9/11: 25 years later, Father Jeff Ethen returns to Ground Zero with Battle Lake firefighters

Father Jeff Ethen has been to Ground Zero many times, but this time he’s bringing backup.

Six members of the Battle Lake Fire Department will travel with Father Ethen to New York City for the 25th commemoration of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

Father Ethen’s connection to the site of the attacks is deeply personal, and over the years he has shared his experience with the men of the fire department in Battle Lake, near where he lives —  even coordinating a “sister” relationship between their department and a fire station in Manhattan.

He and Father Peter Kirchner, both now-retired priests of the Diocese of St. Cloud, were on vacation in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. The two had planned to have breakfast on 110th floor of the World Trade Center that morning but their flight had arrived late the previous night, so they lingered over a cup of coffee at the Leo House, a Catholic guest house in Manhattan. It was a change of plans that saved their lives; they later learned that no one on the 110th floor survived that day.

After the attacks, they worked triage at the St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center about a mile away from the towers as ambulances brought the first casualties into the emergency room. They both also served on a 25-member clergy team that met with victims’ families.

Over the past 25 years, Father Ethen and Father Kirchner have traveled around the country and told their story hundreds of times.

“If the good of God was to come out of the evil of 9/11, Peter and I had the responsibility to share the lessons we learned [from it],” Father Ethen said.

Among those lessons, he said, are that violence is never acceptable and revenge is worse; that “no” is never acceptable in the face of need; that empathy and solidarity are simply listening and paying attention and, most importantly, that Christianity requires serving our brothers and sisters in need.

“It should not require an attention-getting 9/11 lesson to learn that,” he added.

The priests have returned for several milestone anniversaries of the attacks, including the first, fifth, 10th and 15th commemorations.

“The first anniversary was important for Peter and I to attend,” Father Ethen said. “We would have regretted it if we didn’t.”

They attended the remembrance events together until Father Kirchner was no longer able to travel. He didn’t make the trip for the 20th anniversary, and he won’t be along on this trip either, so Father Ethen said he plans to call him from New York like he did on the 20th anniversary.

“We pledged that it will always be ‘our’ experience in the retelling,” Father Ethen said.

During their visit for the first anniversary, they attended open houses at fire stations all over the city, but decided that it had been too much to try to fit in. On the fifth anniversary visit, they were intentional about spending time at one open house — for FDNY Engine 40/Ladder 35 in Manhattan.

The station is located near both Ground Zero and Lincoln Center Plaza, where a local dance troupe performs an original piece commemorating 9/11 each year. They were able to see the performance and then walk a block to the firehouse for the open house.

It was during that visit that Father Ethen first thought about trying to facilitate a relationship between fire stations in New York and Minnesota.

“I was thinking that my access to 9/11 activities in New York shouldn’t just be for me personally, that I can share these with other people and make connections for them,” Father Ethen said.

So, “the Padre,” as the locals endearingly call Father Ethen, approached the firefighters in New York about the possibility of connecting them with their fellow firefighters in Battle Lake and then brought the idea to the local department.

“I had memorial medallions from the fifth anniversary commemoration open house in New York,” Father Ethen said. “I brought those back to the firehouse in Battle Lake and offered to set up a ‘sister’ relationship.”

The response in Minnesota was overwhelmingly positive.

“It’s a relationship that the Padre has cultivated over time,” said firefighter Tim McCarte, “He’s gotten to know them and put a face on the firefighters and an actual firefighting community — each firehouse is its own little community.”

McCarte’s experience of 9/11 changed his life, confirming his calling to be a volunteer firefighter. He was thinking seriously about joining the Battle Lake Fire Department after witnessing the commitment and camaraderie of the department through a friend who was a firefighter. Amid the attacks and their aftermath, he made the decision to join.

“I thought, this is incredible, I want to be part of this,” he remembers thinking of the closeness of the department.

The firefighters here appreciate Father Ethen’s efforts to connect the two departments.

“I think it’s a phenomenal connection we’ve had with Father Jeff and our brothers at the department in New York,” said firefighter Nic Drusch. “He’s been a great liaison between our departments. We’ve sent some patches back and forth and had a special connection with the department. Thanks to Tim [McCarte] and Father Jeff being close friends and having that connection, it has been a phenomenal experience for me, especially, opening my eyes as far as seeing some more human aspects of 9/11.”

There are many mementos from the New York Fire Department around the Battle Lake station, and they remember FDNY Engine 40/Ladder 35 every year in their own local 9/11 ceremonies. When Father Ethen travels there every five years they exchange patches, badges and commemorative medallions. For the 20th anniversary he presented the station in New York with an authentic fire helmet from the Battle Lake department, which is now on display there.

Most of the men going on this trip were very young when the 9/11 attacks happened, but the event and their connection with the New York station have had an impact on all of them. This trip will give them the opportunity to see some of the places and meet people they have been hearing stories about for years.

“I was quite young when 9/11 happened,” said firefighter Brock Bleichner. “But I’ve learned through the years of being on the fire department that they were firefighters, and we’re firefighters. It can happen to any of us, any time. They thought they were going to save people, and they ended up losing their lives. And it could happen to any one of us.”

Firefighter James Hustad remembers seeing firefighters being honored at events during the weeks and months after 9/11. He specifically remembered a New York Yankees game where firefighters and their families were lined up on the field.

“As devastating as it was, it was such a uniting thing for everybody,” Hustad said. “We’re Americans. We’re going to huddle up and regroup and be who we are. And that, even though I was young, sticks with me. A chance to go out there at any time would have been good. The 25th anniversary — it’s just a good reason to go.”

While Hustad is eager to visit the sites he has only seen in the news, Drusch said meeting firefighters connected to the tragedy is what he anticipates most.

“A lot of the guys that are on the departments now weren’t there at the time,” he said. “Some lost family members in the 9/11 attack, or had fathers, grandfathers, uncles, aunts on the departments at the time, and to hear some of their stories, I think is what I’m looking forward to the most.”

McCarte says knowing what Father Ethen experienced on 9/11, makes this trip even more significant.

“In my mind, it was 100% divine intervention,” he said. “The Padre is here, for whatever reason, but he’s here. He probably shouldn’t be, except for the act of God. So, it’s very special.”