Source: Episcopal News Service
http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_100625_ENG_Print.html
On the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Episcopal congregations around the country remembered the dead, comforted the bereaved, and sought hope for the future.
At St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan, which served as a relief mission for recovery workers at “Ground Zero,” the site of the World Trade Center, in the days and weeks after the attacks, prayers for peace, laying-on of hands for healing, and quiet musical meditations were offered throughout the afternoon. The Bell of Hope—a gift to New York from the city of London a year after the original attacks--was rung in St. Paul’s churchyard at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first hijacked airplane few into the Twin Towers.
St. Paul’s continued to be a center for ministry to Ground Zero workers for nearly a year after the attacks. More than 14,000 volunteers worked in 12 hour shifts to provide solace, comfort and care for 2,000 workers each day. Many of these volunteers and recovery workers, as well as victims’ family members and workers in the surrounding area, attended the anniversary observances.
The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, rector of Trinity Church, offered words of hope and healing at a votive Eucharist at the historic parish on Wall Street. "We have demonstrated throughout our nation's history and once again on September 11, 2001, that we are a city and nation of resiliency and strength. Today, families and communities are facing many challenges and difficult choices. The tremendous volunteer effort that spontaneously emerged in the moments, hours, days after 9/11 shows us that we can lean on each other for support, become stronger by remembering those we lost, find hope in rebuilding, and together move closer toward peace."