ST PAUL'S Ministered in body and spirit to Past Heroes & Present Heroes of 9/11.
Written: Jul 08 '03 (Updated Aug 01 '07)
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Pros: Walking distance of lower Manhattan sites. It's food for the soul.
Cons: Cemetery is not open at this time.
The Bottom Line: This site has history of the past and living history. A short visit reveals, despite 9/11, the compassion of man and perhaps a glimpse of what heaven may be like.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: St Paul's Chapel |
ST PAUL'S CHAPEL
So many times we see old buildings and try to appreciate what it had meant to people in the past and how that may affect us today. St Paul's is one of those structures.
More than most buildings in the ground zero area, this chapel continued its mission of giving hope and healing to our living heroes of 9/11. It still continues today. It is an inspiration to all of us who visit and learn what this place of worship became to the men and woman who continued digging day after day. At first they searched in hope of finding the living in the twisted steel and debris. Later they tried to recover the remains of so many who were lost that awful September morning.
PAST HISTORY
This chapel built in 1766, finished construction ten years before our Fore Fathers declared this nation independent. Many who prayed within its walls before, during, and after the revolutionary war were asking for "...one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Today it remains as the only colonial church still in NY and the oldest, continuous used of any public buildings in Manhattan.
I found it interesting to read that the beautiful design, named "Glory" over the altar was the art work of Pierre L'Enfant. He was the same fellow that designed many of the structures and Avenues of Washington DC.
This chapel, that I had first visited pre 9/11, boasted the pew where George Washington sat for services after he was inaugurated the First President of the United States on April 30th, 1779. I tried imagine what his thoughts and prayers may have been after fighting a war for liberty and then having the weight of the new nation on his shoulders afterward. The chapel is about five or six blocks from Federal Hall. This is the site of the actual inauguration. This is now run by the National Parks service and is a National Historic Site.
We are told that Washington went to services at St Paul's for the two years New York City remained the Capital of the United States, before the honor went to Philadelphia and ultimately Washington DC.
Across the church on the southern side is another pew that was used by the very popular Governor George Clinton. This is the man who had the old fort that stood on the southern shore of Manhattan Island named after him. It is named Castle Clinton and is another National Historic Site.
Castle Clinton is in the confines of Battery Park. This is where the temporary 9/11 Memorial now stands. It is also the place where you purchase tickets for and depart for excursions to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Over the years other presidents have worshiped in St Paul's Chapel. Grover Cleavland and Benjamin Harrison were two.
The funeral mass of our fifth president, James Monroe, was held here.
Over the years many different services and memorials have taken place in St Paul's. As recently as 1989 President George Bush and his wife Barbara attended the 200th anniversary of George Washington's Inauguration. It should be noted that people of many faiths contributed to and were part of the ceremony.
9/11
You first have to know where the chapel is in proximity of the World Trade Center. It was just a street and the cemetery in the back of the chapel that separated the buildings. I have seen many beautiful pictures of the past with the steeple of the chapel with the towering Twin Towers behind it.
Right next to the chapel is the Hilton Millenium Hotel. This building had to go under major repairs to reopen. It did finally reopen this spring, a year and a half after the tragedy. I tell you this because right next door, though engulfed in dust and debris, St Paul's didn't even have a broken window. Structurally, the collapse of the Trade Center had no effects on St. Paul's Chapel. That was a miracle in itself.
I learned that, on the day of 9/11, there was some kind of schooling going on with young children in the church. At first all the children were taken "safely" into the basement. It was then realized that the whole area may be further compromised. Every child was evacuated from the chapel and the immediate area. Despite the communications problems in lower Manhattan, all the children were reunited with their parents that same day.
After closing the doors to the children, St Paul's had another ministry that it was destined to accomplish. It became the home of many of our heroes who were working in the rescue and then recovery efforts. It also became the work place of hundreds of volunteers who came from different states from all over America to minister to those men and woman who worked so hard in the recovery efforts.
People worked in 12 hour shifts to cook and serve meals. They did what they could to make the chapel a place where the rescue people could rest for a short time. Counseling was going on. Though many rescuers didn't know it, there were people there just to help talk and listen to these heroes who had "brothers' and sisters" they were still trying to find.
THE CHAPEL TODAY
The rescue efforts sadly did not go on very long, however, the recovery time at the site lasted for about a year. During that time St. Paul's kept its doors open to the workers. The loving and caring volunteers just kept on coming.
Outside the front of the chapel today is a huge picture on canvas. The steeple of the church in the picture is the only thing you could make out. The rest of the scene is the terrible debris and dust of that September morning.
Under the picture are the words "OUT of the DUST." There are two side panels that show lower Manhattan with two lights, depicting the twin towers, beaming up into the heavens.
