Christina Green's Funeral to Feature WTC Flag

PHOENIX - A U.S. flag that flew atop the World Trade Center is on its way to Arizona to be displayed at the funeral of the girl killed in Saturday's shooting spree who was born on 9/11.

The Arizona Republic reports the 20-by-30-foot flag was the largest to have survived the collapse of the twin towers.

Nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green was born the day the towers fell and will be laid to rest Thursday in Tucson.

Special Section: Tragedy in Tucson

She and five others were killed Saturday in a shooting that wounded 14 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

"You know, I've said it before, but the bookends of her life -- she came into the world on a tragedy on 9/11, and she went out on this tragedy [Saturday] in Arizona. But everything in-between has been wonderful, and she's affected a lot of people," John Green, Christina's father, told CBS News Sunday.

"We're just gonna keep on remembering her forever," her mother Roxanna said. "She was a special little girl."

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A spokesman for the foundation that displays the flag around the country says it's with a New York firefighter who hopes to arrive Wednesday, depending on the storm in the Northeast.

Meanwhile, the Tucson community has begun the process of trying to heal after the deadly attack, which has resulted in the arrest of 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, who faces five federal charges in connection with the attack. Investigators are still piecing together details on Loughner's background, but the prevailing portrait is one of a alienated and disturbed man with deep distrust of the government and personal animosity toward Rep. Giffords.

President Barack Obama will speak at a memorial service Wednesday night and is expected to strike a chord of hope and remembrance.

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On Tuesday, hundreds packed into a memorial service at St. Odilia Catholic Church to honor the victims. St. Odilia was little Christina's church, and her mother sat in the front pew as nine girls, some about Christina's age, walked toward the altar and stood singing "Amazing Grace." As he began his mass, Bishop Gerald Kicanas noted that Christina herself had once sung with the choir, and "I know she is singing with us tonight."

The service was intended to help a distraught community heal. Kicanas urged the more than 400 people in attendance to pray not only for the victims but for an end to violence, division and destructive words and actions.

"God wills that we resist evil. That we live with integrity. That we speak and act with civility and respect," he said. "Everyone in our community is in grief. We are in tears. We are pained and concerned about what took place. We are a community questioning, struggling, wondering how such violence could happen."

Inside the church, a crucifix hung from a white block wall behind the altar, adorned with a few lit candles and red poinsettias, still in place after the holidays. Children, some in their Sunday best, sat close to their parents. Several others, like 60-year-old Victoria Vaughan, attended the service alone. She said she just wanted to feel a part of the community.

"It's really hard to sit at home and watch it on TV. It's so isolating," Vaughan said. "I think it's important for people to come together and to try and dwell on peace and kindness."

Kathleen Hunter, a 62-year-old retiree, said she was comforted by the bishop's words and by a sense of togetherness that she got from the Mass. She said she was praying for her friend, Susan Hileman, the neighbor who took Christina to the event on Saturday because of the girl's interest in politics. Hileman, her husband has said, was holding hands with Christina when gunshots rang out. Hileman was shot three times but is expected to survive.

"I was praying for healing, for Christina's family, for all the families who have lost loved ones, for the people who've been shot and injured," said Hunter.