wfn.org | Sacred space: Chaplains talk about what changed on September 11

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2001-016

Sacred space: Chaplains talk about what changed on September 11

by Ed Stannard 
estannard@episcopalchurch.org
jnunley@episcopalchurch.org

     (Episcopal Life) These are people who have been escorting others through 
their grief and shock while their own psychic and spiritual wounds bled.

     During a three-day conference at the Episcopal Church Center, more than 25 
chaplains got together to talk about what their ministries have been like since 
the September 11 terrorist attacks, and how they've gotten through it all.

     The January 8-10 conference was organized by the Office of the Bishop for 
the Armed Services, Health Care and Prison Ministries to review the first 100 
days since September 11 and to plan next steps. It included a visit to the 
observation platform at Ground Zero and to nearby St. Paul's Chapel, which 
continues to serve as a sanctuary for police, firefighters and other workers.

     The tour of Ground Zero--the seven-story "pile" is now at ground level and 
below--was "very sad, very sad," said the Rev. Marshall Scott, chaplain at St. 
Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. "In the rest of the world, a lot of 
people die, but it's hard to grasp this number of people and this level of 
corporate grief."

     Scott led Compline inside St. Paul's, which has been transformed into a 
tribute to those who have worked 24 hours a day to recover the dead and remove 
the rubble. Handmade posters, mementos and gifts from around the world cover 
every surface save the pew cushions and around the altar.

     The next day, the chaplains gathered at the Church Center to talk about the 
impact that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had had on 
their lives and work.

     "I almost froze looking at the faces" at the Pentagon, said the Rev. James 
B. "Jay" Magness, a Navy chaplain to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet from Norfolk, 
Virginia. "I don't know when I've seen such fear, people running out of their 
shoes trying to get away."

     Among the issues discussed were the heightened need for security, which 
Commander Jeffrey Seiler of San Diego said has come "not just to our doorstep but 
into the house"; the danger of pretending that grief ends; and the role of the 
church in a time of war.

     "The new normal is to pretend normal," said Bishop George Packard, who heads 
the chaplaincy office at the church center.

     Perhaps the wisest if simplest prescription came from Elisabeth K|bler-Ross, 
the noted expert on death and dying. The Rev. David Henritzy, who coordinates 
health-care chaplaincies in Packard's office, related how he had escorted K|bler-
Ross to Ground Zero. Her reaction was stark: "Let them cry."

--Ed Stannard is news editor of Episcopal Life, the official newspaper of the 
Episcopal Church. Jan Nunley of Episcopal News Service contributed to this story.