FARGO — Two Minnesota priests who ministered to others after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City came close to being victims themselves, and one has returned to mark the 20th anniversary of the grim event.
The Rev. Jeff Ethen of Clitherall and the Rev. Peter Kirchner of Rice would have been at the top of the World Trade Center had they not lingered over a cup of coffee on that blue sky, early fall day.
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Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four jetliners that morning, all of which crashed, killing more than 2,750 people in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Pennsylvania.
Ethen is now spending four days in New York City, reconnecting with other clergy members and firefighters. He’ll present a helmet to one of the firehouses there, on behalf of the Battle Lake, Minnesota, fire department — the two having developed an alliance over the years.
Saturday, the firehouse, like others in New York City, will hold a type of missing man formation in the street, with empty boots representing fallen firefighters. A firehouse bell will ring for each member who died responding to the attacks.
“Some of the firehouses lost everybody, but all firehouses lost somebody,” Ethen said.
This will be trip No. 5 to New York City for Ethen since that fateful day.
He and Kirchner, longtime friends and travel partners, have returned for the first, fifth, 10th and 15th anniversaries. Kirchner is staying home this time because he’s battling a health problem, but said he’ll be there in spirit.
“I plan to pray for families and friends who lost loved ones,” Kirchner said.
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A collar cut in half
The two priests from the Diocese of St. Cloud have taken many vacations together, and when they arrived in New York City on a delayed flight the night of Sept. 10, 2001, they had a full itinerary set for the week.
Their plans included Broadway plays, concerts, a taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman,” and visits to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
The historical sites were first on the list the next morning, after a planned breakfast at Windows on the World on the top floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower.
But they had an extra cup of coffee with the nuns who run the Catholic guesthouse where they were staying.
As the two left the guesthouse for the restaurant, staff informed them that a plane had struck the north tower. The second plane slammed into the south tower minutes later, which they watched live on TV.
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Police and firefighters rushed in to help, and the city made it clear that only they and other essential personnel would be allowed to the ground zero site.
Ethen and Kirchner figured, as clergy members, they fit the description. Fortunately, they had the items needed to gain entrance.
They didn’t normally pack their black clergy shirts and white collars for a vacation, Ethen said, but had done so this time to wear at the Letterman show taping. The two quickly changed into their clerical clothing, which would allow them into restricted areas to help people who were injured and traumatized.
Later that day, Ethen cut and shared half of his collar with a priest from Australia who was having trouble gaining access and wanted to help survivors.
“I'm hoping he kept his, so someday we can get our two collars back together,” Ethen said.
'A wakeup call'
The two Minnesota priests spent the hours after the attacks at the since-closed St. Vincent hospital in Greenwich Village, the closest Level I trauma center to the twin towers.
It’s where injured firefighters were taken for emergency care or surgery. Others needed help clearing their eyes, ears and throat of the debris and ash created by the fires and collapsing towers.
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“The majority of them were just in shock,” Ethen said.
The priests worked alongside New York Cardinal Edward Egan, who tended to the most seriously injured. Egan died in 2015.
Ethen and Kirchner removed the boots of firefighters who came in to prevent them from rushing back to the chaotic scene before they could be evaluated. Hospital gurneys ran out fast, so office chairs with wheels were used to transport the injured.
The hospital set up cots and extra beds for civilian victims, but there were few of them, Ethen said, reflecting the catastrophic toll of the attacks.
The next day, the Minnesota priests joined a clergy team of various denominations to meet with families who were desperately searching for missing loved ones.

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The team set up a maze of stops inside a rec center, where families could register information about the tower and floor on which their loved one worked, and any identifying features they had, such as tattoos.
The final stop for families was meeting with clergy, who gave them permission to let go because there were no living persons to search for, Ethen said.
“The realization would sink in ... and the adrenaline they were running on would just rush out and they would collapse,” he said.
The unfathomable losses, and knowing just how close they’d come to being victims of the terrorist attacks, have stayed with the priests ever since.
“It’s a wakeup call that life is precious and to not take it for granted,” Kirchner said.