The Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero

by Mercy Tours on 09/10/10

As we approach the anniversary of 9/11, it is interesting to note that St. Joseph's Chapel, located near ground zero on the ground floor of a seven-story apartment building in lower Manhattan's Battery Park City, has been renovated and designated as the Catholic memorial.

Visitors to ground zero will be able to walk a few steps toward the Hudson River and enter an environment keyed to the same theme but designed to encourage prayer and meditation.

In the homily at the dedication Mass on May 22, 2005, Cardinal Egan said the grace of God had "its own way of taking over," and could have an impact even on casual visitors to the renovated chapel. 
After more than 30 artists submitted proposals, John Collier of Dallas was chosen to produce four statues as memorials to groups affected by the tragedy: St. Joseph, patron of construction workers; St. Michael the Archangel, patron of police; St. Florian, patron of firefighters, and St. Mary Magdalene, first witness to the Resurrection and "apostle to the apostles."
Other artistic works commissioned to portray themes of the memorial included a terra cotta rendering of Our Lady of Guadalupe as patroness of the Americas by Brett Slavin of Ryebrook; an icon of Sts. John and Paul, Roman soldiers martyred together and patrons of Cardinal Egan's titular church in Rome, by Sister Cecelia of the Nuns of New Skete in Cambridge; stained-glass "Windows of Life and Renewal" by Guy Kemper of Louisville, Ky.; a translucent glass wall with abstract designs behind the altar, by Christopher Cosma of Brooklyn; and two works by Polish immigrant Wiktor Szostalo -- a sculptured torso of Christ and a glass rendering of the vision in the second chapter of Isaiah of swords beaten into plowshares.

St. Joseph's is a chapel of St. Peter Parish, the first Catholic parish established in New York.

Previously on the site cleared for the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, the chapel again found its life disrupted in its new location by the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

All the residents of the area had to leave for a time, and the chapel was used first by government relief agencies as their command station and later by construction workers, police and others as a place for rest and counseling.

Cardinal Egan noted that although "everything was ruined" in the chapel it was back in operation a year later.

Since then, the congregation that gathers there has been developing the chapel as the Catholic memorial to Sept. 11. The cardinal described it as "a gift to New York and a gift to the nation."

For more information:

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