HOUSTON CHRONICLE ARCHIVES 

Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: SAT 09/07/02
Section: RELIGION
Page: 1
Edition: 2 STAR

Our Changed World / REMEMBERING SEPT. 11 /Reflections on tragedy/ 
Houston-area churches reflect about Sept. 11

By RICHARD VARA, Houston Chronicle Religion Editor
Staff

It was the day that began in terror and ended in prayer.

Sept. 11 brought terrorist attacks to America and transformed the nation's soul, some leaders of Houston's religious community say.

"It made us more caring and loving of each other," said Rabbi Michael LeBurkien of Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism. "It taught us that you can't care for (just) yourself."

"What has happened to people is that it has caused them to say, `I have to take my relationship with God seriously,' " said the Rev. Tom Rafferty, pastor of St. Justin Martyr Catholic Church in Alief. "It can't be lukewarm, medium. We are talking serious issues here. We are talking life and death. You or I can die at any minute."

Since Sept. 11, Houston Muslims "feel more of a sense of responsibility about practicing Islam, learning Islam," said Masrur Khan, spokesman for the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. "There is so much focus on Islam and Muslims, that people feel it is their responsibility to learn about Islam as much as they can by attending Quranic study circles and attending mosques and going to lectures."

Nearly one year ago, LeBurkien, Rafferty, Khan and millions of other shocked Americans watched as terrorists, using hijacked passenger jets as missiles, reduced the World Trade Center to a mountain of rubble. Another hijacked plane plowed into the Pentagon, the hub of U.S. military might, and one crashed in Pennsylvania when passengers fought back.

In the coming days, like people across the country, Houstonians will assemble in houses of worship to commemorate Sept. 11 and remember the nearly 3 ,000 people who died.

Sept. 11 will fall this year in the middle of the Jewish High Holy Days, which began Friday night with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and conclude Sept. 16 with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Last year, the attacks took place one week before the 10 sacred days during which many Jews believe that God judges each person and decides who will live and who will die in the coming year.

LeBurkien was working in his synagogue study that morning when the phone rang. His physician-wife told him to turn on the television because "they were trying to destroy one of the towers in New York City."

"I pictured a Piper Cub going into it or something like that," LeBurkien recalled. "I watched. It was live. I saw the second (jet) plane go in."

LeBurkien was grief-stricken. "A lot of people have a love-hate relationship with New York City, but mine is mainly love," he said. "I felt as if I had been personally attacked."

The surreal images have not lost their impact on LeBurkien. "There isn't a day in my life I don't think about (Sept. 11) - not a day" the rabbi said.

"Immediately after 9/11 we were scared," LeBurkien said. "That feeling of being scared has dissipated. It is now a determination to fight the evil forces. In the Jewish community there is a stoic determination to face up to the fact that we have enemies and adversaries in the world."

Before Sept. 11, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur "would have been the time for a very mellow feeling of love for our fellow man and for everyone," he said.

"But that feeling has been challenged and mitigated by a feeling of warlike determination to stand up and fight and conquer those forces that challenge a world good for humanity because those forces are challenging the goodness of humanity."

While he plans no service on the 11th, LeBurkien will preach on the attacks during the High Holy Days and the victims will be remembered during Yom Kippur services at his southwest Houston synagogue.

Rabbi Joseph Radinsky of United Orthodox Synagogues said the Sept. 11 attacks have made Jews aware of how life can be "ephemeral, so tenuous, it can be snatched away in an instant."

It has made them more family-oriented, Radinsky said. "They now realize what really counts in life is their loved ones."

Sept. 11 reinforces the importance of the High Holy Days. But it has also made Jews aware of the power of evil in the world, he added.

Impressions on teens

In Rafferty's Alief parish, Sept. 11 made its greatest spiritual impression on teenagers. "They want a deep spirituality," the priest said. "It's not, `Let's talk about our feelings and color a picture.' It is how to get closer to God and make him real in our lives."

Before the attacks, only 20 regularly attended the Wednesday evening youth service. More than 50 now attend.

In the first months after the attacks, news reports showed attendance at religious services was up all over the country. Later reports showed that it had dropped. At St. Justin Martyr, the numbers at Sunday Mass are still up, from 3 ,200 to 3 ,500.

Parishioners have put a "lot of energy" into planning a Mass with special music for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Rafferty said. He expects about 1,000 to attend.

The priest said Sept. 11 reminded people of "an important fact - that ultimately our trust is in God. It is not in governments or armies or power - those things are important - but ultimately our trust is in God."