The chapel now is a memorial of sorts to all that worked so hard for each other. The chapel has a pamphlet for the taking. One paragraph in it reads.
This chapel became sactified in a new way - a place set apart from grief, toil, and exhaustion. Here the workers ate, slept, and cried. Here massage therapists, podiatrists, chiropracters, counselors, and countless volunteers, gave their talents and time to heal the worn-down bodies and souls of those who worked at ground zero.
The front of the chapel has a time line. First minute by minute of the morning. Then it goes day by day. Finally we are led to the inside of the church that shows the words of those who were ministered too and those who ministered.
You can't help but have tears run down your face as you listen to what was in their hearts and minds and the gratitude they shared with and for each other.
All around the inside of the chapel hanging from the loft area are flags with names and messages on them, banners with thoughts and prayers, and sheets of cloth showing the love and care of people from throughout the USA and from all around the world.
The perimeter's displays, leading in a clockwise direction, take you from station to station telling of the ways people helped each other.
As the pamphlet mentioned many different kinds of people with different talents helped each other.
The George Washington pew was used by podiatrists. Many of the workers worked in water and their boots never dried. Sores and infections on their feet were very common. The volunteers ministered to them.
A few minutes with chiropracters was a world of help to those living heroes who were digging with their hands trying to find there brethren.
A massage was the touch of healing to those who sometimes felt they couldn't go on, yet, must go on in search of the lost.
Simple words or a shoulder to cry on helped open the way to relief of tension and despair.
There are story boards with quotes, thoughts, and descriptions of the day. The experience is humbling when you think of how these people all worked as one. Being a person of faith, I believe they were all working in God's Love.
One piece I read described how a rescue worker stripped a patch off his uniform and pinned it onto the vestment of one of the ministers who was going to lead them in prayer. This continued with many police, fire, and other rescue persons adding their own patches to the vestment. That prayer shawl now stands on display in the back of the chapel. There are hundreds of patches now on it and around it
In one corner a video is running with people talking about what the chapel and the volunteers meant to them during those difficult times.
The chapel has been all cleaned up and repainted and looking beautiful at this time. One thing they did not do was to strip down and refinish the pews. As you look down from back to front you will see scratches and smudge marks from the boots of workers who caught a little bit of sleep with their feet up. It was thought that these marks are sacramentals that should always be displayed.
I noticed that as you got closer to the altar there a less and less marks on the pews. It seems, to me, that even in their most tired moments these heroes were showing respect by staying back a bit from the altar.
LAST THOUGHTS
I live on Long Island. Very soon after 9/11 my wife and I went into the city. We felt we had to support the city and we would never let terrorists dictate to us when and where we would go in our free country.
Last week my wife and I were in the Millenium Hilton Hotel right next door. The front of the hotel is directly across from ground zero. The hotel also has a pool. The pool overlooks St Paul's Chapel. You see the steeple and the tops of the surrounding trees. It's a lovely setting to see in the middle of the city. We were relaxing when a couple came into the pool area. They were from Texas. We got to talking and I asked why they came to this hotel. They said they wanted to come to ground zero. They were drawn to it. She is a nurse and when it all happened she felt she really wanted to do something to help. For different reasons she never made it here at that time.
I wonder how many people felt that same way? That they needed to help. I know so many did by sending supplies, giving donations, and running fund raisers. Some gave their prayers.
Then there were the ones who did get down to ground zero. They went to help our living heroes, the firemen, policemen, EMT's, steel workers, laborers, and all the others who worked day and night to find the lost heroes and loved ones of so many, too many. These people who volunteered to help our heroes are my heroes too!
Thank you all, my heroes.
Thank you St. Paul's Chapel and all the St. Paul's Chapels throughout lower Manhattan.
This piece was inspired by AliventiAsylum's Hero Write/Off that will be running 8/11 through 9/11.
I will join that Write/Off with a story about a hero who is very close to me. I hope you join it too.
Other downtown Manhattan reviews by Popsrocks
The Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
Castle Clinton National Memorial
Battery Park Home of the temporary 9/11 memorial.
SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
Federal Hall National Historic SiteDowntown across from Wall Street, our first Capitol Building was there.
Jewish Heritage Museum
Greenwich VillageIt's Hip and Happening
Millenium Hilton., directly across from ground zero. They have reopened!A great location to all that is downtown
More NYC reviews
The Empire State Building
The INTREPID Sea-Air-Space MUSEUMIt's a good one!
Museum of Natural History
TKTS half price tickets to Broadway
Aida, the Broadway Play Great show at half price
Central Park
Stardust DinerA great place for before a show in Times Square. Aspiring actors are here.
Sylvia's, a southern soul restaurant in Harlem
Something is Missing A Tribute to the good people and the twin towers that were lost on 9/11 http://www.epinions.com/content_3161628804
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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