What We Do Pictures from Saint Paul's... Dec 10, 2001 Hi Everyone! To see pictures of all those working at St. Paul's, including me, go to www.trinitywallstreet.org. Click on View photo galleries and then click on the Courage Series. The forward arrow will take you through the photos. Peace to all! Sr. Grace,n/SSM The Latest News Ground Zero... From: Sr. Grace Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 6:51 PM Hi Everyone. This article, from today's New York Times, explains so very well what is going on here and why remains continue to be found in the wreckage of what once was the World Trade Center. I considered not sending it, because it is somewhat gruesome and may be seen by some as being inappropriate for this season of Advent. But as I read the final three paragraphs, I knew for sure that it should be shared. Because of the grim and grisly task that continues day after day here at the site, families are finally getting some closure. They continue to hope that the questions that they have walked around with for so many weeks will finally be answered. Were they really there? Were they really gone? While the answers may be hard to hear, at least they are answers and not simply questions. The last part of the article quoting a woman who is finally told her husbands remains have been found. She says simply, "Yes, he really was there," and the report goes on to say she added "that her religious beliefs sustained her." It doesn't say what beliefs, just that these beliefs are what have gotten her through the weeks and weeks of not knowing. Isn't that what Advent is for us Christians- what sustains us through the difficult times? Advent is a time of hope, a time of anticipation, not of the gifts we will recieve from our family or our friends, but of the coming of the Messiah. My hope is that we can celebrate the birth of Christ with a new sense of love for each other and of the wonderful gift that our lives are. May our faith be strengthened this Advent, so that the day of the Lord's coming may find us all prepared and filled with joy. Grace, n/SSM December 7, 2001 In the Ongoing Search for Bodies, Hope Is Derived From the Horror By ERIC LIPTON [T] he workers were four floors below ground, amid the still-steaming mass of twisted steel and debris when they made the discovery last Saturday: the remains of perhaps a dozen people who had been trapped in a stairwell at the World Trade Center when the north tower collapsed. In the surreal world of ground zero, the gruesome find was something of a hopeful development. The group of what appeared to be office workers, their bodies largely intact, meant that a handful of victims' families would soon get the confirmation and mild comfort they had long been waiting for. And the discovery also seemed to lend support to what has been a largely unspoken belief among recovery workers ? that the deeper they got, the greater the chance that additional human remains would be found. The theory that more bodies might be found below ground level resulted from an understanding of how the towers fell, and how the compression of floor upon floor of the 110-story buildings might have completely crushed many of the people on the higher floors and the rescue workers climbing to them. More identifiable bodies, experts believed, might have remained entombed in the pockets of space that existed at the base of the towers or in the underground floors. "It is a hell of a thing to say, but we are really making progress," said Deputy Fire Chief Charles R. Blaich, who stood at ground zero for hours on Saturday afternoon, watching as firefighters used hand tools and shovels to delicately extract the bodies, one at a time. The medical examiner's records give a clear indication of the surge in recovering remains over the last 10 days. Few complete bodies are being pulled from the site: that number stood yesterday at 225, up only 17 in the last three weeks. But the number of remains recovered has jumped by 799 during that same period, after leveling off in early November. "It is encouraging," said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the chief medical examiner, who is handling the identification process. And there is more news from the medical examiner's office: recent DNA testing of recovered remains has produced about 800 distinct profiles of people killed in the attack. Assuming that the city has adequate DNA samples from family members to allow a match, most of these victims should ultimately be identified, said Dr. Robert Shaler, the director of forensic biology at the medical examiner's office. To date, only 492 of the roughly 3,000 people killed at the World Trade Center have been positively identified, about 60 exclusively through DNA matches. "I am optimistic we will be able to make a significant dent into the number of missing people," Dr. Shaler said, adding that the work will most likely continue for a year or so. "I don't know if that is 50 percent or 40 percent, or whatever it will be." The effort to recover and identify remains has been practically difficult and emotionally intense. In recent