroes on 9/11 as well as a bagpiper to commemorate these fallen heroes. The fire chief will also make remarks as part of the Mass, which will be celebrated by Fr. John McCaslin, who is the chaplain for the Indianapolis Fire Department. 

Campus ministry director Mrs. Charlene Witka said, “This ceremony was held by Scecina last year and other schools like Roncalli in the past years. It will be awesome to see Cathedral join that list of names and history of such a coveted event.”

“We are really honored to have them,” she said. “This will produce a great awareness for students who weren’t around for 9/11 or don’t know a lot about it.” 

Witka worked with IFD Chief Mr. Howard Stahl to make this 9/11 memorial Mass not only educational for the students but as well as memorable for the firefighters.  She said, “We want the firefighters to think about this day 20 to 25 years down the road and remember it as an amazing day of a community coming together to honor Americas heroes.”