Flight 93 Memorial Chapel plans 9-11 service, with retired FBI agent guest speaker

FRIEDENS ― Former FBI agent and author Lillie Leonardi is to be the featured speaker at the Sept. 11 anniversary service at the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel, 1502 Stutzmantown Road.

The program, titled "Heroes on the Quiet Hills of Shanksville," begins at 9:45 a.m. Monday with a musical performance by bagpiper Duane Mahoney.

At 10:03 a.m., the names of the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 will be read, as well as those of Father Alphonse Mascherino (founder of the chapel) and Shanksville Fire Department members Richard Flick and Christopher Walker. Chapel groundskeeper Paul Angert will ring the chapel's ThunderBell as each name is read.

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At 1 p.m., Leonardis is scheduled to speak about her experience serving as a community outreach specialist with the FBI's Pittsburgh Division during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In her self-published memoir, "In the Shadow of a Badge, 9-11: A Memoir about Flight 93, a Field of Angels and My Spiritual Homecoming," Leonardi describes the physical and spiritual effects she experienced in the 12 days she worked at the Flight 93 crash site, how that experience led to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and her journey to a spiritual transformation.

Others to speak at the anniversary service are Paul Ritchey, Carol Love and the Rev. Patrick Walsh. Music will also be provided by Paul and Katie Ritchey, Cathy Rhodes Bafile, Lou Bafile, Danny Connor and Tymber Shaffer, Westlee Shaffer and Conrad Shaffer.

The chapel will be open for tours until dusk.

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The Flight 93 Memorial Chapel is a spiritual memorial that honors the passengers and crew of Flight 93 and those who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Owned by the Catholic Church of the East, the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel is operated as a place of meditation and prayer for persons of all faiths.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Retired FBI agent, author to speak at Flight 93 Memorial Chapel service