I had just arrived at my desk on the sixth floor of the Archdiocesan Catholic Center, shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, to begin editing the remaining stories and pages of that week’s issue of The Tidings.
Tuesdays were go-to-press days. As acting editor, it was my job to make sure everything was in order — stories edited, photos placed, pages signed off — no later than 4 p.m. to meet our printing deadline.
As soon as I logged on to my computer, I saw my colleague, Hermine Lees, walking toward me slowly, visibly upset.
“Have you heard?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Heard what?” I asked.
Lees relayed the news of the apparent terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. I turned to my computer and found headlines, stories, and photos of the destruction and chaos. It was clear that this Tuesday would be unlike any other.
This wasn’t the first time in my 10 years at The Tidings that large-scale, late-breaking news had radically upended plans for an issue. I had been there for the1992 Los Angeles Riots and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. But a terrorist attack on home soil?
My first online search was directed to Catholic News Service, based in Washington, D.C., some six miles from the Pentagon, where smoke was still billowing and bodies were being found. I thought of the CNS staff, a terrific group of people who produced consistently excellent work year after year. What were they going through emotionally? I offered the first of many silent prayers that day for their well-being.
Already CNS’ website had posted photos, some from their own photographers, others had been obtained through Reuters news service. I downloaded some of them, knowing others would be appearing throughout the day. And I tried, not always successfully, to separate emotion from the job at hand.
Around 8:30 a.m., I began receiving calls from our writing staff: Ellie Hidalgo, Maria Luisa Torres, and Jennifer Vergara. They had seen the TV coverage, with its horrific images, and had been calling one another, alternately commiserating and crying and consoling each other.
By 9:30, everyone had arrived and we gathered to discuss what to cover, and who should do what. Within minutes a plan had come together. Maria Luisa would contact interfaith representatives, Ellie would talk to experts on the psychological impact of such events on children, Jennifer would connect with archdiocesan offices who specialized on racial and intercultural matters.
Lees, who had been at The Tidings for 15 years and as the Tidings librarian knew most everything about everything, would assist in editing, proofreading, and gathering background information that would prove useful that day and in the weeks ahead.
I would gather and assemble the CNS material and any local comments, including those of local theologians who could speak to the questions everyone seemed to be asking, especially: “Where is God in all this?” (That story would run a week later.)
I met with Jose Velasquez, Tidings’ production manager, and Julio Saravia, principal page designer, to give them an idea of what to expect and when. About two-thirds of the 24-page issue had been completed, but some of those pages were remade to accommodate the breaking news.
And I spoke with Victor Alemán, editor of Vida Nueva and a photographer who could help select photos and their placement.
I also emailed Cardinal Roger Mahony, who was in Washington for U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meetings. By now, he knew he would be there longer than expected because all flights around the U.S. had been canceled.
Just a week earlier, the cardinal had emailed a reflection piece on a State Dinner he’d been invited to by President George W. Bush. That article, which had been set to run on Page 3, needed to be held for another time, I told the cardinal.
He agreed. “If it ever runs at all,” he added. It didn’t. (That day, Cardinal Mahony was interviewed live on CNN by Wolf Blitzer. His comments were quoted in an article I wrote that day.)
That morning I also spoke with my wife, Janis. On Tuesdays she drove our son Jeff to his calculus class at Cal State Northridge before going to work as initiation director at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Canoga Park. She told me classes at CSUN, like classes almost everywhere, had been canceled as a precaution, and that she and Jeff would be at her office.
Janis was a fellow Journalism major at Cal State Northridge, and had worked professionally in radio news. She knew full well how hectic my day would be.
“Just keep me posted,” she said. “And stay safe.” You too, I said.
At noon, I walked a few blocks down Wilshire Boulevard to St. Basil Church for their mid-day Mass. I needed a break from the news, and a church is usually the best “break room” ever invented.
As Mass ended I saw a young woman lighting a candle on one side of the church. I took her picture, and asked her if her candle was for the victims of the attacks. She nodded, silently.
Given the events and circumstances of the day, the newspaper came together remarkably quickly, and remarkably well. Julio prepared a centerspread of photos and text, entitled “Terror and Destruction,” that captured the drama and horror of the attacks. Victor and Jose helped select the main cover photo, of NYC firemen working in front of the charred remains of the World Trade Center.
Throughout the day, my journalist’s training to meet deadlines had, on occasion, made me feel frustrated when an article or photo wouldn’t download as quickly as I wanted. We were done by 5 p.m. — an hour past our deadline and in my mind, a significant accomplishment.
That night at home I saw for the first time the actual televised footage of the airplanes, loaded with people, crashing into the World Trade Center. All I’d seen up until then were still photos of the attacks.
I turned away from the TV. I’d lived enough of that for one day.
Like The Tidings issue of Sept. 14, 2001, the issues of Sept. 21 and 28 were focused on the 9/11 attacks, how the Church of Los Angeles was impacted, and how it responded with acts of faith and charity.
I know that all of us connected with The Tidings did our best to fulfill our ministry as servants of the Word — even at a time when our written words, however sincere and faith-filled, seemed woefully inadequate.
I also know that I was, and am, grateful for the opportunity to use whatever God-given talents I have to share the Good News of the Gospel, even and especially when the news of the world is anything but good.
As people of faith, it is what we do.
Editor’s note: The Tidings issues of Sept. 14, 21, and 28, 2001, earned The Tidings second place honors in General Excellence, Large Circulation Category, at the 2002 Catholic Press Association Awards.