weeks, as the cleanup work progressed, a sense has taken hold among many families of victims that the chances of finding many identifiable remains was desperately remote. So the discovery last weekend, and its potential implications for additional ones, is reassuring to the families who lost sons, daughters, husbands or wives. "You still have days you don't believe this has really happened," said Hans J. Gerhardt of Toronto, whose son, Ralph Gerhardt, 34, called his parents on the telephone just after the plane hit the north tower, where he worked in the 105th-floor office of Cantor Fitzgerald. "We want to find something of our son." As with other victims' relatives who were interviewed, there was a palpable sense of gratitude in Mr. Gerhardt's voice for the effort to identify his son's remains. "It obviously is a very gruesome task," he said, having traveled to New York to visit ground zero several times. "I am sure when they go home at night they cannot just walk away and forget about it." The process for uncovering remains is both grueling and grisly, Chief Blaich said. On Saturday, sometime after noon, crews digging in an area at the base of the north tower that they knew was a stairwell happened upon the remains. Their location could not have been in doubt: the B4 wall sign, for the fourth basement level, was still attached to a concrete column. As is typical of the trade center site, just next to this wall was a mountain of super-compacted debris perhaps 70 feet high, steam still rising. And to the east was a sloping mound of steel and other debris. Firefighters used pickaxes to dig an outline around the bodies, slowly separating them from the debris. Removing just the first victim took well over an hour, Chief Blaich said, as a variety of garden-like tools were taken in and the firefighters took extreme care not to cause any additional injury to the corpse. At one point, earth-moving equipment was drafted to gently pull away a steel beam that blocked off some victims. "It was painstakingly slow work," he said. "You can't say anyone felt good about what they were doing, that is not the right word. But they felt like the contributed something." Just yesterday, near the south tower, remains of what appeared to be a firefighter were found, a sign that the recent string of successes in finding victims was continuing. These finds are not surprising to Fire Department officials, as the deeper they have dug, the farther they have gotten to the base of the buildings. "We always expected to find, as we got to lower stairwells, more people," Deputy Fire Commissioner Francis X. Gribbon said. "There was a stream of people coming out of the stairwells as the buildings collapsed." The end result of this effort are scenes like the one on Sunday, in Pittsford, N.Y., where two Monroe County police officers waited for Cynthia Duffy to return home from church to tell her that the remains of her husband, Thomas W. Duffy, 52, a vice president at Marsh & McLennan, had been found. "Yes, he really was there," Mrs. Duffy said yesterday, adding that her religious beliefs had sustained her. "He really is gone." The work at Ground Hero continues... From: Sr. Grace Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2001 5:50 PM Hi Everyone! The work continues at Ground Hero, and specifically at St. Paul's. We are no longer calling it Ground Zero, as there are no Zeros here! All who continue to work and dig and sweat and cry are heroes! Despite the news reports, the site is NOT a construction site yet. Even though the city has turned the site over to the Dept of Design and Construction, we still consider the work to be one of recovery of bodies and remains. Just yesterday, another thirty bodies were found in one of the buildings that had not burned. It was a really rough day for the clergy on the site, and for all those who come day after day to try to bring their brothers and sisters home. The police and the fire departments are frustrated and hurting and grieving and upset. They have every right to be. What has happened here is a tragedy of such enormous proportion, there is no way that those of us here can be expected to react in calm, rational, normal ways. Everything has changed, in dramatic and not so dramatic ways. Normal half hour commutes have turned into two and three hour nightmares of checkpoints, security issues, and detours. Mail delays have caused social and economic headaches, if not outright emergencies with people not getting social security checks, expense reimbursements and unemployment checks. So many have lost their jobs that the systems designed to deal with them are completely overwhelmed. Employees who do still have their jobs are not sure from day to day if the companies that employ them will survive this "economic downturn". Stress, depression, and anger are reaching an unbelievable high. People are worried about their personal safety, their economic future, and their very lives in the face of this "war on terrorism". The shock of the attack has begun to fade, but the anger, fear and sadness are just beginning to emerge. So our work is needed now even more than ever. The clergy and the pastoral counselors are facing overwhelming numbers of people coming to them for help, not just the workers who are down here but all of New York City! The faces of the public that we see every day here passing outside on the sidewalk in front of St. Paul's are full of this fear, anger and sadness. We have hung out blank canvasses on the fence and have volunteers out there 24 hours a day handing out markers and encouraging the public to express themselves in whatever way they need to. It is overwhelmingly positive stuff, patriotic and optimistic- but the tears streaming down their faces as they write say more than the words that they scribble on the canvas. It will be a long time before the effects of this tragedy are known, faced and overcome. But through it all, God is present. In the tears and the sadness, God is there. In the anger and the harsh words, God is there. In the fear and the terror, God is there. Our presence at St. Paul's is witness to the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God. In the midst of mass destruction and chaos, love emerges. In the midst of darkness and anger and fear, the light of Christ shines ever brightly. Every bowl of hot soup served to a hungry and cold worker bears witness to this; every massage given to hurting firemen with cramping muscles and every foot massage and new insoles and socks given to police officers weary of standing for 12 hours bears witness. The hours and hours of listening to heartbreaking stories of where someone was on the 11th and a blow by blow retelling of every detail that has happened since bears witness to the love of God. I have become a firm believer in "the Sacrament Of Listening"- it has taken on as much importance as the Eucharist here. So many times, it is all we can do. We cannot offer answers, we cannot offer solutions, we cannot tell them why their brother died or their coworker or their friend. We cannot tell them who did this, or assure them that they will be punished. All we can do is assure them that they are loved, and that we will do whatever we can to help. I pray that it is enough. Grace,n/SSM A Tough Day at Ground Zero From: Sr. Grace Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 6:47 PM Hi Everyone! The past few days have been difficult ones at St. Paul's Chapel. Many more bodies have been found as the workers go deeper down into what remains of the World Trade Center buildings. Last night and again today, workers lined up and hoisted stretchers with bodies on them, and they began to be passed down, hand to hand, one after the other, forming a line that stretched from the top of the pile to level ground. Covered with flags, one could almost tell whether it was a policeman or a fireman by the guys that lined up on the sides to salute. A sea of blue shirts means police, a sea of brown coveralls means fire dept. A quiet comes over the site, and everyone's eyes are glued to the line of people who are moving slowly and carefully over the mounds of shredded burning metal and twisted beams to bring these remains home to the people who love them. In a sense I had almost hoped that they had found all that they were going to find. Looking at the wreckage, it is hard to believe that there is any more to be found. But the pockets and stairwells still remain, and when one (or several) are found, more bodies emerge. I broke down and cried today when I got back to the Church. I cried for those who lost their lives in this horrible tragedy. I cried for the workers, whose hair gets more grey every day and whose worry lines get deeper as they see more and more of their friends, their families, and their coworkers dug up in the rubble. I cried for those families I saw on the platform today, some of whom may get a call a few weeks from now saying words they have been dreading and yet somehow hoping to hear, "We have found them." I cried for those of us at St. Paul's who are struggling to provide a glimpse of hope and hospitality in the midst of such enormous loss. It seems so small an offering- a cup of hot soup, a piano player plinking out soothing music, a podiatrist to wash and bandage up the blisters on their feet. A smile and a hug, a few gentle words to tell them they are cared for, a pew to rest in- for those few precious moments a day that they are with us, they can rest. They can forget, if only for a moment, where they are and what has happened. If they need to talk, we are there. If they want to cry, we give them space and privacy. If they want clean socks, we give them clean socks. We are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, JUST TO SERVE THEM. All are welcome inside our sanctuary- Christian, Jew, Muslim. We are all people now- one people, united by our humanity. I am humbled and honored to be a part of this amazing ministry. Grace,n/SSM How you can help those at Ground Zero From: Sr. Grace Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 6:37 PM Hi Everyone! So many people have asked me how they can help those of us who are working right at Ground Zero. My suggestions is to do two