Archbishop shares Ground Zero experience
'God didn't do this,' Ukranian Orthodox leader saysBy ANITA MUNSON
Tribune Staff Writer
Tribune Photo/LOU SABO |
PLYMOUTH -- "Ground Zero" up close and personal is more intense than television can portray, according to an archbishop who spent two weeks there.
Michael J. Champion, archbishop of Cleveland for the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, talked about his experiences in New York City in the wake of last month's terrorist attacks in a presentation Saturday at Rees Theater in downtown Plymouth.
Many people in his parish did not want him to go to the site of the World Trade Center, but the archbishop -- a native New Yorker -- could not stay away.
"It wasn't such a thing that you wanted the recognition of doing it," he said. "It was really kind of scary, but after having made the trip into New York so many times in the past, I could not have not gone. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to be where God needs you."
He and Metropolitan Stephan, another leader in the Ukranian Orthodox church, left Sept. 15 by car, wearing jeans and patriotic shirts. A flag was on their car's radio antenna, flying throughout the eight-hour drive from Cleveland to New York.
"It felt good to be on the bandwagon with the rest of the nation," the archbishop said, "but it was the strangest feeling, too."
The next day, a Sunday, provided the first opportunity for the pair to go into the city. They registered as members of President Bush's faith-based initiative committee, and headed toward the family center at the armory at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street. The center is where families would come to try to locate their lost loved ones.
"You didn't have to go into the armory and sit at a desk and say 'I'm going to counsel you.' You were needed everywhere," Archbishop Michael said. "There are no particular words that are the right words to say."
He told of people who cried, who needed hugs or hand-holding, and those who needed to tell the priests the stories of their loved ones.
People, too, asked the archbishop about the Rev. Jerry Falwell's words about God punishing the United States.
"People were really upset," the archbishop said. He told those who asked, "This is not the God that I believe in. It is not the Christian God. ... God does not wish hardship, harm and suffering on people. Our God is a God of love and not hate."
Archbishop Michael said he was particularly grateful that he had had the opportunity to explain those views to the many national media representatives who interviewed him and other members of the clergy.
He spent three days at the center before its location was moved to Pier 54, then entered the 16-acre site of what has come to be known as "Ground Zero," where he spent close to two weeks ministering to relief and rescue workers.
"That became your whole life," he said. "Those people were your family. There was a very close bond that developed."
The archbishop worked in a makeshift morgue that was set up in two tents outside the World Financial Center. Bodies removed from the debris of the World Trade Tower would be taken to the first tent, where last rites were performed, and the bodies moved on to the next tent for forensic tests.
"Probably the most difficult was to see that flag brought in over every body of a firefighter or a policeman on a gurney," he said.
Firefighters, in particular, asked that he perform last rites at the actual site before the bodies were removed.
"There were about 30 bodies on an average day that were removed," he said of the daunting task that goes on still today. "Very few were intact, ... (just) a skull, a torso, a femur bone."
Body parts were placed in body bags before they were brought to the first tent, he said. "So many American flags piled up there," he remembered.
In the second tent, forensic experts examined the charred remains for clues to the victims' identities.
"It was not an easy situation," the archbishop said.
From the tents, the bodies were taken to New York City Hospital's morgue "with great respect," he said. "All were handled with a great deal of respect and dignity."
Workers at Ground Zero asked for and received the archbishop's blessing of the ground on his first day there. They knew that a great deal of debris needed to be removed that could result in the remains of thousands of people being disturbed.
"This is all continuing to go on today," he said. "We still need to support the workers in our prayer, to support the groups giving money to people right away. The spirit of America that we've seen since September 11 needs to continue at all costs. Our ways of thinking need to change. We can't live passively. We can all make a difference.
"You hear about the dust there, that it was up to a foot in some areas," he continued. "It's still there. That's why Ground Zero is a sacred spot. The souls and the bodies of good people are there. The dust is everything that once was, the buildings and the people. Everything was pulverized into this dust, this special dust."
He recalled the beams from the U.S. Customs House, in Building 6 of the World Trade Center, which fell to rest in the form of crosses.
"People came from all over to see them," he said. "It gave hope in the midst of such a tremendous tragedy that God is still with us. God didn't do this."
The archbishop will speak at 3 p.m. today at a community prayer service in Memorial Chapel at the Culver Academies, and at noon Monday in the library at Ancilla College in Donaldson.
For information, contact Father Theodosius at Protection of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church, (219) 936-8645.
Staff writer Anita Munson:
