Unanswered Questions Book Study Guide for Congregations

Table of Contents                                                                                                                              /i

Introduction  – Page 1

Session One – Page 2

Session Two – Page 7

Session Three – Page 11

Session Four – Page 14

Session Five – Page 17

Session Six – Page 20

Session Seven – Page 30

Session Eight – Page 33

 

Session 1: Calamity                                                                         /2

 

AHEAD of SESSION 1, contact participants registered for the book study and ask them to order a copy of Unanswered Questions (Hard Cover, Paperback or eBook). Ahead of Session 1, ask participants to read the Foreword, Introduction and Chapter 1 of Unanswered Questions. Invite participants to visit www.unansweredquestions.ca/resources/ On item 2 of the resource list is a link to Watch the Documentary 9/11 Press For Truth. Invite participants ahead of Session 1 to view the opening part of this documentary to the end of minute 5:58, where Patty Casazza says “we all had questions, and we wanted answers.”

 

Purpose
To begin reflecting on the events of September 11, 2001, starting with our own memories of that day, and to become familiar with a sample of first-person stories, including from family members of victims of the attacks who later formed the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission

 

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the word CALAMITY
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if group is meeting in person)

Preparation

• If meeting in person, set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• Have the Guidelines either written on a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart, a handout for distribution for discussion, or on a power point slide for Zoom.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart print these questions: Are there one or two particular stories – of family members of 9/11 victims, first responders – that stood out for you? What does this level of description do for you? Mean to you? What moves you? What stands out, for you, in this chapter?
• On either a sheet of newsprint, or on a Zoom slide, present this quote from Kristen Breitweiser’s Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow: “In watching our loved ones die on television over and over again, we knew what our pain was: It was understandable, explainable, and definable. And we knew why we felt our pain: Our husbands had been brutally murdered. [Yet] “the facts that lay behind our husbands’ murders were different. The facts were not so understandable, definable, or explainable. We didn’t know why our nation had been so vulnerable on the morning of the attacks. Why jets were not scrambled on time to intercept the four hijacked airliners. Why evacuation protocols in the Twin Towers were not followed.” ~ Kristen Breitweiser
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together closing hymn “There Is A Balm In Gilead”.

Opening                                                                                                                   /3

Fifteen minutes before the first session is scheduled to start, begin to play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, you may want them to sign their name and provide/confirm contact information. This way you’ll be able to contact them to share any information about upcoming sessions. Invite them to make their own name tag (if meeting in person).

Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, allowing for last minute arrivals, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

The book study leader will pray:
“O God, we pray for your guidance as we gather to begin this book study. Help us learn to contemplate what we are reading. Help us imagine your thoughts, Beloved, as we lean in with you to be present to the story of families who wanted, as their president said, ‘to uncover every detail and learn every lesson of September the Eleventh.’
We place our hearts and minds in your care, trusting that You have already given us strength enough to witness and accompany these families, and to help us make meaning of our post-9/11 world; Even as we follow Jesus, who died on a cross, but through the mystery of your love was resurrected. In Christ we pray. Amen.”

Introduce Participants and the Study

• Invite participants to go introduce themselves around the circle/Zoom gallery, stating their name, and what interested them to choose to take part in this book study.
• Invite participants to go around the circle a second time, completing these two sentence stems: a) One hope I have for this study is… b) One apprehension I have about this study is… [As participants share their hopes and apprehensions, write down key words/phrases on a flipchart that capture these responses]. When everyone has had a chance to share. Make some observations about what you see on the flipchart/Zoom slide, about the hopes and apprehensions.
• State your role as book study leader, noting that your role is to enable group discussion, and hold the container for a spirit-centered group process. Point out that you are not here to serve as ‘the expert.’

Ahead of the session, either write out these Guidelines for the Unanswered Questions book study on a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart before the session, copy them onto a sheet of paper you will hand out to the group, or on a Zoom slide:

 

GUIDELINES                                                                                                                    /4

• We understand that we are not here to discuss who is right and who is wrong. We trust that in hearing diverse perspectives, we will try to hear what is at the heart of what each person is trying to say. We will take part in dialogue that is open, honest and respectful.
• We will each try to set aside our assumptions about where this book study journey will take us. We will trust that God may be doing something new in our midst. We will listen for the spaces where the Spirit may speak through us in the space between our words and our silences, as we offer this study group into God’s care.
• We will take responsibility to be mindful of the statements others may make which trigger our own responses. We will speak for ourselves without assigning blame or judging others.
• We will take responsibility for what we say in the life of the group, allowing for spontaneity, but refrain from impulse. We will remember that in group discussion, as the writer of Ecclesiastes advised, there is a time to be silent and there is a time to speak.
• We will each do our part to make space for the feelings that emerge in the life of the group, and to offer healing and support.
• We will treat what is shared by others in the group with confidentiality, and refrain from speaking about what others have said outside of the group.
• If we meet virtually, we will remember to be on mute when we are not speaking, so that there is a minimum of background noise while others are speaking.

After reading the Guidelines, ask for a verbal agreement from the group to accept these as a framework for proceeding during the life of the book study.

 

Going Deeper: Personal Stories                                                               /5

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the word CALAMITY. Let the group know that they are going to be invited to recall the calamity of the attacks of September 11, 2001, through a series of small group activities.
• Read a quote from the Afterword in Ray McGinnis’ Unanswerd Questions, where the author speaks about his experience. [Leader reads from the top of page 309 to the end of the second paragraph on page 310 ending with “recall thinking ‘so this is the face of evil.’”
• Invite participants to take time to share their responses with one another to the following questions: Where were you on Sept 11, 2001? When and how did you learn about the attacks? What do you remember about that day?
• Divide the participants into small groups/chat rooms to reflect on the authors reflection in the Afterword, and the questions above.
• Next in your small group/chat room, discuss: Were things different for your after September 11, 2001? How? Did you follow the developments after Sept 11? (e.g. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya etc., anthrax attacks, surveillance, border restrictions, terror alerts etc.) When did you stop following the story? Do you think about Sept 11 now? What triggers those thoughts?
• Gather back in a whole group. The leader will say “The author of Unanswered Questions goes to great trouble to name and describe victims of Sept 11, and their families. He also paints pictures of the day and its aftermath. Here are some questions for us to think about. [Leader points to a sheet of newsprint/Zoom slide and reads the following:] Are there one or two particular stories – of family members of 9/11 victims, first responders – that stood out for you? What does this level of description do for you? Mean to you? What moves you? What stands out, for you, in this chapter?” Invite participants in the group to gather back in their small groups/chat rooms to discuss these questions.
• Invite the group to look at a quote from Kristen Breitweiser.
  Recall in the Introduction to Unanswered Questions, there are some quotes from Family Steering Committee member, Kristen Breitweiser, who lost her husband Ron, in the South Tower. In her memoir Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow she reflects, “In watching our loved ones die on television over and over again, we knew what our pain was: It was understandable, explainable, and definable. And we knew why we felt our pain: Our husbands had been brutally murdered. [Yet] “the facts that lay behind our husbands’ murders were different. The facts were not so understandable, definable, or explainable. We didn’t know why our nation had been so vulnerable on the morning of the attacks. Why jets were not scrambled on time to intercept the four hijacked airliners. Why evacuation protocols in the Twin Towers were not followed.” Add that Ray McGinnis summarizes Kristen Breitweiser also “wondered how hijackers could board flights with Mace and box cutters, both prohibited weapons. Why weren’t terrorists thwarted when they had been under surveillance?” Ask the group, “What is Kristen Breitweiser saying here? When Kristen Breitweiser and other September 11^thfamily members thought of questions in the aftermath of the death of their loved ones, what did that require of them? (e.g. to learn about prohibited weapons, U.S. Air Force protocols for intercepting planes that stray from their approved flight path, what evacuation procedures were in supposed to be in place in the event of fire in an office building).
• Asking questions usually means we have to dig deeper, research a topic so we know the best questions to ask. Ask the participants, “Imagine, if you had lost someone on September 11^th. Do you think you would have been able to shift/expand from your own grief, to begin to form questions about the attacks, that you were required to ask politicians in your nations’ capitol while being televised?”

