As the nation marks 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Father Joseph McCaffrey is remembering the grieving families he met at the Flight 93 crash site in rural Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh priest and FBI chaplain spoke with WPXI-TV News Pittsburgh about the days he spent at the site.
“I think they appreciated mostly just listening,” McCaffrey said.
McCaffrey, who serves as chaplain for the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, said he learned of the attacks after celebrating morning Mass. Hours later, officials asked him to help care for the families who would travel to Somerset County, where Flight 93 crashed.
“They said, ‘We’re going to need your help dealing with the families who will be coming in,’” McCaffrey recalled. When he arrived, he said he prayed, consecrated the ground and prayed for those who had died.
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McCaffrey told WPXI anchor Susan Koeppen that the scene felt surreal. Still, he said he felt “rather privileged” to be present, even amid the devastation.
He spent the next 10 days praying with grieving families. McCaffrey said it did not matter whether a family member shared his particular faith tradition; what mattered was the connection to something eternal and the hope of peace for loved ones who had died.
One moment remains especially vivid. When families were brought to a place above the crash site where someone had erected a wooden cross, the evidence-recovery team — wearing hazmat suits — saluted the families and then silently walked away so they could have the space to grieve.
Months later, McCaffrey accompanied families as they listened to the cockpit voice recordings from Flight 93. “They were just longing to hear that voice,” he said.
The National Park Service records that Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville at 10:03 a.m. after passengers and crew attempted to take control of the plane from the hijackers. The 9/11 Memorial’s historical timeline says the recovered cockpit voice recorder documented the passengers’ and crew members’ efforts to break into the cockpit and seize control.
That history helps explain why the Flight 93 site carries both grief and solemn honor. The National Park Service timeline identifies the people aboard the plane as ordinary passengers—from college students to retirees and business travelers — whose final actions became an act of courage that prevented the plane from reaching its intended target.
The FBI describes its chaplaincy as a ministry of listening, comfort and presence, and McCaffrey’s account shows what that ministry looked like when families faced an unimaginable loss. He did not claim to have answers for their grief; he stayed near, prayed and listened.
“I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to be present,” McCaffrey said. “I had the privilege and the opportunity to do it, and for that I’ll always be grateful.”
Twenty-five years later, his memories point to a quieter side of the Flight 93 story: the courage of the passengers and crew, the pain carried by their families, and the people who served them through prayer and simple presence. In a tragedy marked by violence, McCaffrey remembers the good that could still be done — listening carefully, honoring the dead and giving the grieving room to hope.
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