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Below is the most recent email.
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Why We Remember…
9/11
Friday, September 11, 2026
Dear Friends in Christ,
Why do we remember sad events? They seem to be the very things we would want to forget. But we don’t. We set aside times and places for remembering even what has hurt us most.
Such is the case with today’s sad anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our nation. We pause to remember not just the events but the effects they had on us. We do so to recover the good but painful sentiments that arose in our hearts that day. We do so to hand on lessons-learned to future generations. We do so because a forgetful nation is no nation.
First, we remember those who were murdered that day. The victims weren’t going into battle. They were ordinary people going about their daily lives, working as they always did, thinking about loved ones back home. We remember and honor the first responders and other heroes who simply did what they could – and gave their lives in the course of it. May they rest in peace.
We remember that sudden realization we experienced of how much we love our nation. It was Americans who were murdered, on American soil. Despite all our differences and divisions (unfortunately, even deeper now than then), we felt united in a shared loss. The attacks were an assault not just on an idea but on real people in a real place – on our people and our place.
We remember how, in an instant, everything in life was put into perspective. What had seemed essential was revealed to be fleeting. Money, pleasure, and power were seen to be the false gods they always are. The permanent things that we had forgotten recovered their proper place.
I was at Saint Patrick Parish in Fredericksburg at the time. It was a parish with a lot of military and military contractors – a lot of Pentagon workers. Many families waited hours upon hours in anguish to hear from and – finally – to see and embrace their loved ones again. Suddenly, nothing was more important than that, than having your loved ones with you.
There was a sense of needing to live our lives differently. People grasped again the fragility of life, the passing nature of this world, and the need for God. Masses the following Sunday were packed to overflowing. In the face of evil, we rediscovered faith and sacrifice,
Then…things gradually returned to “normal.” The crowds at Mass dissipated. Somehow, we went back to things as they were before. Such is the human condition. Man is a forgetful animal. Left to ourselves, we let the flow of time take over, becoming slaves to it, having no history and therefore no future.
So today we push back against our own forgetfulness. We pause and recall what happened and even what pained us. We remember — so that what we knew and loved on that day will be stirred up in our hearts again today.
Updates…
Our Parish Picnic is around the corner – September 26th. Please consider volunteering for this parish-wide celebration. It will also be the debut of Banach and the Boys, Falls Church’s premier blue grass band!
The 21st Annual SJS Nun Fun Run is on Saturday, September 26th, from 7:30am until 9:00am. To participate as a runner, donor, or cheering bystander, visit the PTO’s Great Giving link. All proceeds will be donated to Camilla Hall, the Convent Home and Healthcare Center for our IHM Sisters. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to Saint James Catholic Church with “Nun Fun Run” in the memo line and mail it to Kathleen Anderson, Saint James Catholic Church, 905 Park Ave, Falls Church, VA.
St. Lucy Food Drive-Our Social Outreach Committee is hosting their Annual Fall Food Drivefor the St. Lucy Project on Saturday, September 26th, from 10:00am-2:00pm.
Vote No!-Make sure you vote against the two ballot initiatives this fall. For more information, go here.
Keeping Kids Catholic in College…is the topic of the next installment in our Parish Speaker Series. Parishioners Peter and Ellen Loesel will share their experience as FOCUS missionaries. Come join us on Monday, September 28th, at 7pm.
40 Hours Parish Retreat-Join us for 40 Hours of Devotion. Father Jack Riley will preach all Masses on October 11th and be available for confessions after all Sunday Masses. 40 Hours begins with Exposition at the end of the 7:00pm Mass on Sunday. To sign up for Adoration, click here. If time slots filled, then come join us when you can and spend time with Him.
Our Business Manager, Rich Blickendorfer, has announced his retirement. In the months to come, I will have more to say about his wonderful service to the Parish. We will be sad to see him go! Meanwhile, we are now in the market for a new business manager. Please check out the ad.
Lofty Humor
I’ve got a great joke about a roof, but it would just go over your head.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Scalia