 

Bearing Witness                                                                             /6

• Invite the group to consider: most of us witnessed scenes on TV, saw photos in magazines, newspapers, read stories in the news, or heard on the radio about the attacks of September 11^th. Most of us were witnesses to that headline story. Yet, what the author of Unanswered Questions is inviting us to do is to bear witness to what happened for many of the families of the victims of September 11^th after the attacks. Ask the participants to raise their hands if they had heard of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission, a different body from the 9/11 Commission, before reading Unanswered Questions?
• Read Hebrews 12:1: “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” If those who have gone before us are witnesses to the journey we are now on, what does it mean for you to bear witness to the journey the families who lost loved ones on September 11^th have been on? How have Christians been able to bear witness in the past to news of atrocity: e.g. dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, holocaust in Nazi Germany in WWII, millions starved from famine due to Stalin’s policies in the Ukraine in the 1930s. Invite participants to name other traumatic, violent, events from the past that people of faith have been called upon to witness, pray and petition for justice, healing, reconciliation.
• Read Ephesians 4:14 and 25 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming….Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” What is required of you to know if you are being “blown…by every wind of teaching?” When have you been taken in by “the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming?” Does this happen to you as a consumer of the news? Why does it matter to the writer of Ephesians that people of faith try to distinguish falsehood from truth? Should it matter to Christians today? Why?
• Ask participants “Why should we study such a controversial topic?” Invite participants to consider that as Christians we are taught that God is wherever life is lived out, and all of life should be the arena where our faith is also lived out. In conversation with others, we can witness the stories of families who lost loved ones on September 11^th, and who wanted as Kristen Breitweiser remarked to “get to the bottom of this…so that nobody else ever has to walk in our shoes.” By studying Unanswered Questions we can revisit what it means to live in a post-9/11 world. Discuss.

Closing

• AHEAD of SESSION 2, invite participants to read Chapter 2. Ahead of Session 2: invite them to either read or watch the testimony of Kristen Breitweiser before the Joint 9/11 Inquiry (United States Senate and Congress) on September 18, 2002. Links to her written or videotaped testimony can be found in the reference section of her profile at: https://unansweredquestions.ca/family-steering-committee-member-kristen-breitweiser/
• As you close your session, read (or recite together) Psalm 23.
• Invite participants to observe ten seconds of silence in remembrance of those who died on September 11, 2001. (The Twin Towers each collapsed in just under ten seconds).
• Suggested hymn: “There Is A Balm in Gilead” (Voices United #612) – African-American spiritual
• Standing in a circle/or around your Zoom gallery, invite each participant to name one thing they are taking with them from this first session (e.g. an image, a person’s story, a feeling, something to reflect on…)
• Close with leader saying “Go from this place, held in the everlasting arms of the Holy One who breathed life into you, who loves you and bids you ‘Go in peace.’”

Session 2: The Search for Answers                                              /7

Purpose
To begin reflecting on the shift some families of the victims of September 11^th made from grief to advocacy, the formation of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission, and the obstacles faced in establishing the 9/11 Commission.

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the phrase SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

• If meeting in person, set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart print (or on a Zoom slide): “On June 11, 2002, about 300 family members who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, held a rally on Capitol Hill, in Washington D.C. Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband Alan died in the North Tower told those in attendance, “No stone must remain unturned. We are asking you, America, to stand behind us. I want to be able to look into the eyes of my children, and tell them the evil is over there, that they are safe and that their country is secure. Nine months have passed and I still cannot do that. I do not have answers.”
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together closing hymn “We Are Called To Follow Jesus” (Voices United #598) ~ Strathdee

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

Leader will pray:

“O God, as we follow the story of the September 11^th families search for answers, help us to consider their distinct perspectives. Help us walk a mile in their shoes, and see the face of Christ in them, as we see the face of Christ in each person we meet. Keep our hearts and minds open to the guidance of your Holy Spirit. In Christ we pray. Amen.”

Listen to Washington State folksinger Linda Allen’s song “Where I Stand”

 

 

Icebreakers                                                                                                                             /8

• Leader invites participants to form a straight line standing apart from one another. Tell them you are going to make some statements to help them declare some of their preferences/biases by placing themselves on a continuum. A continuum is a range of things that are slightly different from one another. After you read the first continuum, invite participants to arrange themselves in an imaginary line between 1 and 10 (1 being total agreement with statement A, and 10 being in total agreement with statement B). Once participants have lined up on the continuum, have people make a statement to someone near them about why they placed themselves where they did. And ask people at either ends of the continuum if they care to say something about their choice to plant themselves where they did. Repeat this process for the next few continuums. (Adapt this exercise for virtual setting, with people placing themselves on a virtual continuum).
• a) When I watch, listen to or read a news story, I generally expect that the story has all the relevant information presented for me to make up my mind, OR b) When I watch, listen to or read a news story, I usually am detached, and I wonder who benefits from the narrative being presented by the journalist and/or commentator.
• a) I usually assume I am being told a half-truth when a politician opens their mouth. OR b) I am likely to believe a politician is telling me the truth, especially in a time of crisis.
• a) I think that power corrupts and all politicians are vulnerable to corruption. OR b) I like to think that we are living in a new era where politics is being practiced in a more enlightened way.
• a) I can understand why families who lost loved ones on September 11^th would want their leaders to find out what went wrong and to make their nation safer by asking hard questions. OR b) I think government inquiries like the 9/11 Commission are a waste of time.
• a) I have believed since beginning that either Osama bin Laden, and/or Saddam Hussein, was responsible for the attacks of September 11^th. OR b) I am not sure those responsible and who perpetrated the attacks of September 11, have been identified.

 

Going Deeper

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the phrase SEARCH FOR ANSWERS. Let the group know that they are going to be invited to discuss the shift of the families from grief to advocacy.
• Through the diligence of certain families, and lobbying lawmakers in Washington D.C., the 9/11 Commission to investigate the events of Sept 11 finally was established in November 2002. In Chapter 2 we hear from Beverly Eckert, Patty Casazza, Ellen Mariani, Carie Lemack, Kristen Breitweiser, Stephen Push, Lorie Van Auken and others. Is there a person whose story interested you in this chapter?
• What was the position of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney regarding the creation of an inquiry into the attacks of September 11^th?
• Leader read the following: “On June 11, 2002, about 300 family members who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, held a rally on Capitol Hill, in Washington D.C. Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband Alan died in the North Tower told those in attendance, “No stone must remain unturned. We are asking you, America, to stand behind us. I want to be able to look into the eyes of my children, and tell them the evil is over there, that they are safe and that their country is secure. Nine months have passed and I still cannot do that. I do not have answers.” Ellen Mariani, whose husband Neil died on United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the South Tower, said at the podium, “I want a real investigation. I don’t want lip service. I’m angry, and I’m not going away.” What is your response to the families who lost loved ones on Sept 11th having to lobby their government for an investigation into the attacks?
• What difference did Kristen Breitweiser’s testimony of September 18, 2002, before  the Joint (Senate & Congress) 9/11 Inquiry make to the effort to launch an investigation into the attacks? Why do you think Breitweiser’s testimony had the impact it did?
• Read Luke 18:1-8 – the Story of the Persistent Widow and the Unjust Judge. According to the story Jesus tells, can a person in authority, like a judge, be unjust? What do you think sustains the widow in this story to be so persistent? Why do the widows in the Family Steering Committee (Mindy Kleinberg, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Lorie Van Auken, Monica Gabrielle) as well as the mothers, daughters and widower, persist in trying to hold their government to account?
• What do you make of the decision by President Bush to name Dr. Henry Kissinger to head up an inquiry into the attacks of September 11^th? What happened when Family Steering Committee members met with Kissinger in his office? Why do you think he resigned the next day?
• What signal do you think the Bush administration was sending by budgeting $3 Million for the 9/11 Commission to do its work?
• Why did Beverly Eckert, widow of Sean Rooney, want members of the Project for a New American Century who were now part of the new George W. Bush cabinet to testify before the 9/11 Commission? What was PNAC advocating? Recall, President George W. Bush wrote in his diary on September 11, 2001. “The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today. We think it’s Osama bin Laden.” Were the events of September 11^th “a new Pearl Harbor?”
• Ask participants to discuss: Where in your life, have you faced obstacles in getting accountability, truth and justice from those in positions of power (work, family, church, volunteer organizations, health authority, government etc.)?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                          /9

 

• Invite someone in the group to read the statement by 9/11 Commissioner Jim Thompson on page 27. What was Commissioner Thompson telling the American public about the need for an inquiry?
• Kristen Breitweiser writes in her memoir, that “Bin Laden had murdered 3,000 victims, four of whom were our husbands.” Invite participants to consider that at the start of the investigation, all the members of the Family Steering Committee anticipated that the government could effectively make the case that the prime suspect – Osama bin Laden – that President Bush, Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney and others had identified as responsible for the attacks, was indeed guilty. What difference does it make to know the dozen members of the Family Steering Committee accepted the official explanation given by their government at the start? Let the participants know that while it is not known how all dozen members of the Family Steering Committee voted (or if all of them voted) in the 2000 Bush vs. Gore election, over half of them are on record as having voted for the Bush-Cheney ticket.