things. One is to go to the Trinity Church website- www.trinitywallstreet.org. The contact information to send donations is all there.We do not currently need much in the way of staff, what we need is stuff- sunglasses, chapstick, tissues, warm weather gear like mittens and hats and gloves and scarves. It changes almost every day as supplies get low and new donations arrive. Monetary donations will help to provide all of these things to those who need them. Also, there are great pictures of the relief effort in their photo galleries, so you can see what is really happening. Secondly, please pray for all of the relief workers, support people, police officers, firefighters, national guard, clergy etc who are working in and around St. Pauls. In this time of heightened security, we are very aware that we could be a target for those who seek to shut down our work in retaliation for the air strikes against Afghanistan. Please lift us all up in your prayers and ask God especially to protect us from harm. We are all working very hard to keep our spirits up and our selves safe, and prayers are of great comfort to all of us. With love and thanks to all who have responded with such care, concern and generosity! Grace,n/SSM The View from Ground Zero From: Sr. Grace Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2001 4:34 PM hi Everyone! Email has been reconnected here and we are able to communicate with the outside world. The phones are working and everyone here is well. The sisters who are here are doing an amazing job ministering to the people who live across the street at St. Margaret's House. I have been working at St. Paul's Chapel which is coordinating relief efforts for those working at Ground Zero. I have actually gone down into the Red Zone several times. I cannot even adequately describe what it is like down there. There are no words. I keep waiting for the credits to roll at the end- it feels like watching a movie, until you realize that it is TRULY HAPPENING! Frightening to say the least, but the presence of God is more powerful than I have ever experienced it at the same time. St Pauls is two blocks from the Trade Center and is surrounded by buildings that are rubble, yet not a single pane of glass in the church was broken! I got an image of God just putting His Hands over the church and saying NO! IT STAYS! It is truly a miracle. And that is home base for all the operations that are ministering to the workers. There are thousands upon thousands of police, firefighters, national guard people, men and women who are working 12 hour shifts day after day to bring some order to the chaos. They direct traffic, man checkpoints, operate cranes, and dig with three prong trowels in the stilll burning mass that they call THE PILE to try to find the remains of their fellow humanbeings. It is so amazing!! Donations pour in by the bag- envelopes stuffed with dollar bills collected in shopping malls, at churches and synagogues and mosques all over the city. Bags and boxes full of cards and letters from school children addressed to "A brave firefighter" or "our heroes the police" which we have used to wallpaper the entire inside of the church, so that when the workers come in to eat their meals in the pews they can read them and be uplifted. There are chiropractors and massage therapists and grief counselors and clergy and podiatrists working round the clock to keep everyone healthy and functioning. Meals come three meals a day from The Waldorf Astoria and others around the city, Starbucks donates an ocean of coffee everyday, and the medical community has come up with medical supplies of every concievable kind. the rafters are stuffed with boxes of donated items. An Episcopal group called LABOR OF LOVE has been coordinating the relief effort and they have been doing a wonderful job!!! It is truly New Yorks finest hour to see how they have responded to the tragedy has been awesome. I have prayed with them, laughed with them and cried with them this past week, and expect to do so for the next six months while I am here. They do not think they will complete the recovery of remains or the clean up of the site for 6-12 months, so St. Pauls will be in it for the long haul. I would like to ask that all of you that get this email pray for the workers down here in New York consistently and fervently. They are so uplifted when I tell them that the world is with them and praying for them. There is nothing more powerful than prayer and I feel it it necessary now more than ever. Amd please pray for all of us who are working to keep them supported and fed and healthy. It will take some time before any of us even begin to process what has happened here. It is so much easier for me since I was not here when it happened. But they are really really hurting and the city will be grieving for a very long time. So keep us in your prayers. I love you all and miss you, but the work here is so vital that I feel truly blessed to be here!!! Love, Grace, n/SSM ===== Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace, And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.