Posted on 04/12/2006 7:41:53 AM PDT by presidio9
The Port Authority scrapped plans yesterday to uproot and lock away the steel cross at Ground Zero after revelations about the move in the Daily News sparked an uproar. The iconic symbol - which has comforted many since the crossed beams were found in the rubble of the World Trade Center - was quietly headed for a hangar at Kennedy Airport in the fall to keep it safe during construction.
But an exclusive story about that plan in yesterday's News set off a wave of Holy Week horror from the religious community to construction unions - and the PA backed off.
"We recognize the importance of the crossed beams, which have been a fixture at the World Trade Center site since 9/11," the agency said in a statement.
"We are exploring opportunities to relocate this important artifact to a nearby accessible public location while construction moves forward."
Sources said the cross might end up on the Church St. side of St. Peter's Catholic Church, a block north of Ground Zero, until a permanent location is decided.
"If we can be of any help, we will be," said the Rev. Kevin Madigan, the pastor of St. Peter's. "The cross shouldn't be a cause for division, especially during Holy Week."
The Rev. Brian Jordan, who said many a Sunday Mass for Ground Zero recovery workers in the shadow of the cross, felt "betrayed" by the PA's plan for the cross.
"It can't end up in some dusty hangar out at Kennedy Airport," said Jordan, of St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown. "To put it out there would be an outrageous defamation of a beautiful symbol."
Jordan, who favors St. Peter's as an interim location, said he was asked hundreds of times after 9/11, "Why did God do this?"
"I told everyone, 'God didn't do this. These were evil acts of men who abused their free will,'" he said. "But when the cross was found - we know it's a T-beam - it was visual evidence that God never abandoned us at Ground Zero."
Edward Malloy, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, said his members helped recover and mount the cross and "they'd be reluctant to move it unless there was a commitment to make it part of the permanent memorial."
Meanwhile, Brooklyn construction worker Frank Silecchia, who discovered the cross on Sept. 13, 2001, is praying it stays. "For Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Muslims, it brings people to their faith," he said.
They are the same cross.
Second one. Here's how they found it. The photo was taken by firefighters. They took comfort in the setting that it was found, standing upright at the epicenter of the pile. Obviously crosses were an integral part of the building process.
I'm Jewish, a "native" New Yorker, a former WTC worker, and someone who lost folks that day.
The rage/fear/anger the libs feel when they see that cross makes the solution clear:
Keep it. Display it.
Rust itself can be an effective protective coating.
If they paint it yellow green -- yeesh!
Another coating on top of the zinc chromate primer........
Sorry, but they are not. In the first picture the upright I-beam has valleys that face to the sides. In the second the upright I-beam has valleys that face to the front and back.
Thanks for the info!
Adam, one day that cross will mean somthing to you.(Phi 2:10-11), Yes even you.
I actually think all of this huge effort...millions in man-hours to build the right memorial...the various fights and legal battles yet to come....ought to be settled here and now. No memorial...except the dang 9/11 cross. Don't even paint the thing. Don't plant flowers around it. Nothing. Thats WTC steel...and it ought to stay there until NYC is covered with a 1,000 ft glacier and Xenu returns with the space aliens to reclaim Brooklyn as the sacred shore (well...or until Knicks win the championship again).
"Adam, one day that cross will mean somthing to you.(Phi 2:10-11), Yes even you"
Don't hold your breath.
thanks for the post and the photos
Not many, I hope. As a non-Christian who disapproves mightily of things like posting the 10 Commandments in courtrooms, I see no reason why the cross should be removed. Lots of people who worked on the rescue and recovery efforts in the horrible days and weeks after the attack, drew comfort from it, and many of them and relatives of people killed in the attack still feel strongly that they want it there. The government didn't put it there, it's on what SHOULD be private property (the property was seized by eminent domain and later leased to a private developer in a sweetheart tax-avoiding deal), and it is in no way attacking any other belief system (unlike the Commandment which says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"). The cross should stay; it's the Port Authority which should be kicked of the property.
I'm a lifelong practicing Catholic and a religious guy.
Giving this peice of metal any undue attention is silly to me, though. Leave it, remove it, move it: it's all the same to me.
Thanks for the info and pics. As one who has never been able to bring himself to return to the Trade Center since 9/11/01, I appreciate it.
I'm with you to the extent that I don't get caught up in grilled cheese apparitions. Nevertheless, this cross brought comfort to a lot of people. Mass was said underneath it every morning during the recovery operation. In that sense, it is more than a piece of metal to some people, and one would think liberals would be going out of their way to protect the feelings of those who value it.
"Leave it, remove it, move it: it's all the same to me."
Do you feel the same about the crucifixs in your church?
Not at all - a crucifix should remain in a church.
This isn't a crucifix, and this isn't in a church, though.
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