Closing                                                                                                                                    /10

• AHEAD of Session 3 invite participants to read Chapter 3. Also invite them watch more of the documentary 9/11 Press For Truth, from minute 6:00 to 20:30 https://unansweredquestions.ca/resources/ On item 2 of the resource list on the book-related website is a link to Watch the Documentary 9/11 Press For Truth.
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Suggested hymn: “We Are Called To Follow Jesus” (Voices United #598) – Strathdee
• Reading: “Victim number 268, or victim 2680… the numbers begin to dissolve like paper in a pool. Beyond that, I see your eyes, your smile, your favorite pendant, your badge, your wallet with the pictures of your grandchildren. Your number dissolves, and clearer and clearer to the surface rises your name… Abraham, Alan, Arthur, Brad, Christian, Geordie, Janice, Jeffrey, John, Judy, Paul, Kenneth, Richard, Ron, Sara, Sean, Tommy… And because I know your name, I know you had at least one person who loved you, who held your name safe in their mouth, protected amidst the flurry of lies, the bizarrely constructed excuses, the puzzle pieces that never fit. Behind all the smoke and mirrors, I see you. I see YOU. And YOU are eternally precious.” ~ Juanita Austin
• Standing in a circle/in your Zoom gallery, invite each participant to name one thing they are taking with them from this session (e.g. an image, a person’s story, a feeling, something to reflect on…)
• Close with leader saying “Go from this place, held in the everlasting arms of the One who breathed life into you, who loves you and bids you ‘Go in peace.’”

Session 3: The Complete 9/11 Timeline                                                                 /11

Purpose
To reflect back on the news stories in the aftermath of the attacks from September 2001 to April 2002; to appreciate these stories were a sample of the research members of the Family Steering Committee did in order to form questions to pose to the 9/11 Commission to aid in its inquiry; And to consider what these stories mean to us now.

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the phrase RESEARCH
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather in person or on Zoom
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

Preparation

• If meeting in person, set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart/Zoom slide present this quote: “Security and airline officials agree privately that the simultaneous hijacking of four jetliners was an inside job probably indicating complicity beyond malfeasance. … In the rage and mourning following Tuesday’s disaster, few officials wanted to dwell on how a 10-year hiatus of airline hijackings in the country could be followed by four in one hour.” ~ Robert Novak, New York Post, September 13, 2001.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart print this quote: “Conspiracy: A secret agreement between two or more persons to perform together an illegal, wrongful, harmful or subversive act; Plot with others to commit a crime.”
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together opening hymn, ”We Are Pilgrims.”

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

Leader will pray:

“O God, we live in a world of news, 24 hours a day. Headlines shout for our attention, extra, extra. And all is urgent, desperate and proclaimed with authority. Media commentators fashion themselves as the gods of our time. O Fount of Wisdom, help us read beyond the headlines. Help us take an interest in history. May we learn from history, so mistakes of the past may not be repeated. Claim us for something larger than the 24-hour news cycle. And help us read between the lines and find that which is trustworthy and authentic. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Suggested hymn “We Are Pilgrims” (Voices United #595) – Gillard

 

Icebreakers                                                                                                                             /12

• Leader invites participants to stand in a circle/take turns around the Zoom gallery, and each complete the sentence stem: “One highlight from the past week was…”
• Next, have each person complete this sentence stem: “Something I’ve thought about since our last session is…”

 

Going Deeper

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the word RESEARCH. Let the group know that they are going to be invited to discuss some of the news stories members of the Family Steering Committee had to read in order to do the research. That the news stories the FSC members read helped them compile to for the 9/11 Commission the most relevant questions in order for the inquiry to achieve its mandate.
• What are Mindy Kleinberg, Lorie Van Auken and Patty Casazza telling us about their efforts to piece together and make sense of what happened on September 11^th? Why was Paul Thompson’s “Complete 9/11 Timeline” of such interest to the families? Read the families questions to 9/11 Commissioners on May 15, 2003, (on page 30-31). What difference might the families background reading have made to these meetings? Do you think the politicians took them seriously?
• As he did more digging into the stories in the news related to the attacks of September 11^th, researcher Paul Thompson observed “you could have one story that comes out on the front page and another story … on page B12. I found that many times the story that comes out on B12 is more important than what comes out on the front page. … As a casual observer of the news I’d never noticed any of this stuff. And if you start to put all those rather obscure stories together, you end up with an almost completely different narrative. For just about any area relating to 9/11 the story is quite different if you dig deeper into the news.” Does this surprise you? What are the implications for following the news, given Thompson’s statement?
• What happens in relation to Osama bin Laden over the course of the first six months in the mainstream media? Do you remember any of these news stories? Did any surprise you?
• What do you make of President Bush’s statement to the press in October 2001 regarding bin Laden: “There’s no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he’s guilty.” By March 2002 President Bush tells the press “I don’t know where [bin Laden] is… You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him… to be honest with you….I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him.” While the head of NORAD, General Richard Myers explained in April 2002 “Well the goal has never been to get bin Laden.” How do you imagine families who lost loved ones on September 11^th might react to these statements?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                                                     /13

• Invite someone to read Jeremiah 6:13-15. Are the families dealing with leaders who are being honest? Deceitful? Recall on page 35, the New Yorker reported airlifts of members of al Qaeda exceeding 5,000 from an airport in Kunduz, Afghanistan. If the USA controlled the air space, Seymour Hersch states elsewhere in his article that permission to let the ‘enemy’ get away had to come from orders all the way to the top: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. On one hand, there are reports of the U.S. military doing whatever it can to hunt down and capture bin Laden and his associates. Elsewhere are news stories of people getting away, with notable US military inaction. How might you feel about these reports as a family member? How have you coped in your life when you have discovered politicians you counted on have revealed themselves to be untrustworthy?
• Read quote by reporter Robert Novak from a September 13, 2001, story in the New York Post. “Security and airline officials agree privately that the simultaneous hijacking of four jetliners was an inside job probably indicating complicity beyond malfeasance. … In the rage and mourning following Tuesday’s disaster, few officials wanted to dwell on how a 10-year hiatus of airline hijackings in the country could be followed by four in one hour.” What is Novak reporting? What questions might this news story two days after the attacks have raised with Sept. 11 families?
• Recall the Bush administration’s handling of the question of Osama bin Laden’s guilt (see bottom of page 32 to middle of page 34). The official narrative offers a conspiracy theory where 19 hijackers, inspired by Osama bin Laden and other key planners, launch a surprise attack against America. The hijacking involves four planes in one hour, slamming three of the planes into iconic buildings, including the most well defended building in the United States. Others have suggested that the Bush administration knew the attacks were planned and let it happen, while others charge that it is plausible there were Americans in positions in government who helped plan the attacks of September 11. You’ll be invited to hold this range of opinions in your awareness, while following the families search for answers.
• Invite participants to read a dictionary definition of “conspiracy.” “Conspiracy: A secret agreement between two or more persons to perform together an illegal, wrongful, harmful or subversive act; Plot with others to commit a crime.” How is the phrase “conspiracy theory” used in the media? What do you think about the way that phrase is used, considering the dictionary definition of the word conspiracy? According to the dictionary, as the official government account about the attacks of September 11^th involves more than one person, the official explanation of what happened is itself a conspiracy theory. Discuss.

 

Closing

• AHEAD of Session 4, invite participants to read Chapters 4 and 5. Also invite them watch more of the documentary 9/11 Press For Truth, from minute 20:30 to 24:00. https://unansweredquestions.ca/resources/from item 2 of the resource list on the book-related website is a link to Watch the Documentary 9/11 Press For Truth.
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Standing in a circle, invite each participant to name something they are taking with them from this session (thought/image/feeling/quality…)
• Sing together refrain from “We Are Pilgrims” (Voices United #595)
• Close with leader inviting the group to sing “Go Now In Peace”.

 

Session 4: Report Card on 9/11 Commission by FSC and Press Releases about Executive Director      /14

Purpose
To learn about the life of the 9/11 Commission as seen by the Family Steering Committee through its Report Card about how it was functioning, and why the FSC issued a press release asking Executive Director Philip Zelikow to resign.

