St. Joseph’s Chapel “Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero”
Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York dedicated a Catholic memorial at ground zero May 22, 2005.
St. Joseph’s Chapel, located near ground zero on the ground floor of a seven-story apartment building in lower Manhattan’s Battery Park. It was damaged in the collapse including being head by one of the wheels that hit the towers.
A parish committee invited ideas from artists for a Catholic Memorial at Ground Zero to honor those who died and those who took part in the rescue efforts. The chapel, with an entrance on Liberty Street and serving mainly the residents of Battery Park City, has an aggregate attendance of 275 at its two Sunday Masses. Three of his bronze statues are of patron saints. “St. Florian” will commemorate the firefighters who gave their lives; “St. Michael the Archangel” will commemorate the police officers who perished; “St. Joseph” will honor the other workers who died, as well as those who survived, those who worked on the recovery and rebuilding, and all who were bereaved by the calamity; while “St. Mary Magdalene” will honor the pilots, flight attendants, and passengers on all four planes commandeered for the attacks, as well as the thousands of volunteers who helped in some way at Ground Zero. Collier and Madigan see the statues as representing, respectively, the values of heroism, duty, dedication, and service.
July 11th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
My daughter Catherine Patricia Salter was in the second tower when it was
hit. I am sure that she died instantly and did not suffer any physical pain.
She was Catholic, and so I hope that you will remember her in your prayers.
I pray everyday that this country will return to its religious roots and once again pray the rosary. Evil is afoot in the world and it is up to us to
battle it - whereever its ugly head is reared. Eleanor Salter