Father Jeff Ethen of the Diocese of St. Cloud and Father Peter Kirchner of the Church of St. Andrew in Elk River were supposed to eat breakfast on September 11, 2001, at Windows on the World, the restaurant perched atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Instead, the two Minnesota priests stayed behind for an extra cup of coffee three miles from the World Trade Center, a decision that kept them out of the towers before the first plane hit.
The priests were in New York City on a sightseeing trip when the delay changed everything, according to CBS News Minnesota. Everyone inside Windows on the World that morning — 72 restaurant staff members, 16 Risk Waters employees, and 76 other guests or contractors, 164 people in all — died after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the tower between floors 93 and 99, severing every stairwell and elevator above floor 91, according to Wikipedia. The attack disrupted the priests' plans.
From Tourists to Ground Zero Volunteers
After watching the second plane strike the South Tower, the two priests did not retreat to safety. They put on their clerical collars and walked toward the wreckage, making their way to St. Vincent's Hospital near Ground Zero. The station's report describes them spending the day ministering to traumatized firefighters and helping emergency staff move through hallways filled shin-deep with discarded turnout gear. St. Vincent's Hospital treated victims after the 2001 attack.
Their spontaneous shift from sightseers to volunteer chaplains echoed a wider pattern across lower Manhattan that morning. Episcopal clergy at nearby Trinity Church Wall Street and St. Paul's Chapel offered immediate sanctuary to fleeing citizens as the towers fell and stood up a 24-hour crisis relief hub for first responders, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of a Ground Zero survivor's story. St. Paul's Chapel in Lower Manhattan remained undamaged after the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks and served as a relief center for rescue workers.
A Near Miss Repeated Across Minnesota
Ethen and Kirchner were not the only Minnesotans saved by a last-minute change of plans that day. Woodbury resident Scott Wallace was on the 63rd floor of the North Tower that morning, per CBS News Minnesota's earlier reporting. The North Tower's escape routes were severed above the 91st floor; the report does not state how that information related to Wallace's escape.
Tourists were spared a different way in the South Tower. Windows on the World and related venues occupied the 106th and 107th floors, according to Wikipedia's account of the building's history.
The Chaplain Who Never Left the Lobby
Not every Catholic chaplain that day survived to walk away. Franciscan Friar and FDNY Chaplain Father Mychal Judge was killed by debris from the collapsing South Tower while stationed in the North Tower lobby and was designated Victim 0001, the first officially certified fatality of 9/11, according to the Catholic Review. New York City marked the 25th anniversary this September with an official Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance, connecting his legacy to the broader history of clergy who ministered at Ground Zero, including the two priests from Minnesota.
Ethen's Ministry to First Responders Continues
That single day at St. Vincent's Hospital reshaped the rest of Ethen's ministry. CBS News Minnesota reported that six members of the Battle Lake Fire Department would travel with Ethen, who was described as a spiritual resource, for the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
A Toll That Keeps Growing
The firefighters Ethen ministered to in 2001 belong to a department still absorbing losses a quarter-century later. By this September, FDNY members continued to face the effects of 9/11-related illnesses.
The scope reaches far beyond the fire department. The account also turns to the World Trade Center Health Program without quantifying its membership or certified conditions.
A second cup of coffee, poured three miles from the World Trade Center, is a small and almost forgettable moment in any other year. On September 11, 2001, it meant the two Minnesota priests missed their planned breakfast at Windows on the World and instead spent the rest of their lives ministering to the people who ran toward the wreckage instead of away from it.