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the phrase REPORT CARD and on another the name PHILIP ZELIKOW
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

• If meeting in person, set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart/slide on Zoom have this quote: “This is supposed to be an investigation of September 11. This is not supposed to be a sales pitch for the Iraq War!” ~ Lorie Van Auken, wife of Kenneth W. Van Auken, 47.
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together the opening hymn, “Arise Your Light Has Come” and closing hymn “To Us All, To Every Nation”.

Opening

• Fifteen minutes before session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
  Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
  Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.
• Leader will pray: “Holy One, we who so often assume the best about people, who give those in leadership the benefit of the doubt, teach us to notice what is happening in the present moment. Help us to discern what is trustworthy, and true. Grant that we may observe with a holy detachment, all the drama of news and spectacle, that we not get caught up in narratives that may distract us from what else is going on behind the scenes. May we be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, and awake to the signs around us. In Christ we pray. Amen.
• Suggested hymn “Arise Your Light Has Come” (Voices United #79) – Duck/Walker/McLeod

 

Icebreaker                                                                                                                               /15

• Leader invites participants to share around the circle/Zoom gallery the name of one person they’ve been introduced to so far in Unanswered Questions, who stands out for them, and briefly mention what it was about that person that stood out.

 

Going Deeper

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the phrase REPORT CARD. Let the group know that they are going to be invited to discuss the Family Steering Committee Report Card on the 9/11 Commission issued in a press release in September 2003, and background to people in key leadership.
• Ask the group: What do we learn about 9/11 co-chair Lee Hamilton? Do you think his history with Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, public record with the Iran-Contra Inquiry, and views about how to run the 9/11 Commission, made Hamilton a good choice to co-lead the 9/11 Commission? What were Sept. 11 family members Bob McIlvaine and Kristen Breitweiser responses to Lee Hamilton?
• Why did Family Steering Committee member Lorie Van Auken confront 9/11 Commission Executive Director Zelikow, saying “This is supposed to be an investigation of September 11. This is not supposed to be a sales pitch for the Iraq War!”
• Why did the Family Steering Committee (FSC) give such mediocre grades to the 9/11 Commission in the FSC Report Card? What did the FSC observe about a) Open Hearings, b) use of subpoena, c) Structure and Conduct of Open Hearings, d) 9/11 Commissioner access to documents, e) Sworn Testimony?
• As the 9/11 Commission unfolds, 9/11 Commission’s Senior Counsel, John Farmer, will recall later in his book The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America’s Defense on 9/11 that “at some level of government, at some point in time … there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened … I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described.” What does this indicate to you?
• Leader reads: “On October 30, 2003, FSC member Bill Harvey told McClatchy Newspaper that he was a registered Republican and had voted for the President’s father George H.W. Bush twice, and for George W. Bush in 2000. But, said Harvey about the younger President Bush, ‘He’s obfuscated this investigation from Day One. I just don’t understand why, as commander in chief and the person in charge of the security of this country, he’s not interested in investigating how this was able to happen.’” Why is the Bush administration losing support among even Family Steering Committee members who are registered Republicans?
• Ask the group: If you had lost a loved one on September 11^th and been a member of the Family Steering Committee, what overall grade would you have given the 9/11 Commission? (Discuss in small groups/chat rooms).
• In Chapter 5 we are introduced to Executive Director Philip Zelikow. Place a strip of paper with PHILIP ZELIKOW on the table in the center of the circle.
• What are some of the concerns people (Richard Clarke, Karen Heitotter, Dan Marcus, Andrew Card, various 9/11 Commissioners, Kristen Breitweiser) raise about Philip Zelikow before and after he is appointed Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission?
• According to Salon Magazine, what was Philip Zelikow’s expertise concerning terrorism?
• What was the Outline that Philip Zelikow and Senior Advisor to the 9/11 Commission, Ernest May, created before the 9/11 Commission began their investigation? Did the chapter headings and sub-headings of the Outline prejudice the conclusions    of the Report before the inquiry began? Why didn’t Zelikow, or 9/11 Commission co-chairs Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton want other 9/11 Commissioners, 9/11 Commission staff or the general public know about the Outline? Why is Bob McIlvaine, whose son was murdered on September 11, consider the discover of the Outline for the 9/11 Commission Report “monumental news?”
• Why does the Family Steering Committee call for the resignation of Philip Zelikow?
• What do we learn about the 9/11 Commission through a) The resignation of Max Cleland?, b) The decision not to appoint FSC member Kristen Breitweiser to replace him; and c) The choice to appoint Committee for the Liberation of Iraq member Bob Kerrey?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                                              /16

• In the Message, Matthew 5:33-37 is translated “And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.” Why does this teaching of Jesus matter?
• Share an experience when you witnessed, or were part of, an unjust situation. Did you (others) have an advocate? Were you (others) believed? How did people show their support, or not? What did you (others) need? What would have made you (others) feel heard? Respected? What would have helped you (others) heal?
• What is your experience of, or understanding of, swearing an oath in a court of law? How could something that involved national security not mandate the swearing of an oath? What is a false oath?
• As time went on, the FSC families became troubled with the 9/11 Commission. Sources for this disenchantment included   i) discovery of the presence of “minders,” ii) not enough public hearings, iii) numerous “softball questions” by 9/11 Commissions to witnesses, iv) and no sworn statements.
• Read Ephesians 6:12. Were the September 11^th families up against the “powers and principalities” in their efforts to keep the 9/11 Commission on track?
• Why do you think Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s Senior Advisor in the White House, involved himself behind the scenes in the work of the 9/11 Commission?

Closing

• AHEAD of Session 5 invite participants to read Chapters 6, 7 and 8. Ask them to view video highlights of Testimony of Rudy Giuliani before the 9/11 Commission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrDfs7KGdiY
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Standing in a circle/around the Zoom gallery, invite each participant to name something they are taking with them from this session (thought/image/feeling/quality…)
• Close with the leader reading: “In 1845 James Russell Lowell wrote the hymn “Once To Every Man and Nation” to protest America’s war with Mexico. The lyrics tell us that there comes a time for everyone, every nation “to decide; In the strife with truth or falsehood, for the good or evil side.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. recited the words of this hymn on April 4, 1967, at the Riverside Church in New York City when he delivered his sermon “Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.”
• Suggested hymn: “To Us All, to Every Nation” (Voices United #694) – Lowell/Horder/Williams

 

Session 5: Testimony of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 Commission Report                            /17

 

Purpose
To learn about the life of the 9/11 Commission as seen through the Testimony of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, release of the 9/11 Commission Report and response.

 

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the name MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

 

• If meeting in person set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart/Zoom slide present this quote for participants to see: “There definitely were firefighters that we were picking up on the way down that had no knowledge that the South Tower had collapsed. They were like, they didn’t believe us…Knowledge of the fact that the other building went down … I don’t think a lot of guys did.” ~ Fire Lt. Warren Smith, Ladder 9, FDNY
• On a sheet of newsprint on the flipchart/Zoom gallery present this quote: “The Commissioners have concluded that September 11, 2001 resulted from a “failure of imagination.” Although accountability was not assigned to specific individuals, it is clear that one solution is to hire new people with better imaginations.” ~ Family Steering Committee
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together opening hymn, “I Am The Light Of The World”, and closing hymn “A Light Is Gleaming”.

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

Leader will pray:

“Listening and attentive God, as we follow the September Eleventh families through their search for truth and accountability, help us hear your voice in this story, and search for the presence of your Spirit. Teach us about compassion, justice and truth and what to trust. As we place our trust in you. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Suggested hymn “I Am The Light Of The World” (Voices United #87) – Strathdee

 

Icebreaker                                                                                                                               /18

 

• Leader invites participants to respond to this question around the circle “Have you ever been to New York City?” Whether you’ve been there, or have only glimpses from movies, TV, news or books, what impression stands out?

