Archbishop Hebda offers prayers in video for Sept. 11 remembrance at State Capitol

Archbishop Bernard Hebda is joined on his right by Stacey Smith, presiding elder of African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul-Minneapolis District; Imam Masjidaliman Hamdy El-Sawaf, Islamic Community Center of Minnesota and Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman of Temple Israel, Minneapolis, in a prayer video for a 9/11 Day of Remembrance at the State Capitol in St. Paul Sept. 11. COURTESY SNOWGLOBE PUBLIC RELATIONS

Moments of silence, tolling of church bells, prayers in a video led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and other faith leaders, speakers and a social gathering are part of a 9/11 Day of Remembrance at the State Capitol in St. Paul on Sept. 11.

“Oh God of love and healing, look with compassion on us, Minnesotans of many different faiths and traditions, who gather to remember the events of 9/11,” Archbishop Hebda prays in the video. “May our memories of 9/11 lead us closer to you, oh Lord.”

The Day of Remembrance, hosted in part by the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, is one of many solemn commemorations taking place in Minnesota and around the country to mark the 20^th anniversary of the hijacked commercial airplane attacks by an al-Qaida terrorist group on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and an attack foiled by passengers that ended with the plane crashing into a Pennsylvania field. The largest terrorist attack in history on Sept. 11, 2001, killed 2,977 people, injured more than 25,000 and caused at least $10 billion in property damage.

Joining the archbishop in prayer to lead off the event at 7:15 a.m. are Stacey Smith, presiding elder of African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul-Minneapolis District and board president of the Minnesota Council of Churches; Imam Masjidaliman Hamdy El-Sawaf, Islamic Community Center of Minnesota and Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman of Temple Israel, Minneapolis. The day is scheduled to end at 2 p.m.

Speakers will include retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. Rep. Betty McCollum and Mariah Jacobsen, daughter of Tom Burnett, who died helping to take back the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The ceremony will include reading of the names of Burnett and other Minnesotans who died in the attacks and the subsequent military efforts against terrorism, aircraft flyovers, and it will close with live music, vendors, children’s activities and a special display.

Also hosting the event are the MDVA’s 9/11 Global War on Terrorism Remembrance Task Force and the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum.