A Time of Sadness, A Time For Prayer

WE SHARE WITH YOU and the rest of the nation and the world the unspeakable horror and grief after the atrocities of September 11, 2001.

Nearly a year later it still seems like a very bad dream. Hardly anyone does not have or know of someone injured or killed in the tragedy. For the Incarnate Word family there was one Incarnate Word High School alumna lost in the tragedy. Zandra Flores Ploger, IWHS class of 1971, and her husband, Bob, were aboard the flight that crashed into the Pentagon. They were on their way to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Sadly, another San Antonio native, Dr. Dora Menchaca, a graduate of Providence High School and the sister of IWHS alumna Jackie Menchaca, was also aboard this same flight.

Several alumni were in the Pentagon or in the area at the time of the disaster and thankfully were not injured. Fortunately, we have not been notified of any alumni/ae who were in the World Trade Center. We thanked God for any information that qualified as "good" news during that time.

Immediately following September 11, we put on hold any plans for alumni tours overseas. However, we have resumed our travel planning with safe journeys to Japan, China and Turkey. You may keep up to date with campus news and UIW travel information at www.uiw.edu with links to our two high schools and various event calendars.

Like everyone else in the nation, our students and faculty coped with the magnitude of this national tragedy on a daily basis. Students, faculty and alumni/ae responded to the national need, including those in military service or called to reserve or active duty.

The life of our campus was diminished in the light of the horror, but we were determined to continue the life of our educational programs and our founding mission. And we did just that as we honored our dead, celebrated life, and continued on with even greater resolve.

We all need continued prayers and encouragement, even almost a year later. While no one knows what the future will bring, the education of young people in this nation is as important as ever, if not more so.

God bless you and yours, pray as you've never prayed before, love as you never loved before, and live life as you've never lived it before!

Praised be the Incarnate Word.
Dick McCracken, Dean of Alumni