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This is an archived website containing material relating to Dr Rowan Williams’ time as Archbishop of Canterbury, which ended on 31st December 2012

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The Archbishop of Canterbury looks back on 9/11

Sunday 11th September 2011

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reflects on the events of September 11th 2001 when he was in a building located 100 yards from the Twin Towers at the time of the terrorist attacks in the US.

 

In this interview for 'Songs of Praise', first broadcast in March 2010, Dr Williams describes the horror of that day, and how he and his companions reacted. 

 

 


 

On Sunday 11th September 2011, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Archbishop was a guest on 'Good Morning Sunday' on BBC Radio 2.  Listen to the interview here.

Dr Williams also presided at a special Eucharist service at Canterbury Cathedral. The preacher was the Revd Jamie Callaway from Trinity Wall Street in New York, who was with the Archbishop at the time of the disaster in 2001.

 


 

In 2002, Dr Rowan Williams wrote a book "Writing in the Dust: Reflections on 11th September and its Aftermath" (Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 0340787198)  in which he took his personal experience of 9/11 as the starting point for some broader reflections. 

In the Epilogue, he writes: "This isn't a theology or a programme for action, but one person's attempt to find words for the grief and shock and loss of one moment."

 


 

In 2006, the Archbishop appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme and gave his "Thought for the Day" five years after the event. 

 


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