paul carris, ten years later
Lawrence Sheehan ’81
B.A. Sociology Sergeant, NYPD, on 9/11, now retired Scheduled to work 5 p.m.-1 a.m., Sheehan dropped his daughter off for her second day of kindergarten and was reading the paper when he heard on the radio that a plane hit the North Tower. He drove into work at the 44th precinct, Detective Squad, in the Bronx in the afternoon. Later in the evening, Sheehan was assigned to Manhattan to set up a perimeter to close off the site to nonemergency personnel. He also worked at the Staten Island landfill several times in the days following the attacks, where debris was brought for further examination. “What was remarkable was how the country rallied around and supported the victims and their families after 9/11,” he says.
Jack O’Hagan ’79
B.S. Physical Education Detective, 40th Detective Squad, on 9/11, now retired O’Hagan worked the night before and was helping his wife get the kids ready for school before resting for his next shift, when he received a call from one of his sisters-in-law asking if he had seen the news. He got ready for work and headed in early, anticipating a call for everyone to report to duty. When he arrived at the main detective headquarters in the Bronx, he tried to get information about his brother, Thomas O’Hagan, a lieutenant with FDNY, Engine 6, who worked close to the site. O’Hagan feared that if Thomas was working, his company would have been one of the first to arrive. He then left work to wait out the news with his family in Riverdale. “It was just not a good feeling,” he says. “So I went back into work the next day and was able to get into the city to get my hands dirty and dig or whatever with the hope that there was a possibility people would be found alive, but tragically that wasn’t the case.” Unfortunately, Thomas did not make it out of the North Tower.
22 N FALL 2011
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en years ago, Paul Carris ’77 could not have imagined himself as a man of God. In fact, the idea never even entered his mind when he was growing up. But a small, unselfish act – some would call it heroic – would eventually allow him to see how serving others played an important role in his life. Carris’ spiritual journey was set into motion on Sept. 11, 2001. A “cradle to grave Catholic,” he did not hesitate to walk his ailing colleague, Judith Toppin, out of their Port Authority of New York & New Jersey offices after the terrorists struck One World Trade Center. Toppin’s health issues made getting to the street from the 71st floor a slow process, yet they made it to safety, and were among the last people to walk out of Tower One before its collapse. Their life-changing experience led Toppin, now retired, to write “Angels Walk Among Us,” an essay that recounts their ordeal and in which she expresses her gratitude to Carris and others for helping her that day. But Carris did not see himself as an angel because, in the aftermath of what happened, he struggled with anger and rage. “Probably about three months after 9/11, I started getting angry at things,” he says. “I wasn’t angry about the terrorists or anything like that – there was just this anger that was cropping up. Unfortunately, my family received the brunt of it.” After hearing about his difficulties, Carris’ parish priest recommended him to a psychologist who was also a Franciscan priest. For many months, Carris dealt with his issues through therapy. Then he was invited to attend a Cursillo weekend, and suddenly everything began to fall into place. A Cursillos de Cristiandad (a short course of Christianity) is led by lay members of the Church who encourage participants to examine their relationships with God by focusing on faith-based readings, prayers and workshops. While attending the retreat, he began to sense that his life was missing something. “That’s where the anger came from,” he says. “Because I didn’t know what it was. And the Cursillo weekend made me realize that what I was missing was a real relationship with God. As my therapist put it, it brought
everything I was struggling with in my head down to my heart.” Over time, community service projects and more spiritual retreats led Carris to transform his realization into ordination. A job change also helped. On 9/11, he was a project manager for the PATH (Port Authority TransHudson) smart card in the technology services department. In April 2007, Carris moved to the engineering department based in Newark, where he is now manager for engineering application systems. Then in June, he was accepted into the Diaconate program, and after five years of preparation and four years of studying behind him, Carris became a deacon for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 21, 2011. Now, he feels his faith has become an integral part of who he is. “My relationship with God has become so much more real and meaningful to me since 9/11,” Carris says. “Through both good times and difficult trials, I have learned that God is there through it all.” Serving others began with Toppin, who attended Carris’ ordination with his family, and continues today. “I tear up now when I read Judith’s essay because of where she quotes me as saying ‘I have her.’ I now realize that while I may have had her, God really had the both of us,” he says. “Looking back, it becomes clear that what happened was a turning point in my life and answering God’s call to serve is only possible with Him at my side.”
DAVID BERGELAND
on you. Just the enormity of the collapse and the size of the steel and the way the steel was twisted and bent, it was just unbelievable.”