Three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush gathered rescue workers and military members for a prayer service at Washington National Cathedral. For the first time, we’re hearing from one of the reverends who made that service possible.
The service honored the stories of sacrifice and acknowledged the grief that engulfed the nation in the wake of Sept. 11.
“Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend,” President George W. Bush said during the service.
President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush at a National Day of Prayer service at the National Cathedral after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Photo: Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)
“We’ve always needed God from the very beginning of this nation. But today, we need him especially,” Rev. Billy Graham told attendees.
The cathedral’s bishop at the time came up with the idea, and she knew exactly to whom to turn.
“She called me and she said ‘Jan, I want to get a message to the president,'” the cathedral’s Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope recalls.
As it turned out, Naylor Cope had worked in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush and served on the transition team for the younger Bush — and she still had the fax number for the Oval Office.
She still remembers every moment of the prayer service.
“It was incredibly poignant. It was by design interfaith,” she said. “He was doing everything he could, and we did everything we could, to try and push against Islamophobia or fear of difference.”
As one attendee said at the time: “Hopefully it starts the healing process for all of us.”
“I’ve taken it so hard, and I’m just so sad,” said a woman who attended.
Naylor Cope was also there for the 10-year remembrance, helping minister to victims’ families.
“To see their resilience and their hope and how they put one foot in front of the other is incredibly humbling,” she said. “And it’s come to be such a symbol.”
Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope, Washington National Cathedral
If you look inside the War Memorial Chapel at the cathedral, you can see a cross made from the rubble of the Pentagon.
Now, twenty-five years later, Naylor Cope is preparing once again to host a service honoring all the lives lost.
“So I think having these remembrances is really important so we don’t forget,” she said. “And that we can hopefully help renew that sense of unity and care for one another.”