 

Going Deeper

 

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the name MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI. Let the group know that they are going to be invited to discuss the testimony or Mayor Giuliani, and the response of September eleventh families to that testimony.
• Ask the group: What does Mayor Giuliani tell ABC News about the collapse of the South Tower? What does he tell the 9/11 Commission? How do the 9/11 Commissioners respond to Mayor Giuliani’s testimony?
• Why do Sally Regenhard, Rosaleen Tallon, Monica Gabrielle, Beverly Eckert and others think about the mayors’ testimony?
• Leader reads: “The Commissioners have concluded that September 11, 2001 resulted from a “failure of imagination.” Although accountability was not assigned to specific individuals, it is clear that one solution is to hire new people with better imaginations.” ~ Family Steering Committee – Invite the group to respond to the 9/11 Commissions’ explanation for why the attacks happened.
• Leader reads: “We went to every open hearing hoping the commissioners would ask tough questions. I can recall only a few instances during the 12 public hearings that we were actually pleased with the vigor of the questioning. Every time they spent five minutes saying how great the person was, their hairdo … they were really taking time away from the point of the entire investigation …”” ~ Lorie Van Auken              What does Lorie Van Auken’s description tell you about the conduct of the 9/11 inquiry?
• How does President George W. Bush feel about how the 9/11 Commission went?
• How did Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton frame their understanding of what they were investigating?
• Lee Hamilton tells the CBC in response to criticism that only 9% of the Sept. 11 families’ questions were seriously addressed in the 9/11 Commission’s Report “You can’t answer every question when you conduct an investigation.” Discuss Hamilton’s answer. What message is he giving to the public?
• What praise do the media shower on the 9/11 Commission Report? What critique do they offer?
• One of the outcomes of the 9/11 Commission Report, and the August 2004 Republican Convention, is that five of the FSC members actively campaign for Democrat John Kerry. Why did the experience of the 9/11 Commission and the conduct of the Bush administration splinter the unity of the September eleventh families, prompt partisan political involvement?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                                                     /19

• Leader ask someone to read Isaiah 40:28-31. What is this teaching from Isaiah? How do you maintain hope when there are obstacles in the way?
• Leader ask someone to read John 8:31-32. How do you ensure that you are getting accurate information? What sources do you trust, and why? When, or under what circumstances, might you re-examine a formerly-trusted news source, person, or ideology? What makes someone’s testimony trustworthy and true? What are the resources (faith traditions or other) that help you discern if you are being told the truth or being deceived? If the truth sets you free, what does that look like in practice? What is the cost of truth? What is the cost of denying it?
• What if the “truth that sets us free” is only held by a small number of people? Does it still free you? Does it free you if this truth doesn’t become the collective story, or result in justice and accountability?

 

Closing

• AHEAD of Session 6, invite your group to read over the questions raised in Chapters 9 to 19. Invite your group to choose two of the chapters to be the focus of Session 6. They can choose to dig deeper into any combination of two chapters in Part 3 of Unanswered Questions.
• Before you close Session 5, invite each person in your group to vote for two of the chapters they’d prefer your group discuss in Session 6.
• Vote.
• Count the votes. Note which chapters got the most votes. The top two chapters with the most votes will be the ones you study and discuss in Session 6. If you have more than two chapters still in the running (tied for 2nd place), have a second vote. In your second round of voting, each person in the group again votes for two of the remaining chapters in a run-off. If you have a tie and you really want to discuss 3 chapters in your group’s Session 6 of the book study for Unanswered Questions, go ahead. It’s up to you.
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Standing in a circle, invite each participant to name something they are taking with them from this session (thought/image/feeling/quality…)
• Suggested hymn “A Light Is Gleaming” (Voices United #82) – Good

 

Session 6: The Family Steering Committee’s Unanswered Questions  /20

 

Purpose
To learn reflect on several of the Family Steering Committee’s questions that were ignored by the 9/11 Commission that are examined in Unanswered Questions

 

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the phrase UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

• If meeting in person set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together opening hymn “Open My Eyes”.

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

Read Lamentations 2:10-13

 

Prayer:

O Holy One, we sit on the ground in silence. Silence is all. We have no words.
We try to speak. Even our breath falters as air escapes from our mouths,

trying to speak the unspeakable. So much violence. So much destruction.
So much death.          Why must it be, O Creator?
And when the questions come, piling up, one after the other,
embraced and ignored, by those in whom we place our trust,
where shall we find our comfort? Meet us in our own silent places.
Hold us in wounds as deep as the sea. Tell us, that You can bear the sorrow
of those who have suffered the greatest losses;

And all the losses that have unfolded in our post-9/11 world in illness, in war…

You, who are not false or misleading,
reveal to us what is trustworthy and true.

For the sake of a broken world made whole again.

In Christ we pray.

Amen.

Suggested hymn “Open My Eyes” (Voices United #371) – Scott

 

Going Deeper                                                                                                         /21

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the book title UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. Invite the group to turn to the Table of Contents in Part 3 of the book. Ask members of the group, one at a time going around the circle/Zoom gallery, to read the question(s) raised in each chapter heading between chapters 9 and 19. Remind your group which of the two questions, in Part 3 of Unanswered Questions, you have voted at the end of Session 5 to be your focus on for Session 6.

 

***

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 9, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to NORAD: Why weren’t NORAD Jets able to Intercept the Hijacked planes if they were Airborne Within Eight Minutes of Notification?
• Ask for a volunteer to read the first three paragraphs of Chapter 9, comprising of a quote from Carol Ashley, mother of September 11^th victim Janice Ashley, on pages 103-104. What in her testimony stands out?
• On pages 104-105 there is background information about the creation of NORAD and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). How effective was NORAD in responding to requests to intercept aircraft that had strayed off its approved flight path in American domestic air space? Why was the FAA created? What prompted its creation?
• On pages 108-111, Family Steering Committee Mindy Kleinberg testified before the 9/11 Commission. What questions she asked the 9/11 Commission seem most important to find out what went wrong?
• Why does 9/11 Commission co-chair, Thomas Kean say the attacks on September 11^th were” completely preventable?” What is your response to his statement in 2003: “This was not something that had to happen … There are people [in NORAD] that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed.”
• On September 11, 2001, there were multiple war games run by the Pentagon and NORAD. As well there was ‘Amalgam Virgo One’ in June 2001, ‘Fertile Rice’ on August 4, 2001, and on September 11, 2001, two of NORAD’s coincidental war game exercises, ‘Vigilant Guardian’ and ‘Global Guardian’. Each of these four war games documents, for those participating in the games, had a photo of Osama bin Laden on the cover. The documents were created prior to September 11th. What can account for the coincidence of bin Laden’s photo on these war game exercises? Do you think there was any foreknowledge among key leadership in the U.S. Air Force that Osama bin Laden would hijack planes and use them as weapons?

***                                                                                                                                              /22

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 10, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to the FAA: Why were these four planes able to evade all radar?
• Ask for a volunteer to read the first three paragraphs of Chapter 10 on pages 116-117. What are Mindy Kleinberg and Kristen Breitweiser telling lawmakers, 9/11 Commissioners?
• Review page 117. Discuss: What is RADAR?
• Who is Lieutenant General Michael Canavan? Why are his actions, and whereabouts, between January and September 2001 of interest to the September 11^th families?
• Who is General Ralph Eberhart? What are his actions/decision-making on the night of September 10^th and on the morning of September 11^th. What stands out? Based on his choices on this most critical day in America’s history, if it was up to you, would you have promoted him eight months later (May 2002) to be Head of US Northern Command?
• Ask for a volunteer to read Mindy Kleinberg’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission halfway down page 123 ending at the top of page 124. In her testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Mindy Kleinberg asks “Is it luck when a national emergency is not reported to top government officials on a timely basis? To me luck is something that happens once. When you have this repeated pattern of broken protocols, broken laws, broken communication, one cannot still call it luck.” What do you make of the coincidences that are piling up which officials in the Bush Administration are attributing to the hijackers having “luck?” What accountability is Mindy Kleinberg seeking in raising this in her testimony? What is she telling the lawmakers and the general public?
• FAA Acting Deputy Administrator Monte Belger testified before the 9/11 Commission. Reading his testimony on page 124-125, why was his testimony a problem for the Pentagon, for NORAD?

 

***                                                                                                                                        /23

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 11, use the following material to guide your discussion. Questions to the CIA/SEC/FBI: Was the CIA monitoring the financial markets in the weeks preceding September 11th? To the CIA/SEC/FBI: What are the names of the individuals and financial institutions who placed “put” orders on American Airlines and United Airlines for the 3 weeks prior to 9/11?
• What did the San Francisco Chronicle report about connections between suspicious trades in financial markets and the CIA? What companies had unusual stock trades in the weeks before September 11^th?
• What is Promis Software? Why does Kristen Breitweiser mention it in her testimony before the Joint 9/11 Inquiry in September 2002?
• What basis is there for suspecting there was insider trading on these airline and security stocks before the attacks of September 11^th?
• Who is Wirt Walker III? Should he have been a person of interest in the investigation?
• Where is the Marsh & McLennan data center, and how does it figure in this story? Who is Paul Bremer?
• Who was Larry Silverstein? Was it just luck that he thought to purchase World Trade Center’s North Tower and South Tower, as well as WTC buildings 4 and 5 (as well as having previously bought WTC building 7) on July 24, 2001? Was it just luck that he thought to purchase terrorism insurance and got $4.55 billion in insurance payments after the attacks?
• Considering the Family Steering Committee questions to the 9/11 Commission raised in this chapter: What did members of the Family Steering Committee learn about trades of airline stock from news reports that the 9/11 Commission decided “was not of any interest?”

