Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, the world still remembers the horror of that day. But amid the terror, many people encountered something else: strangers helping strangers, priests bringing the sacraments to the wounded, and people turning to prayer.
Here are four powerful and lesser-known stories featured in EWTN News’ documentary, “Hope After 9/11: Stories of Faith and Courage.”
1. He Started 9/11 at Daily Mass. Then He Saved a Stranger’s Life.
Paul Carris was working on the 71st floor of the North Tower when the attacks began. He attended daily Mass that morning.
As he headed toward the exit, he noticed a group of people gathered around Judith Toppin, a co-worker in distress. She was a stranger to him and had serious health challenges and could not make the long descent alone.
“I just went over to them to see if she was okay,” Carris recalled. “Something just said, ‘All right, I’ll take care of her.’”
Then, step by step, the two began their descent.
Judith limped down the stairs as Paul supported her. It was slow, exhausting, and dangerous. Partway down, Judith began praying Psalm 23 aloud:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Paul began praying too.
They were still inside the North Tower when the South Tower collapsed. They could not see what had happened outside, but they felt what Carris described as a “hurricane-force wind” moving through the stairwell.
At the time, they did not know what it meant. They simply continued downward.
Paul and Judith reached safety only moments before the North Tower collapsed. Carris later realized that helping Judith had not only saved her life—it had changed his own forever. He eventually became a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Newark, and Judith attended his ordination in 2011.
2. He Had Been a Priest for Only 3 Months When the Pentagon Was Attacked—Then He Brought Jesus to the Wounded
Father Stephen McGraw had been a priest for only three months when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
He had taken a wrong turn on his way to a burial at Arlington National Cemetery and found himself stuck in traffic near the building. When he saw the plane strike, he immediately knew a priest would be needed.
He took his purple stole, holy oils, and prayer book and ran toward the wounded.
There, Father McGraw encountered Juan Cruz, a badly injured man who heard the priest praying beside him. Cruz asked him a simple question:
“What is your name?”
“My name is Father Steve McGraw,” the priest answered. “I’m a Catholic priest.”
Cruz replied, “I’m Catholic.”
Father McGraw offered him confession and absolution in a general way, then administered the Anointing of the Sick.
“I tell you,” he said to Cruz, “Jesus is with you now.”
Cruz answered yes.
Later, while recovering in the hospital, Cruz told his family that someone had prayed with him after the attack. Only when his wife found a photograph of the moment did they discover it was Father McGraw.
In the midst of the disaster, Father McGraw kept praying to Mary:
“Mary, help me stay with you at the foot of the Cross.”
He saw the suffering around him as a place where Christ was present—and where a priest was called to remain.
3. He Was Flying Air Force One on 9/11. So He Prayed The Whole Way: "Jesus, I Need Help"
As the attacks unfolded on 9/11, Col. Mark Tillman was flying Air Force One with President George W. Bush aboard.
The responsibility was immense. The nation was under attack. Information was incomplete. No one knew whether more planes were coming, whether the president was in danger, or whether Air Force One itself could become a target.
Tillman’s job was to keep the president safe.
But before every mission, he had a personal ritual. On the upper deck of the presidential 747, he would step into a small restroom and pray:
“God, give me the strength to make sure that everything I do is correct, and let me lead those around me to keep everybody at their highest capability.”
And as the events of that day unfolded in the cockpit, his prayer became even simpler:
“Jesus, I need help.”
Tillman and his crew kept Air Force One in the air during one of the most uncertain moments in American history. He later reflected on navigating the “fog of war” while carrying the president and supporting the country’s response.
4. On 9/11, Everyone Was Fleeing Ground Zero. This Priest Walked Toward It.
When the World Trade Center was attacked, Father Brian Jordan, OFM, began walking toward Ground Zero.
Everyone else, he remembered, was moving in the opposite direction.
“I was the only person walking south,” Father Jordan said. “Everyone else was walking north, fearful.”
Then he received devastating news: his fellow Franciscan, Father Mychal Judge—the beloved FDNY chaplain—had been killed at the World Trade Center.
Father Jordan had been close to Father Judge. He immediately asked himself what his brother friar would have done.
His answer was clear:
“I’m not going to sit down and cry about this. I’m going down to the World Trade Center.”
At a police barricade, he explained that Father Judge had been his fellow Franciscan and that he had come to help. Police officers gave him a mask and gloves. Carrying holy water, Father Jordan entered Ground Zero.
There, he prayed over and blessed the dead.
For Father Jordan, it was a terrible but profound act of ministry: responding to overwhelming loss not by turning away, but by bringing prayer, dignity, and the Church’s presence to the victims.
The Witness That Remains
These stories do not make September 11 less tragic. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, countless families were devastated, and many first responders later suffered illness and death connected to rescue and recovery work.
But they reveal something essential about that day, too.
Paul Carris stayed with Judith when he could have walked away. Father McGraw brought Christ and the sacraments to the wounded. Mark Tillman prayed as he carried out an impossible mission. Father Jordan walked toward the suffering at Ground Zero after learning his friend had died there.
Twenty-five years later, their witness remains a challenge: when fear tells us to turn away, may we have the courage to serve, to pray, and to love.
Watch the full documentary, “Hope After 9/11: Stories of Faith and Courage,” on EWTN News’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ewtnnews