The
Bishop's Notebook Archive
September 11th
Excerpt
from the QuikNote from Bishop George Packard, 11 September
2001, 10:58 a.m.
“My
Dear Friends:
I
write to you from this City which, because of the sudden tragedy
of the plane crashes into the World Trade Center and subsequent
collapse of both towers, has made us critically aware of the
helplessness this act was supposed to evoke. The enormity
of these hours will be life-changing....”
click here to go to: Archive Topical Index
The
Bishop's Notebook, 25 September 2001, the 15th day,
(13 September 2001 Eve of Holy Cross Day) Day 3 of the 100
Days
“
Last night I went below Canal Street to visit the old Beekman
Hospital about 300 meters from the east edge of Ground Zero.
I was concerned that our healthcare chaplains be connected
with the Diocese of New York. Now was not the time to miss
anyone. It was also reconnaissance since I wanted our Office
to have a clear focus for this mission of recovery and healing.
All the way down Broadway rescue workers were walking toward
me. You always noticed their shoes....”
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The
Bishop's Notebook, 21 September 2001,
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Day 11 of
the 100 Days
“More reflections from our family: Brook
Packard's Journal and Chaplain Jay Magness' report from the
Pentagon on 9/11....”
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The
Bishop's Notebook, 28 September 2001, Eve of Saint Michael
and All Angels
Day 18 of the 100 Days
“While
the Crisis Intevention team is off site at the metro dioceses
conducting clergy training days, the volunteer effort is being
coordinated by Bishop Packard's staff at 815....”
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Chaplain
Peter Larsen's Reports from Ground Zero, 12 October—22
October 2001
“Cannot
see any office furniture...bodies...clothes...shoes...telephones...computers...NOTHING
but mud and piles of twisted steel. The police officers and
fire fighters are NYC types and also from around the country.
All are gung-ho. Nobody is searching for bodies anymore...this
is a cleanup effort. What I find interesting are the buildings
surrounding the area. All are closed for business. Most have
some/all of their windows blown out. These buildings rise
up to some 40 stories. The brand new American Express building...which
hadn't opened yet...has a gash right down the middle...where
one of the towers hit and blew out the first seven stories.
You can see right into the building about three offices deep....
”
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The
Bishop's Notebook, Ground Zero in its twilight, 26 October
2001
Day 46 of the 100 Days
“This
recent trip to the pile was certainly different from those
rough and ready days during that awful, first week. Now we
are aware as much of the potential danger in our mailboxes
as we are of the epic pictures of the WTC and the Pentagon...
Some things don't change though. The squads may be smaller
but the persistence of the pit workers is still there to find
remains or personal possessions. In the overnight Saturday
to Sunday morning we uncovered nothing, though. The exhilaration
of a find and maybe a sacramental moment never came....”
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Reflections on a Visit to Ground Zero by Bishop Joe Doss,
October 2001
“Inside the church, surrounded by signs
of support posted on every available surface and sent from
all over the nation and the whole world, I had a sense of
pride in the Episcopal Church, seen here at its best... Gradually
I realized that this quiescence was not just for the people
taking a break to sleep or rest or have a massage, for the
workers having the doctor check their feet and provide them
with new boots against the fires still billowing from the
ashes and rubble... It was for the dead and suffering. With
the realization came a blow right to the gut. At ground zero
the silent specter is pervasive. People seem puny beside it;
people also loom heroic....”
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Reflections
on a Visit to Ground Zero By Bishop Robert B. Hibbs, October
2001
“It's
the smell. You can feel it wrinkling your nose as soon as
you emerge from the Fulton-Broadway subway station. It is
like no other smell I've ever experienced. It was not the
smell I had feared, the smell of dead bodies, but a sharp,
acrid odor. "Infernal" is an adequate adjective....”
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