***

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 12, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to Mayor Giuliani: Why was the World Trade Center steel removed so quickly, without being examined, from the scene of a mass murder?
• If you were the family of Sept. 11^th victim Jeffrey Wiener, what questions would you want answered by investigators?
• What are the objections Fire Engineering Magazine editor Bill Manning, Fire Commission Chris Gioia, and others raising as matters of concern?
• What is the significance of the testimony of Kenneth Holden, Commissioner of NYD Dept. of Design and Construction, to the 9/11 Commission? What was the 9/11 Commission’s response to Holden’s information about discovery of molten metal?
• What is Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s view of the need for an investigation into the attacks of September 11^th?
• Considering the Family Steering Committee’s question to the 9/11 Commission in this chapter: What is the standard procedure for dealing with evidence in a crime scene? Why does this matter in the case of the events of September 11^th?

***                                                                                                                                        /24

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 13, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to President George W. Bush: As Commander-in-Chief on the morning of 9/11, why didn’t you return immediately to Washington DC or the National Military Command Center once you became aware that America was under attack? At what time were you made aware that other planes were hijacked in addition to Flight 11 and Flight 175?
• Have someone read the quote from Mindy Kleinberg’s testimony on page 147. What was Mindy Kleinberg saying to the 9/11 Commission and to the Bush administration? What do you do when pieces of information you have don’t add up?
• Have someone read Lorie Van Auken’s reflection on the morning of September 11, 2001, beginning at the bottom of page 150 and on page 151. “Then the second tower was hit….President in danger too?” Take five minutes to write your own response to Lorie Van Auken’s comments. In small groups, take time to discuss your reaction to Ms. Van Auken’s comments. How do you think you might feel if you had a family member at the World Trade Center who you couldn’t reach, who might be dead, and at that moment saw on your TV your President sitting in a classroom of elementary school students reading a story about a pet goat?
• Does the decision not to immediately evacuate President Bush from the Sarasota school indicate the President and his Secret Service agents were surprised by the attack? Or do you wonder if they had foreknowledge this would happen?
• Why do you think White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer held up a sign for President Bush that declared “DON’T SAY ANYTHING YET.”
• What is the response of the Secret Service to news of the attacks in handling a) Vice-President Dick Cheney, b) President George W. Bush. What do you make of this discrepancy?
• Read the discussion on page 153-154 about Carol Ashley and Patty Casazza’s comments about the Bush administration being warned by at least eleven nations of the planned attacks beginning at “In front of the 9/11 Commission….under oath.”
• Why do you think President Bush and Vice-President Cheney met together in secret with the 9/11 Commission, insisting on not swearing an oath, and that no transcript be made from their meeting?
• What is the picture of ‘leadership’ that emerges in this chapter? Considering the Family Steering Committee’s questions to the 9/11 Commission explored in this chapter: What concerned the families’ about President Bush’s decisions on September 11th?

 

***                                                                                                                                        /25

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 14, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to the Port Authority/WTC/City of New York: What is the name of the individual who made the announcement in 2WTC who told workers to return to their offices? Why were the roof access doors locked? Why was there no roof-top evacuation?
• What is the picture of that emerges from testimony by Mary Fetchet, and other first-person accounts?
• Why did the Port Authority have a certified helispot on the rooftops of the Twin Towers? What was the Port Authority’s explanation for leaving the rooftop doors locked?
• What does Sally Regenhard’s testimony indicate about adherence to fire codes by the Port Authority?
• Considering the Family Steering Committee’s questions to the 9/11 Commission, and what is discussed in this chapter: What should happen in evacuation of a commercial building according to FDNY regulations?

 

***

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 15, use the following material to guide your discussion: Question to Vice President Dick Cheney: Did you have open lines with the Secret Service, NORAD, the FAA, and DOD? Who was in the Situation Room with you?
• Family Steering Committee members Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza and Bill Harvey were among the five FSC members who told the press how they voted in the US 2000 election, and these three voted for the Bush-Cheney ticket. What was the experience of the Sept. 11^th families regarding Dick Cheney’s view of any investigation?
• Why is there confusion about when Vice President Cheney arrived at the emergency bunker on September 11^th?
• What did the May 8, 2001, Executive Order by President Bush empower Vice President Cheney to be responsible for? Given the Vice President was in charge of scheduling war games on the morning of September 11^th, isn’t it reasonable to assume he would have been in communication with NORAD, the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense?
• Considering the Family Steering Committee’s questions to the 9/11 Commission, and what is discussed in this chapter: Why was it important to the Families to know what Vice President Dick Cheney was doing on the morning of September 11th?

 

***                                                                                                                                        /26

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 16, use the following material to guide your discussion: Question to Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld: How is it possible that the National Military Command Center, located in the Pentagon and in contact with law enforcement and air traffic controllers from 8:46 a.m., did not communicate to the Secretary of Defense also at the Pentagon about the other hijacked planes especially the one headed to Washington?
• What is family member Mindy Kleinberg asking? What does the testimony of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Deputy Administrator, Monte Belger, signal?
• Why is Kristen Breitweiser concerned about the attack on the Pentagon?
• List the various reports about the activities of Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on the morning of September 11^th?
• At his confirmation hearing in January 2001, Donald Rumsfeld predicted there would be a new “Pearl Harbor.” And on September 10, 2001, Secretary Rumsfeld stated, “some might ask how in the world could the Secretary of Defense attack the Pentagon in front of the American people? To them I reply, I have no desire to attack the Pentagon. I want to liberate it.” And two minutes before the North Tower was struck, Rumsfeld was predicting a terrorist attack. What do you make of Rumsfeld’s statements?
• Do you think that on September 11^th, terrorists planned to destroy the U.S. Army’s financial/audit department that was investigating the missing trillions from the Defense budget?
• Considering his testimony before the 9/11 Commission, do you think Donald Rumsfeld took any action to defend the Pentagon on September 11^th?
• Why might family members be concerned to learn about Donald Rumsfeld’s pitch for war in Iraq at the first George W. Bush cabinet meeting in January 2001?

 

***

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 17, use the following material to guide your discussion. Question to President George W. Bush: Who approved the flight of the bin Laden family out of the United States when all commercial flights were grounded… a privilege not available to American families whose loved ones were killed on 9/11?
• Why does family member Donna Marsh O’Connor want to know why bin Laden family members and other Saudi nationals were able to fly out of American air space?
• From the news reports at the time, what picture emerges regarding arrangements to fly bin Laden family members out of America and back to Saudi Arabia?
• What does the testimony of Richard Clarke before the 9/11 Commission, and his subsequent admission to a reporter with The Hill reveal?
• What is the emerging picture of the FBI’s efforts to thwart terrorism?

 

***                                                                                                                                        /27

 

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 18, use the following material to guide your discussion: Question To the CIA: Please explain the role of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, in aiding bin Laden and/or the al Qaeda from 1998 through the present.
• Describe the relationship between the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI, and Osama bin Laden.
• The moment the North Tower is struck, about 30 CIA staff agree at once “it was bin Laden.” And CIA Director George Tenet, on a phone call at 8:50 AM – four minutes after the first tower is hit – agrees “this has bin Laden’s fingerprints all over it.” What action does the CIA and/or CIA Director George Tenet take to warn the Port Authority that the strike on the North Tower represents a terrorist attack?
• What meetings between key US and foreign leaders are of concern to the Sept. 11^th family, mentioned in this chapter? Should they have been the subject of further investigation?

 

***

• IF your group is reflecting on CHAPTER 19, use the following material to guide your discussion: Question to Mayor Giuliani: On 9/11, no aircraft hit WTC 7. Why did the building fall at 5:20 PM that evening? Does “pull” mean demolished?
• Who is Larry Silverstein and what did he say that interested the Sept. 11^th families? What was his involvement with the World Trade Center?
• Why does the word “pull” matter to the Family Steering Committee? What is the relevance of “pull” to the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7?
• Before September 11^th (2001) what did fire departments understand about steel-framed skyscrapers?
• What do the accounts of Barry Jennings and FDNY and NYPD personnel indicate?
• What did the BBC and CNN tell its viewers about the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 on September 11^th?
• Why did Sept. 11 widows Lorie Van Auken and Patty Casazza want a new investigation into the attacks and have Larry Silverstein testify?
• Considering the Family Steering Committee’s questions to the 9/11 Commission, and what is discussed in this chapter: What are the problems with the official explanation of the total collapse of World Trade Center Building 7? Who wants a new investigation into the collapse of this building?

