wfn.org | Episcopalians: Churches plan to commemorate first anniversary of September 11 terrorist atta

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

August 15, 2002

2002-193

Episcopalians: Churches plan to commemorate first anniversary 
of September 11 terrorist attacks

by James Solheim

(ENS) Churches across the nation are completing plans for 
special ways to commemorate the first anniversary of the 
September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) 
and the Pentagon.

St. Paul's Chapel, part of New York's Trinity Parish, is a 
few blocks from the ground zero site. It miraculously survived 
the collapse of the towers, and served as a place of refuge for 
the rescue workers. Trinity is arranging a series of church 
services and events around the theme, "A Day of Hope and 
Healing."

The chapel will be open to visitors all day and premiere an 
exhibition highlighting its eight-month-long ministry to 
recovery workers. Trinity will hold a service of morning prayer 
at 8am and a choral service at 11am with Archbishop of 
Canterbury George L. Carey and Presiding Bishop Frank T. 
Griswold. At the service the Lord Mayor of London, Michael 
Oliver, will present a commemorative church bell as a symbol of 
sympathy from the City of London to the people of New York. The 
service will be broadcast live on the BBC. 

The bells at St. Paul's and Trinity will ring regularly 
during the day, including at 10:29am, the time when the second 
tower collapsed. The church's bells will conclude civic 
ceremonies at the site.

Other churches in the Diocese of New York will mark the 
anniversary with a variety of services, concerts, and tolling of 
church bells. At the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and 
several parishes the names of the thousands who died will be 
read. The diocese is also participating in a multi-media 
project, "9/11: A Spiritual Response," in cooperation with the 
Church Pension Group, Church Publishing, Trinity Parish and the 
New York Historical Society. It will illustrate and analyze the 
religious dimensions of the church's response.

Seamen's Church Institute (SCI) has prepared a 10-minute 
video, "Witness at Ground Zero," and sent it to Episcopal 
parishes throughout the church, "to serve as a focus of 
reflection for your congregation, either as part of a church 
service, Bible study, or for use during your coffee hour." The 
video includes reflections by the presiding bishop during 
services at SCI a few days after the attack, focusing on the 
lessons for Holy Cross Day.

Tutu at National Cathedral

At Washington National Cathedral a series of events will 
begin at 8am with Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa 
leading an Interfaith Service of Remembrance that will include 
Christian, Muslim and Jewish participants. They will be joined 
by Congressional leaders, as well as members of the judiciary 
and administrative branches of government and the diplomatic 
corps.

On the West Coast, St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle is 
planning a Week of Remembrance with an emphasis on 
"reconciliation, peace, justice and hope," opening its doors at 
5:30am on September 11. At St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego a 
7pm service will feature John Rutter's Requiem. A service of 
prayer and remembrance will begin at 5:30am at the Cathedral 
Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles and the bells will begin at 
5:46am, the time when the first plane struck the WTC in New 
York. 

Many Episcopal churches across the country will join 
community-wide ecumenical and interfaith observances. In 
Massachusetts a statewide service will include participation by 
the Corps of Fire Chaplains, many of whom served for seven weeks 
at the site of the WTC. Volunteers at Christ Church Cathedral in 
St. Louis will read the names of those killed and the cathedral 
will host an interfaith prayer service at noon.

Many resources available

A wide variety of worship resources are available, many of 
them ecumenical and easily adapted for use in local parishes. 

The office of the bishop for the Armed Services, Healthcare 
and Prison Ministries is compiling a list of materials and 
websites to support education forums and youth groups. 
(www.episcopalchurch.org/ashapm/crisisresources.html.) "After 
collation and review, some of these resources will be e-mailed 
to all parishes via the new e-mail newsletter of the Episcopal 
Church Communication Network," according to Bishop George 
Packard. Information from the newsletter will also be available 
on the church's web site at 
www.episcopalchurch.org/911resources, including a collect 
especially written for commemoration of September 11 by 
Griswold. The Episcopal Peace Fellowship is offering a Day of 
Remembrance Liturgy written by the Rev. David Selzer and 
available at www.epfonline.org.

The National Council of Churches (NCC) has encouraged 
Christian churches to participate in an Interfaith Hospitality 
Project, calling on congregations to "extend an Open House 
welcome to neighboring Muslims" in September. "In the days 
following the tragic events of last September, the doors of many 
houses of worship were opened, as people who were looking for 
comfort and meaning sought out places to reflect and to gather 
with others to pray," according to the NCC invitation. "During 
those days responsible leaders reminded us that it was a group 
of Islamist terrorists, and not Islam nor ordinary American 
Muslims, that attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."

The NCC's Interfaith Relations Commission has posted 
materials to help congregations considering the open house 
project, which may be downloaded and used freely, with credit to 
the NCC. A Litany of Remembrance, Penitence and Hope is 
available at 
http://www.ncccusa.org/interfaith/sept-11-litany.html.

------

Other web sites that might be helpful:

www.textweek.com/anniversary.htm

www.elca.org/dcm/worship/911/

www.epischicago.org/News/Tragedy/Resources.cfm

www.pcusa.org/ideas/sumer02/9-11.htm

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.