wfn.org | Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey visits site of terrorist

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

attacks in New York

ACNS 2861 - ENS - 7 February 2002

Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey visits site of terrorist attacks in
New York

by Nathan Brockman and James Solheim

5 February 2002

[Trinity News/ENS 2002-034] Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey visited
the devastated site of New York's World Trade Center on Sunday February 3,
co-leading a memorial service at "Ground Zero," visiting the relief mission
to rescue workers at nearby St. Paul's Chapel, and preaching a sermon at
Trinity Church, Wall Street, that put the arduous and often horrific tasks
of rescue workers and volunteers in the context of justice, love, and faith.

Carey was among 40 world religious leaders attending the World Economic
Forum in New York. A delegation of the leaders journeyed by bus to Ground
Zero early on Sunday morning to hold a memorial service on a viewing
platform for family members who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center.
It was "a moving act," said the archbishop. The service concluded with the
assembly singing "We Shall Overcome."

On the opposite side of the World Trade Center site, now a muddy pit with
the concrete foundation of the center's plaza exposed, stood the Carey's
second destination--St. Paul's Chapel. Within hours after the September 11
attacks, the chapel began serving as a sanctuary for the relief workers,
including the firefighters, police officers, ironworkers, engineers and
others who converged on the site.

A peaceful sanctuary
The chapel was "humming" with activity, as it has since that fateful
September day, as Carey and his wife Eileen, accompanied by Presiding Bishop
Frank T. Griswold, greeted people. Police officers lined the wooden pews and
firefighters in rescue gear walked down the aisles. Carey expressed his
amazement at their work and offered words of gratitude. "They're all heroes,
aren't they?" he said. The Rev. Dan Matthews, rector of Trinity, said that
people were calling it "ground hero" instead of ground zero.

A photographer expressed his gratitude for the "sanctuary....a peaceful
place" in the midst of chaos. "You must be very proud of your church," a
policeman told Carey and Griswold. The presiding bishop described his visit
to the chapel a few days after the terrorist attack, finding the door open
and leaving a message. "It's a miracle that nothing happened to the chapel,"
Griswold told the Careys.

The Revd Lyndon Harris, a member of the Trinity staff who serves the chapel,
greeted Griswold on that September morning, and led the tour Sunday morning.
He related the story of a woman from the Bronx who rode the train down to
the church to offer her cane for someone in need. "It is now one of our
sacred artifacts," Harris said.

Carey met Michael Bellone, who said it was his job to "extract bodies" from
the site. Just 10 minutes before, Bellone said, he had removed a body part
from the rubble.

Walking by faith
Then it was on to Trinity, just down the street, for Eucharist, celebrated
by Griswold. In his sermon, Carey said that the lessons of the day were
centered on the theme of Christian witness, the kind of witness he had just
seen in action at St. Paul's Chapel.

"The Old Testament passage puts it so beautifully: 'What is it that the Lord
requires of you? Only to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your
God.'" Arguing that "there should be no separation between living the faith
and proclaiming it, Carey said that he was sure that "those of you who were
so close to the terrible events of September 11 in this church and elsewhere
still remember how the shock of it tested your faith. I've been struck by so
many stories of heroism, bravery, defiant optimism, outstanding courage...I
imagine that each of those heroes felt very vulnerable, very scared indeed.
And that's entirely understandable because walking by faith clearly suggests
that we haven't arrived at our destination. Walking in faith implies that we
have still so much to learn, so much more growing to do."

Noting that the followers of Jesus Christ are not "plaster saints" but like
the rest of us "fallible, stumbling and weak," Carey said that "by God's
spirit, they are able to walk in love and service. And they and we will
always be surprised by God's power to use us when we least expect it."

[Nathan Brockman is managing editor of Trinity News and of Trinity Wall
Street's website.]

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