The second annual Blue Mass for police officers, firefighters, rescue workers and their families will be celebrated at 5:15 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 10) in Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart.p. The Blue Mass is named for the predominant color of uniforms worn by officers in police and fire departments nationwide. It was first celebrated at Notre Dame last year as the traditional “month’s mind” Mass for the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and for the police officers,firefighters and rescue workers who died while serving and protecting others.p. Representatives of area police and fire departments will attend the Mass, at which officers from the police and fire departments of New York City and other towns and cities nationwide will be among the University’s guests.p. Notre Dame’s president, Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., will preside at the Mass and give a homily. Bishops John D’Arcy and Joseph Crowley of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend will be among the concelebrants. Rex J. Rakow, director of Notre Dame’s security/police department, and John V. Antonucci, operations chief of the University’s fire department, will be the lectors.p. Of particular note, a banner that hung at the World Trade Center and was recovered at 2 p.m. Sept. 11, 2001, will be on display for the first time outside New York during the Mass. The banner was recovered by Patrick Concannon, a retired New York City firefighter and a 1977 Notre Dame graduate. The banner and the tattered American flag that has been on display at numerous public events for the past year are believed to be the only such items recovered from the trade center site.p. Following the Mass, the Notre Dame Pipe Band and the University’s Irish Guard (replacing the Chicago Police Emerald Pipe and Drum Corps) will lead a procession from the Basilica to the Coleman-Morse Center for a public reception and the dedication by Father Malloy of a new rescue vehicle for the Notre Dame Fire Department. The vehicle will be dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.
TopicID: 3490