Former Prime Minister John Howard will join the US ambassador and diplomatic representatives for a special remembrance service on Sunday, September 11 to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the attacks on New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
 
“9/11 was a catastrophic event on American soil, but it has affected the whole international community,” said the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, who will preach at the service.
 
“62 countries lost people in this devastating attack. The ramifications have been global and put the world on alert for a new form of destructive, annihilistic terrorism which has sprouted groups like Boko Haram, ISIS and Al Shabaab.”

The service, at 1030 am at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Town Hall Square, Sydney, will be attended by diplomatic representatives from countries which lost citizens in the World Trade Centre attacks including Consuls from Canada, Germany and India.

The United States will be represented by the Ambassador John Berry and Niels Marquardt, the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) which is Australia's largest international Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Howard, who was in Washington on Prime Ministerial business on September 11, 2001, and witnessed the attack on the Pentagon, will deliver a reading from the New Testament.

The Cathedral bell will toll 15 times to mark the anniversary.

“This service provides us with an opportunity to ponder the gravity of so many deaths where the forces of evil appear triumphant. It also enables us to renew our hope, knowing that God is in control and, through Jesus, offers true peace for a broken and divided world.”

The Dean of Sydney, the Very Rev. Kanishka Raffel, who will lead the service, has issued an open invitation for members of the public to join the congregation for the event.

Feature photo: Flickr, Jackie