  

Bearing Witness                                                                                                     /28

 

• Leader ask someone to read Isaiah 40:28-31. What is this teaching from Isaiah? How do you maintain hope when there are obstacles in the way?
• Read (or sing) lyrics to Carol Etzler’s 1974 folksong “Sometimes I Wish My Eyes Hadn’t Been Opened”

Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn’t been opened.
Sometimes I wish I could no longer see
All of the pain, the hurt and the longing
Of my sisters and I as we try to be free.

Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn’t been opened.
Just for an hour, how sweet it would be
Not to be struggling, not to be striving,
But just sleep securely in our slavery.

But now that I see with my eyes, I can’t close them,
Because deep inside me somewhere I’d still know
The road that my sisters and I have to travel.
My heart would say yes, and my feet would say go!

Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn’t been opened
But now that they have, I’m determined to see
That somehow my sisters and I will be one day
The free people we were created to be.

• What is something you wish your eyes hadn’t been opened to, as you reflect on the Sept. 11^th families’ quest for answers? What strength is God giving you so that you do not grow weary as you witness their journey?

 

Closing                                                                                                                    /29                                                                                                                        

• AHEAD of Session 7, invite your group to read over the questions raised in Chapters 20 to 23.
• Invite your group in advance of Session 7 to view video: “Lorie Van Auken statement at Toronto Hearings – September 2011.”
  To view her recorded statement, skip to minute 29:54 of the video to begin:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps4Es2gi0_s
• Read poem: “Tuesday 9/11/01”

 

Tuesday 9/11/01                                                                                                      

thunder and lighting and our world

is another place      no day

will ever be the same     no blood

untouched

 

they know this storm in otherwheres

israel   ireland   palestine

but God has blessed America

we sing

 

and God has blessed America

to learn that no one   is exempt

the world is one   all fear

is one   all life   all death

all one

 

Lucille Clifton, from September Suite

 

• Leader says to the group, those who died on September 11^th once lived, loved, studied, worked, had relationships and left behind many who loved them. Listen on YouTube (or other audio medium) to folk group the Small Glories song “Oh My Love”. Invite the group to listen to the song through the lens of this story we are following in this book study, and remembering those who died: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2O3Yxq06EI
• Standing in a circle/around the Zoom gallery, invite each participant to name something they are taking with them from this session (thought/image/feeling/quality…)
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Suggested hymn: “Joy Comes With The Dawn” (Voices United #166) – Light
• Blessing:
  May the Holy One give us grace
  never to sell ourselves short,
  grace to risk something big for something good,
  and grace to remember that the world
  is too perilous for anything but truth
  and too small for anything but love.  Amen.
  ~ William Sloane Coffin, former senior minister, Riverside Church, New York City

 

Session 7: Acceptance and Dissent                                              /30

 

Purpose
To learn reflect on the diverse views of September 11^th family members since the 9/11 Commission issued its Report, and catalysts for demands for a new inquiry.

 

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the words ACCEPTANCE and DISSENT
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

• Set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• Have either copies of hymn book, Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together opening and closing hymns.

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

 

Read

Everything

I want to make poems that say right out, plainly,
what I mean, that don’t go looking for the
laces of elaboration, puffed sleeves. I want to
keep close and use often words like
heavy, heart, joy, soon, and to cherish
the question mark and her bold sister

the dash. I want to write with quiet hands. I
want to write while crossing the fields that are
fresh with daisies and everlasting and the

ordinary grass. I want to make poems while thinking of
the bread of heaven and the
cup of astonishment; let them be

songs in which nothing is neglected,
not a hope, not a promise. I want to make poems
that look into the earth and the heavens
and see the unseeable. I want them to honor
both the heart of faith, and the light of the world;
the gladness that says, without any words, everything.
~ Mary Oliver

Suggested hymn: “Stay with Us through the Night” (Voices United #182) –  Farquharson/Klusmeier

 

Icebreaker                                                                                                                 /31

• Leader asks the group, “You’ve read about some of the September eleventh families’ questions to the 9/11 Commission in Part 3 of Unanswered Questions. Is there a question you have wondered about that remains unresolved in your mind?” Invite participant discussion.

 

Going Deeper

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the words ACCEPTANCE and DISSENT.
• In Chapter 20 we meet many family members who have accepted the official explanation for the events of September 11^th. Is there an individual who you identified with, caught your attention? What was the narrative created for September 11^th? Why do many accept it?
• In Chapter 21 we meet many family members who believe there is a government cover-up concerning the events of September 11^th. Are there any individuals whose views were compelling?
• In chapter 23 we meet many family members who press for a new investigation into the events of September 11^th. Are there any individuals who stood out for you that were compelling?
• What are the people in Chapters 20, 21 and 23 saying that is important for us to hear?
• What was your response to the testimony of firefighters and EMT’s to the Fire Department of New York? To the news reports on the morning of September 11^th? Of survivors escaping the Twin Towers? Discuss one or two accounts that grabbed you.
• In 2004 family member Monica Gabrielle challenges the government story about the WTC buildings, saying “You have one job, and one job only—to find out the truth of what happened to those buildings and to report to the public about it. … You owe it to the public—the truth, no matter where it goes.” And in 2019 the Franklin Square and Munson Fire District called for a new inquiry into the attacks. Is this significant? What has been the government’s response?
• Where do you lie on the spectrum? Where are you in relation to the official story?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                                                      /32

 

• In 2011 family member Lorie Van Auken reflected on the obstacles for accountability, and her journey ten years after the attacks. What stood out for you in her statement in the YouTube video from the Toronto 9/11 Hearings (Sept, 2011)?
• Starting on the bottom of page 263, have a group member read the reflections by Dorothy Lorig about a difficult conversation she had with her brother about Sept. 11. How do you feel, hearing her account? Lorig recalls “If we can think of our worldview as our mental and emotional home, I think all of us will do just about anything to defend our homes and families. And so, I see that with people, and I saw that with myself when my brother tried to talk with me about it.” What are the obstacles we face when confronted with information that doesn’t conform with official statements, our own worldview? When have you felt the need to defend your “worldview?”
• Have a group member read from page 266 to the top of 268. Why does the United States Constitution warn about treason and high crimes and misdemeanors? Where does the term “conspiracy theory” originate? How has the term “conspiracy theorist” been used since 1967 to frame public debate?
• Do citizens have the right to ask their government for accountability and transparency in relation to political events? If something is the official story, does that mean we shouldn’t delve into it? Can a government investigate itself? Is citizen distrust of official government explanations ever warranted?
• Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. What is being taught? Is it instructive for how we hear the voices of families who variously agree with the official account, suspect a coverup or US government complicity, and those who want a new investigation? How do we listen to each other when we reach different conclusions?

 

Closing

• Thinking of the metaphor of the Body of Christ, if we can think of our post-9/11 world we live in as a body, what is one quality you think is needed for wholeness and healing? Invite each person in the group to respond.
• AHEAD of Session 8, ask participants to read Chapters 24, the Conclusion and Afterword.
• AHEAD of Session 8, invite participants to watch the 2021 documentary The Unspeakable, directed by Dylan Avery, available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11RwCm_OaGc&t=1889s
• Observe a moment of silence to remember those who died on September 11th.
• Suggested hymn “Walk With Me” (Voices United #649) – Rice
• Close with A Prayer for Peace by Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin:

O God, who hast created a world beautiful beyond any singing of it, gratefully we acknowledge that of thy fullness we have received, grace upon grace. Grant now that we may be responsible in the measure that we have received.

Keep us eager to pursue truth beyond the outermost limits of human thought, scornful of the cowardice that dares not face truth, the laziness content with half-truth, and the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth.

Strengthen our resolve to see fulfilled, the world around and in our time, all hopes for justice so long deferred, and keep us on the stony, long, and lonely road that leads to peace. May we think for peace, struggle for peace, suffer for peace. Fill our hearts with courage that we not give in to bitterness and self-pity, but learn rather to count pain and disappointment, humiliation and set-back, as but straws on the tide of life.

