Ceremonies at St. Pat's, Other Churches

By Bobby Cuza and Margaret Ramirez | STAFF WRITERS

September 17, 2001

Gov. George Pataki hugs widow Christy Ferraro who lost her husband Neil Levitt at a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. (Jennifer S. Altman / Newsday)

With wounds still fresh from the World Trade Center tragedy and cries of grief echoing throughout the city, thousands turned to their churches yesterday to seek spiritual comfort.

From St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan to Allen A.M.E. Church in Jamaica; from St. Francis in Rockaway to the New Life Christian Center in Brooklyn, houses of worship overflowed with congregants who wept and prayed for the wounded, the missing and the dead.

At a 5:30 p.m. service at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Cardinal Edward Egan reflected on the horrific event. Those gathered included Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Thousands more crowded Fifth Avenue outside the church, listening to the cardinal's message on loudspeakers.

"This past week, you and I have seen evil up close," Egan said. "We have seen innocent men and women killed by faceless criminals, and we are stunned and confused. We are not, however, shaken."

Egan praised the countless police officers and firefighters who risked their lives to save others. "What we have come to call ground zero, I call ground hero," he said.

In closing his homily, Egan read a message from Pope John Paul II, urging the faithful "not to be conquered by evil but to conquer evil with good."

At Allen A.M.E. Church in Jamaica, members packed pews for the three morning services. During the first service at 6:30 a.m., the Rev. Floyd Flake called on religious leaders to help heal the nation. Flake called the attack on the World Trade Center an "evil deed" that God would deal with in His own way.

"Vengeance is the Lord's," Flake said to thunderous applause. "This is not a time for vengeance. God's methodology is love. There is healing in the Lord today but only if we love one another. God aims for us to love one another."

At the New York Christian Life Center in Brooklyn, more than 5,000 congregants turned out for a standing-room-only 11 a.m. service. Women sobbed and men dabbed at tears as half a dozen church members recalled their most recent moments with loved ones missing after the World Trade Center attack.

The Rev. A.R. Bernard, pastor of the 7,000-member church, urged his congregation to glorify, praise and honor God "in defiance of the evil."

"The ultimate object of terrorism is to create fear, but God has not given us a power of fear, but of a sound mind," Bernard said. "Let there be a rejoicing in the city in the face of the enemy."

At Catholic parishes in Belle Harbor and Breezy Point in the Rockaways, about 60 firefighters are missing or dead, according to some estimates.

"This is what is called the age of anxiety," the Rev. Louis Gaetano said during a homily at the 9 a.m. mass at St. Francis de Sales Church in Belle Harbor. "The old world is gone."

Parishioners wept and hugged the family members of those who have yet to be found and those few who have found their loved ones' bodies. Ronnie Hynes, whose husband, fire Capt. Walter Hynes, was found last week, said she had faced the difficult task of telling her three daughters their father was dead.

"The three of them were waiting for me when I got out of the shower on Thursday," Hynes said. "They asked if I had heard anything about Daddy. I couldn't lie. I said Daddy is in heaven, and he's not coming home."

At Grace Episcopal Church in lower Manhattan, the Rev. David Rider told the congregation to "join in vigilant prayer for those who have died" and "those whose fate is known to God alone."

When the service ended, the usual processional hymn was replaced by a chilling silence. The only sounds piercing the air were the soft tolling of church bells, sobs and then, from outside, the wail of another ambulance.

Staff writers Curtis L. Taylor, Merle English and Halimah Abdullah contributed to this story.