Media Watch

NEWSDAY, Sept. 13 — The Church of St. Mary in Manhasset, Long Island, sustained a double loss, the New York daily reported.

First, there were the parishioners who worked at the World Trade Center. Then the parish sent firefighters — and many of them vanished into the wreckage as well.

By the morning of Sept. 12, the church's prayer request book had filled with almost 40 names of the dead or missing. One priest had a nephew missing.

Washington Cardinal's Nephew Missing

THE WASHINGTON POST, Sept. 13 — Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick told worshippers at St. Matthew's Cathedral that he had a relative among the missing, the Washington daily reported. New York City firefighter Michael Lynch, 30, is the son of the cardinal's cousin.

Burlington, Vt., Bishop Lost a Brother

THE WASHINGTON POST, Sept. 12 — Television producer David Angell and his wife Lynn took an earlier flight than they'd planned, the Washington daily reported.

That plane was American Airlines Flight 11, which hijackers drove into the World Trade Center. Angell's brother Kenneth, bishop of Burlington, Vt., celebrated a Mass in honor of the attack's victims — and then learned that he had lost a brother and a sister-in-law.

Islamic Schools Close After Threats

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 12 — Islamic schools in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., were closed after receiving anti-Muslim threats, the wire service reported.

The Al-Salam Day School in suburban St. Louis and schools in the Kansas City area were closed early Sept. 11, after callers blamed all Muslims for the attacks on New York and Washington.

Muslim leaders across the country have stressed that they abhor the attacks, and that Islam condemns such actions.

The Attackers: Profiles in Cowardice

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, Sept. 13 — Although they flew boldly to certain death, the hijackers of four U.S. planes were cowardly according to rules of war acknowledged by popes and others for centuries, columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote.

In 1137, Pope Innocent II banned crossbows because they allowed soldiers to kill from a safe distance and without announcing their intent. He pointed out that, as Goldberg put it, “killing people by surprise” robs the victim of “his chance for last rites” and “final reconciliation with God.”