Not everyone agrees that Sept. 11 transformed the United States spiritually. The Rev. David Cardenas, pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church in Denver Harbor, said the attacks upset his working-class parishioners but did not lead to a lasting increase in Mass attendance.

His parishioners stoically accepted the attacks as part of an international conflict over which they had little control.

The Rev. Jim Herrington, former director of the Union (Southern) Baptist Association, says little has changed in the country spiritually.

"You can find anecdotes where people's lives were changed, but in terms of a (lasting) spiritual change, I think we will look back at it and see only a blip on the screen," said Herrington, pastor of Harbor Church in the Montrose area.

People who were not church-goers and rushed into sanctuaries last year have gone back to their routines, he said. People who were attending church prior to Sept. 11 are still in the pews.

Sept. 11 shattered people's comfort, he said. "We can live with the illusion of our self-sufficiency and invulnerability, especially in an affluent society," Herrington said. "When something like 9/11 happens, it strips that veneer away and you begin to realize how fragile life is."

But Sept. 11 did raise the consciousness of American Christians to the plight of the poor and the suffering of children in other nations, he said.

Herrington leads a movement that is praying for a fundamental shift in lives from materialism to more spiritual values. He has organized a Sept. 11 service at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church along with 128 other Christian churches.

The Rev. Rudy Rasmus , pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church, said attendance at his downtown church grew from 2,400 on Sundays to 2,800 after Sept. 11. Giving also jumped.

Decline not surprising

"Six months following 9/11, we experienced a decrease in worship attendance and giving," Rasmus said. "Things are back to normal and I don't see a lasting change from events from that day."

The church added some new members, and Rasmus is not surprised by the decline.

"I would expect people in the faith community not to be adversely affected by events in the world," he said.

Khan believes that relations between Houston-area Muslims and other faith groups have improved since Sept. 11. "We have seen a tremendously positive response from the community at large, especially the religious community," he said. "There is a tremendous sense of understanding of what we are going through and tremendous camaraderie toward the Muslim faith."

Sept. 11 also increased the spirituality among area Muslims, as well as their attendance at mosque and other religious events, Khan said.

"Islam teaches us that in times of calamity we are to return to the Lord and pray to him and reflect on the incident if it is a man-made event like 9/11," he said. "We ask why it happened and what positive role one can play to make sure it doesn't happen again."

The most notable increase in attendance has been in the number of Muslims taking religious education classes. At one mosque, Quranic classes went from a few dozen students to more than 200, Khan said.

Khan said Muslims were upset by the terrorist attacks.

"We were very sad, angry and frustrated as to how something like this can happen in the 21st century," he said.

He stressed that Islam teaches peace and prohibits violence toward the innocent. The terrorist acts of Sept. 11 cannot be justified with Islamic teachings, he said, adding that "Islam teaches that we are not to hurt innocent civilians."

"Islamic teaching is that if you kill an innocent person, you have killed all of humanity, and if you save one innocent person from dying it is as if you saved all of humanity."

Muslim leaders here initially worried that Muslims would hide their religious affiliation with women discarding head scarves and distinctive dress and men shaving beards to avoid a backlash from other Americans. "But what we saw was an entirely reversed reaction," Khan said. "We saw an increase in the number of women wearing hijab. There was an increase in the men growing beards for religious reasons."

Selina Ahmed, a Muslim woman and professor at Texas Southern University, said there have been two reactions within the Islamic community. "One is to stay within themselves and practice the Muslim religion intensely as the only religion," Ahmed said. "But I am finding more people who want to take a new path, promoting religious education about Islam and educating their neighbors and colleagues (about Islam).

"I think more Muslim men and women are taking leadership and trying their best to project a positive image of Islam," Ahmed said.

Learning about Islam was one of the actions taken by St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in the wake of Sept. 11, said the Rev. Helen Havens, rector of the Montrose-area church.

"We didn't know anything about it a year ago," Havens said. "That felt horrible realizing how blind we were living in our own comfortable world, more or less oblivious to the pain of people around the globe.

"We immediately went into a study of Islam and continue to do that," Havens said.

Lesson for clergy

The terrorist attacks also impacted Eastern religions, including Buddhism, said Abbot Hung I of Jade Buddha Temple in West Houston.

"In Buddhism, we believe that everything is impermanent," he said. "Everything changes but we don't want negative changes."

Sept. 11 should teach people to cherish every moment of life and use these moments to create positive feelings in our families, friends and co-workers, Hung I said.

But Sept. 11 is also a lesson for clergy of all faiths to properly instruct their followers on their responsibilities to work for peace and work together peacefully. "Religious clergy must find a way to teach members their teachings clearly," Hung I said.

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