September 2, 2026
2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. St. John’s University will commemorate that day through prayer, service events, and solemn gestures, as we remember the nearly 3,000 innocent lives lost that fateful day—including 75 members of the St. John’s family—and the scores of heroic first responders and members of the University community who have perished since.
The alumni lost that day ranged from graduates from the 1950s to members of the Class of 2001, and included a variety of civil servants, first responders, financial workers, and a diverse group of ordinary, hard-working New Yorkers going about their daily lives.
The schedule of events is as follows:
Thursday, September 10
Paint and Reflect
Time: 6–8 p.m.
Location: St. Thomas More Church
Candlelight Prayer Service
Date: September 10
Time: 8–9 p.m.
Location: St. Thomas More Church
Friday, September 11
Church bells toll at 8:46, 9:03, 9:37, and 10:03 a.m., marking the moments of impact in New York, NY; Washington, DC; and Shanksville, PA.
Remembrance Masses
Date: September 11
Times: 8 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.
Location: St. Thomas More Church
Service Opportunity: One Nation. United for Good.
Time: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
More information and registration: https://givepulse/kipbpt
Sigma Pi Tunnel to Towers Foundation 9-11-01 Remembrance Event
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: In front of Lourdes Hall by the fountain
Remembrance Walking Tour
Date: September 11
Time: 1–2 p.m.
Location: St. John’s University, Queens Campus
More information and registration: https://stjohns.libcal.com/event/16855110
9-11 Memorial Display
Date: Friday, September 11
Time: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Location: D’Angelo Center Foyer
The University’s original Manhattan, NY, campus, then located at 101 Murray Street, was most directly affected by that day’s tragic events. St. John’s had recently merged with the former College of Insurance, located three blocks from the World Trade Center, and dedicated the new location the previous June.
In the days following September 11, 2001, the campus was transformed into an American Red Cross Respite Center. There, first responders and workers were able to clean up, rest, and receive a hot meal before continuing to help. During that semester, 9,000 to 13,000 meals were served daily on campus. St. John’s was proud to have helped all first responders and workers during this time.
The University also established the September 11th Scholarship Fund with $500,000 in seed money from the University. The fund honors the many alumni, family, and friends who were lost as a result of the terrorist attacks. The fund makes scholarships for tuition assistance available to the children and spouses of victims. To date, the scholarship fund has disbursed to $1,264,267 to 66 recipients.
St. Thomas More Church and 9/11
Before 2001, the late Anita and John V. Brennan ’63SJC, ’66J.D., ’93HON—generous benefactors and part of one of the most consequential families in the long story of the University—had already donated $10 million to build a church named after St. Thomas More. Mr. Brennan was a man who held firm to his personal convictions and to the tenacity of his Catholic beliefs.
The name St. Thomas More Church reflected the admiration and devotion that Mr. Brennan, a well-respected and successful attorney, had for St. Thomas More, the patron of the legal profession, a 16th-century literary scholar, an eminent lawyer, a father, and the chancellor of England. The name of the church, at that time still being designed, took on solemn significance when their son, Thomas More Brennan, perished while working on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Of the many striking and symbolic features of the church, one notable is its 9/11 memorial, which commemorates the tragic losses of September 11, 2001. The shrine stands as a lasting monument to the victims of the attacks that day. The memorial includes an embedded, cross-welded piece of salvaged iron from the World Trade Center site, featuring two cascading waterfalls and granite shafts designed to resemble the fallen Twin Towers.
The small cross was donated by Frank Ryan, a former ironworker from Queens who formed it from steel remnants he salvaged from Ground Zero while volunteering in the recovery and cleanup operation.