WTC Anniversary Excludes Clergy, First Responders

7/9/2011

TUCSON, Ariz. – Like a lot of Americans, the 10 year anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero feels very personal. Also like a lot of Americans, I remember exactly where I was on that day. It was about 10 minutes before 6:00am (PST) on a Tuesday morning when the phone rang. My Mom was calling to tell us to turn on the TV. The World Trade Center had been attacked. We were under attack. My wife and I were glued to the news. Since I was a Greek Orthodox Priest, I got ready and went to my Church – at that time in Temecula, California – and opened the doors for people to come, pray, weep and receive strength and hope and protection from God. And the people did come. They came because as human beings, we are both physical and spiritual. We turn to our Creator in times of need and in times of joy. We turn to our Creator for guidance, wisdom and direction.

The attack on the World Trade Center also feels very personal to me, because of the time I spent serving St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in New York which stood at the foot, literally in the shadow, of the World Trade Center. I have included a photograph my wife took of our little Church with the World Trade Center in the background. I was ordained to the priesthood on July 4th of 1999, and for the first three months of my priesthood, I served the Community of St. Nicholas. Every Sunday morning, I took the subway from our little apartment to the station at the World Trade Center. I would then walk across the street and celebrate the Divine Services.

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church traces its roots back to 1916, when it was founded by immigrants seeking a new life in America. While the 3-story building which St. Nicholas converted into a Church was constructed in the 1800s; it was in 1922 when services began at that site. The World Trade Center was not opened until 1973. St. Nicholas Church was completely destroyed by the collapsed of the towers on that day of September 11, 2001. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church WAS THE ONLY CHURCH DESTROYED on that day. Others were damaged, but only St. Nicholas lay completely crushed beneath the rubble.

One month after the attack, on October 11, 2001, I traveled to New York City. I met a Police Officer who allowed me to go to the site where St. Nicholas had once stood and where I had conducted services, weddings and baptisms; a place I considered sacred. The Officer asked me to pray for her and I have kept her and all first responders in my prayers ever since.

Two issues that to me are tied together.

Firstly, the decision to exclude clergy, first responders and prayers from the 10 year commemoration of that tragic day in the life of all Americans is to deny our humanity and to say that those of us who did not lose a parent, or a sibling or a child in the attack were not affected. Each of us and all of society was and continues to be affected. We are all part of the victims as a society. Having politicians and city officials included, while keeping out those that were actually there that day, including first responders and chaplains is unimaginable to me. To exclude God from any healing process is to deny true healing and to deny our true essence as humans.

Secondly, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was the only Church destroyed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. The Church stood on that site for 79 years as an active parish before the attack. Yet 10-years later, New York authorities continue to block efforts for our community to rebuild. Somehow it seems appropriate to them to encourage and even speed up the process of building the so called ‘Ground Zero mosque’, yet the St. Nicholas congregation has had to conduct services at a parish in Brooklyn while they continue to fight to rebuild their religious home.

We are asking all parishioners who are active or retired military, or in law enforcement, or with the fire department, or who are EMT’s or First Responders of any type to wear their uniforms or scrubs to Church that day.

Here at our community of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Tucson Arizona, we too will be conducting a 10 year anniversary ceremony. We are asking all our parishioners who are active or retired military, or in law enforcement, or with the fire department, or who are EMT’s or First Responders of any type to wear their uniforms or scrubs to Church that day. After our Divine Liturgy, we will hold a memorial for the Victims of this tragic part of American History. Strangely, two of the victims of the attack were tied to our local Orthodox parishes here in Tucson.

I encourage all first responders and all military and all those who protect our people to wear your uniforms or scrubs on 9/11 to your Church, Synagogue, or Mosque so that clergy, first responders and prayer WILL BE INCLUDED as we ALL remember the 10th Anniversary of the attacks.

May the Memory of all the Victims Be Eternal!

Fr. Earl Cantos
Pastor, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
Tucson AZ

Source: