World Trade Center cross

The World Trade Center cross, also known as the Ground Zero cross, is a group of steel beams found amidst the debris of the World Trade Center following the September 11, 2001 attacks which resembles the proportions of a Christian cross.

Background

The World Trade Center was built using prefabricated parts which were bolted or welded together at the site. [ [http://www.lera.com/projects/usny/wtc.htm Leslie E. Robertson Associates] - Historical project page from engineering firm that designed the center. Accessed April 5, 2006.] This process dramatically reduced construction time and costs. Using this process, t-beams and other types of cross beams were created and used in each of the World Trade Center buildings. [cite news|url=http://www.gothamgazette.com/citizen/sep02/irish-wtc.shtml |title=Priest Wants WTC Cross Memorial Preserved |author=McKinley, Stephen | date=August 28-September 03, 2002 |publisher=Gotham Gazette/Irish Echo] When One World Trade Center collapsed, it sent debris down on to 6 World Trade Center, and gutted the interior of World Trade Center 6. In the midst the WTC6 debris was this intact cross beam, which its discoverer believes came from One World Trade Center. [cite news|title=Frank Silecchia, a construction worker, and Father Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest, discuss the metal cross that they found at ground zero and the faith it offers |publisher=CBS News, The Early Show (interview) |date=2001, October 5] [cite web | title = "Cross Purposes"| publisher = Snopes| date = 8 March 2008| url = http://www.snopes.com/Rumors/cross.asp | accessdate =2008-04-17 ]

Discovery

Following the attacks, a massive operation was launched to clear the site and attempt to find any survivors amongst the rubble. On September 13 one of the workers at the site, claimed by Frank Silecchia to be himself, [ [http://www.biblenetworknews.com/northamerica/091102_usa2.html Info on Frank Silecchia] for Bible Network News by Sue Careless on September 11, 2002. Retrieved April 3, 2006.] discovered a 20-foot cross of two steel beams amongst the debris of 6 World Trade Center. [ [http://aladysruminations.blogspot.com/2005_09_11_aladysruminations_archive.html#112649949340126788 Internet Mirror of a NY Post story] for the NY Post on September 23, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2006.] Those with access to the site used the cross as a shrine of sorts, leaving messages on it or praying before it. [http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/wtccross.asp WTC Cross] on Snopes by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson updated September 11, 2003. Retrieved April 3, 2006.] [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/nyregion/23rebuild.html?ex=1269234000&en=295256aff3f0559d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt |title=Port Authority Spells Out Efforts to Save Trade Center Remnants |author=Collins, Glenn |date=March 23, 2005 |publisher=New York Times |accessdate=2006-04-06]

After a few weeks within the cleanup site the cross was an impediment to nearby work, so Silecchia and others working on the project received an expedited approval from the office of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to erect it on a pedestal on a portion of the former plaza on Church Street near Liberty. It was moved by crane on October 3 and installed on October 4, [ [http://www.september11news.com/Mysteries1.htm Mysteries] for September 11 News, copyright 2001-2003. Retrieved April 3, 2006.] [ [http://www.peaceofficerministries.org/letter.htm Letter to Lower Manhattan Development Corporation] . Accessed April 5, 2006.] where it continued as a shrine and tourist attraction. [cite news|url=http://www.gothamgazette.com/citizen/sep02/irish-wtc.shtml |title=Priest Wants WTC Cross Memorial Preserved |author=McKinley, Stephen | date=August 28-September 03, 2002 |publisher=Gotham Gazette/Irish Echo] The cross has remained during reconstruction, but in the 2004 and 2005 filings of its site plan, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey indicated that "additional remnants" of the original World Trade Center might require removal and storage during construction of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. [ [http://www.panynj.gov/pathrestoration/ppt/ppt.php?page=../lib/story.php&sid=art016 PATH restoration plan] , final approval received July 2005.]

Cultural response

Some saw the crossed metal as a Christian cross and felt its survival was symbolic. Fr. Brian Jordan OFM, a Roman Catholic Franciscan priest, spoke over it and declared it to be a "symbol of hope... [a] symbol of faith... [a] symbol of healing". The cross had a profound effect on those with a personal connection to the disaster. One minister at the site says that when a family of a man who died in the attacks came to the cross shrine and left personal effects there, "It was as if the cross took in the grief and loss. I never felt Jesus more." [ [http://www.ldrny.org/TOPNEWS/topnews05-27-04.html Lutheran Disaster Response New York] Accessed April 6, 2006.]

A replica has been installed at the gravesite of Father Mychal Judge, a New York Fire Department chaplain who was killed in the collapse of WTC 1 on September 11. [ [http://www.saintmychal.com/story070.htm 9/11 victims remembered at Graymoor] from Irish Echo, at Mychal Judge memorial site. Accessed April 5, 2006.] Other surviving crossbeams were salvaged from the rubble; one was given to a Far Rockaway, New York chapter of the Knights of Columbus in 2004. [ [http://www.rockawave.com/news/2004/0910/Community/068.html K of C to Dedicate WTC Cross to 9/11 victims] for the Rockawave on September 10, 2004. Retrieved April 3, 2006.] Another replica cross was fashioned by ironworkers from Trade Center steel and installed at Graymoor, the Upper West Side headquarters of the Society of the Atonement, a religious order of Franciscan friars. [cite news|url=http://cny.org/archive/ld/ld090403.htm |title=Second anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks to be marked with church bells and prayer |author=Mary Ann Poust |publisher=Catholic New York |date=September, 2003 |accessdate=2006-04-06]

The nearby St. Paul's Chapel, which survived the destruction and was a refuge for survivors and site laborers, sells various replicas of the cross including lapel pins and rosaries. [ [http://www.saintpaulschapel.org/ St. Paul's Chapel website] ] The cross even inspired laborers on "The Pile" to get tattoos. [cite web|url=http://www.thelaborers.net/NEWS/tattoo_unites_wtc.htm |title=Tattoo unites WTC's laborers; cross a reminder "of all that hell" |publisher=From the Laborers Network |accessdate=2006-04-05]

The potential use of the cross in the World Trade Center Memorial has been controversial. Many groups such as families of the victims want the cross to be included, [cite news|author=Celeste Katz |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/24390p-23123c.html|title= Families want 9/11 cross in memorial |publisher=New York Daily News |date=October 5, 2002 |accessdate=2006-04-06] while other organizations, notably American Atheists and the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, [cite news|title=WTC Cross: Sign From God or Debris? |author=Levy, Julia | publisher=The New York Sun |date=2003, May 14] disagree.

Relocation efforts

Fr. Jordan has been trying to preserve the cross since April 2006. St. Peter's Church, which faces the World Trade Center site, was proposed as a temporary spot for relocation during construction of the new PATH station and office tower at the site. [cite news |title=Priest tries to safeguard cross at World Trade Center Site |url=http://www.kare11.com/news/national/national_article.aspx?storyid=123096| date=2006-04-14| publisher=Associated Press] The cross was eventually moved to St. Peter's on October 5, 2006. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/05/wtc.cross.ap/index.html Steel-beam cross moved from WTC site] from the AP by CNN. Retrieved October 5th, 2006.]

ee also

* World Trade Center site

References