So may we run and not grow weary, walk and not faint, until that day when by thy grace faith and hope will be outdistanced by sight and possession, and love will be all in all in this wonderful, terrible, beautiful world. Amen.
~ William Sloane Coffin, Riverside Church, New York City

 

Session 8: History, Art and Conclusions                                                  /33

 

Purpose
To learn reflect on the diverse views of September 11^th family members since the 9/11 Commission issued its Report, and catalysts for demands for a new inquiry.

 

Materials
* On a strip of paper 18 inches by 6 inches, hand print the question “Whose history is going to be in that museum?”
* Candle and matches
* Bible
* Prayer bell
* Quiet, contemplative music for participants as they gather
* Flipchart and newsprint, and marker
* Nametags (if meeting in person)

 

Preparation

• Set up chairs in a circle, with a small table in the middle of the circle. Drape the table with a cloth, and place on the table a candle, matches, a bible and a prayer bell.
• Have either copies of hymn book Voices United, or alternative media so you can sing together the closing hymn.

Opening

Fifteen minutes before the session starts, play quiet, contemplative music. As participants arrive, invite them to make their own name tag.
Light a candle as a symbol of the presence of the Holy in our midst.
Centering Prayer: Once your session is scheduled to begin, invite participants to find a comfortable position for sitting, to close their eyes and pay attention to their breath, as they inhale and exhale, allowing themselves to be present to this new moment and the presence of the Holy.

• Listen to song “I Am Willing” by Holly Near on iTunes or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XXYhhh-5sg

1) I am open and I am willing.
For to be hopeless would seem so strange.
It dishonors those who go before us.
So lift me up to the light of change.

2) There is hurting in my family,
and there is sorrow in my town.
There is panic in the nation,
and there is wailing the whole world round.

3) May the children see more clearly.
And may the elders be more wise.
May the winds of change caress us.
Even though it burns our eyes.

4) Give me a mighty oak to hold my confusion.
Give me a desert to hold my fears.
Give me a sunset to hold my wonder.
Give me an ocean to hold my tears.

• What are the spiritual resources you draw on to bear witness the September Eleventh families’ quest for answers? What is required of us in order to not be stuck in hopelessness, hurting, sorrow or panic? What is required of us to be willing to be open to the light of change? What mental/emotional/spiritual qualities might have been required of the September 11^th families in order to testify before the 9/11 Commission, lobby their government for an investigation and compile their questions?

 

Icebreaker                                                                                                     /34

• Leader asks the group, “Recall a museum exhibit, art gallery or play you’ve gone to that had an impact/shaped you in some way.” Share with others in a small group/ Zoom chat room.

 

Going Deeper

• On the table with the candle, place the strip of paper with the question “Whose history is going to be in that museum?”
• What is the message of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum? What stands out for you in the museum’s description? What is the story that is lifted up in the national narrative? What questions does that narrative ignore? Is the creation of a national narrative more important than the truth?
• What does Sally Regenhard mean when she asks “Whose truth is going to be in that museum?” Would you visit the museum?
• In Chapter 24, there is discussion of gallery exhibits Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy, and 9/11: The Collapse of Conscience, and the plays This Is Not About 911, and A Blanket of Dust are discussed. What stands out for you among these voices from the world of the arts? How can art jolt people out of preconceived notions?
• Read this quote: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. ~ Talmud. What does the quote from this ancient Jewish text say to you decades since the attacks of September eleventh?

 

Bearing Witness                                                                                                   /35                                                                             

• If you viewed the documentary, The Unspeakable, what stands out for you about the families and their separate journeys in the decades since the attacks of September 11^th?
• In the Afterword, the author indicates he was initially skeptical of those who doubted the official story by the Bush Administration about Sept. 11^th. However, reading an article by theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether helped him be open to consider what some dissenting voices were claiming. What does it take for you to pivot, change your mind, when you have already reached some conclusions about an issue? What does it take for you to wade into uncomfortable waters, revisit what you think you know, when you think you already know the full story of something?
• In the Conclusion the author cites 20th Century political theoretician, Hannah Arendt. She observed that political leaders “determined to commit crimes find it expedient to organize them on the … most improbable scale … because the very immensity of the crimes guarantees that the murderers who proclaim their innocence with all manner of lies will be more readily believed than the victims who tell the truth.” Discuss.
• In her testimony, Mindy Kleinberg told the 9/11 Commissioners that the theory of luck regarding the 9/11 hijackers “while simple on its face, is wrong in its value.” How many coincidences do you need in a crime like this before you cannot call it “luck.” What was your response to the list of coincidences in the Conclusion of Unanswered Questions?
• Years after the 9/11 Commission, Patty Casazza told a gathering at a college in West Hartford, Connecticut, “one of the reasons we still continued to fight for the commission, even as we knew it was a farce, is we wanted their words, their lies down on paper. We wanted to make them go … through this exercise. And even if it came down to the annals of history, that the truth will come out.” What is she telling her listeners?
• Read Galatians 6:9:^“Let us not become tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a crop if we don’t give up.” Discuss its relevance for having a trustworthy account of the attacks of September 11^th for “the annals of history.”
• Read John 18:33-39: Jesus says everyone on the side of truth listens to him.  But Pilate asks Jesus “What is truth?” What kind of a leader is Pilate? What is Pilate’s message to Jesus when he asks “What is truth?” Why does the mob want to believe Jesus is guilty? Why do they shout “give us Barabbas?”
• In 2011, former FSC member Carie Lemack told a reporter “Osama bin Laden killed not just three thousand people on 9/11, but he’s killed people in East Africa, he’s killed people in Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia.” What does her statement indicate about the views of many Sept. 11^th family members, and the general public? What opposition do you imagine there could be to demands to reinvestigate September 11^th?
• In Romans 13: 3-5, The Message (Biblical version) states: “Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage.” What is your view of those in authority?
• What do you make of Monica Gabrielle’s statement that the families “wanted a commission that was going to be independent, nothing to do with the government, because we were going to have to investigate the government?”
• Read Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” What is St. Paul teaching?
• Patty Casazza in a November 2007 symposium in Hartford (CT) stated one of the purposes of the families was to help “more Americans wake up to the fact that their government is not looking out for their best interests. In fact, they may be counter to our best interests.”
• On page 306, the author cites the words of Thomas Merton about ‘The Unspeakable.’ What does Merton mean?
• French philosopher Rene Girard has written extensively about finding scapegoats across history in different societies, nations: “Everywhere and always, when human beings either cannot or dare not take their anger out on the thing that has caused it, they unconsciously search for substitutes, and more often than not they find them.” What is Girard saying? How applicable do you think his observation is to the events of September 11^th?
• From your reading of Unanswered Questions, including additional questions the Family Steering Committee wanted addressed that are listed in the Appendix of the book, what is something you’d be interested in pursuing, investigating about this topic? When have you been on a journey of discovery, searching for information, for truth?
• Read a sample of the questions Jesus asked in the Gospels found in “100 Questions Jesus Asked and You Ought to Answer”: http://blog.adw.org/2012/02/100-questions-jesus-asked-and-you-ought-to-answer/                                           Jesus used questions to help his followers reflect more deeply about life. What difference does it make if we reflect on the deep questions of our age? As citizens? As a people of God?

 

Closing                                                                                                                    /36

• In the extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas, Chapter 2, Jesus words about seeking and finding have this twist: “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all (have insight into the present).” As we come to the end of our study of Unanswered Questions, take time around the circle/Zoom gallery, to share: What difference has this book study has made to your spiritual journey? What have you found, or discovered in this Unanswered Questions? What has disturbed you? Are you amazed by anything? What insights do you take away to equip you for perceiving this present age?
• Observe ten seconds of silence to remember those who lost their lives on September 11th.
• Suggested hymn: “My Lord, What A Morning” (Voices United #708) – African-American spiritual
• Close with this reading from Canadian First Nations Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese

I’ve been considering the phrase,

“all my relations” for some time now.

It’s hugely important.

It’s our saving grace in the end.

It points to the truth that we are all related,

that we are all connected, that we all belong to each other.

The most important word is “all”.

Not just those who look like me, sing like me, dance like me,

speak like me, pray like me or behave like me.

ALL my relations.

That means every person,

just like it means every rock, mineral, blade of grass and creature.

We live because everything else does.

If we were to choose collectively to live that teaching,

the energy of our change of consciousness would heal each of us

……….and heal the planet.

~ Richard Wagamese, Facebook, February 23, 2015

***

NOTE to the leader: This book study guide for Unanswered Questions has been designed with congregational use in a Christian context in mind. Those interested in adapting this resource for their own purposes in another religious/spiritual setting, or secular setting, are welcome to select activities and questions for discussion that fit for their context. It is a free resource.