Fr John Davis celebrates Mass assisted by a volunteer at the Pentagon Memorial Chapel in Arlington, Virginia, during the National Day of Prayer May 5, 2016. The chapel opened on the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, built directly at the impact site where the hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon. Photo: OSV News/Dave Vergun, courtesy DOD. Twenty-five years after American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37am on September 11, 2001, killing 184 people, the site of the attack serves as both a place of remembrance and reflection.
The crash claimed the lives of 125 people inside the Pentagon as well as the aircraft’s 53 passengers and six crew members. The repaired facade of the Pentagon still looks a little brighter and the area outside that part of the building is now the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
There are 184 stainless-steel benches, one for each person who lost their life there. Every bench bears the victim’s name and age and rests above a shallow pool of water.
Inside the building, the Pentagon Memorial Chapel, opened on the first anniversary of the attacks, remains a source of comfort. “In the morning, I kneel down outside the door because I know the Lord is in there, and at the end of the day,” said Steven Jarvis, a parishioner of St Michael in Annandale, who retired from the US Air Force and now works in support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Jarvis is volunteer coordinator for the Pentagon Catholic Community, working with “a dedicated and devout team” of Catholic volunteers, both military and civilian.
There are 175 members with an average of 25 to 35 people attending daily Mass. It peaks on first Fridays, and they move back to the auditorium for Ash Wednesday and holy days of obligation, he said.
“The chapel is multi-denomination,” Jarvis said, “but we are the big players because we are here every day.” Catholic Masses are celebrated at 11:30am on weekdays and confession is offered before and after Mass.
Two religious orders offer the daily Mass. Dominican priests are responsible for Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception celebrate Mass on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Dominican Father Vincent Ferrer Bagan, director of music for both the diocese and the Cathedral of St Thomas More in Arlington, has been on the rotation for four years.
“It is quite moving,” he said. Coming from a rural town in Minnesota and having been in high school on 9/11, he said he never would have imagined he would be at the Pentagon someday. “It’s a privilege to interact with Catholics who serve in that building, many who are in parishes in our diocese,” he said.