Prayer Service at Yankee Stadium

Event to be broadcast across the city, region

By Margaret Ramirez | STAFF WRITER

September 21, 2001

"A Prayer for America," a service for the families and colleagues of victims of the World Trade Center disaster, will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium and will be beamed across the city.

"This event will give families of victims and those affected by the tragedy an opportunity to come together, worship together and gain strength from the support of their fellow New Yorkers and Americans," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said yesterday of the interfaith service.

The service will be broadcast via satellite, Giuliani said, to large television screens at KeySpan Park in Coney Island, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, and to the Richmond County Savings Bank Ballpark on Staten Island, where the Staten Island Yankees play.

Giuliani said the broadcast also will be transmitted by local television stations and shown at houses of worship throughout the city.

Tickets for the event will be distributed free of charge, with priority going to family members of victims and rescue workers.

Tickets will be available from 8 a.m. today until noon tomorrow at the following city police precinct houses: the 13th and 24th precincts in Manhattan; the 48th, 67th and 90th precincts in Brooklyn; the 107th and 112th precincts in Queens; and the 122nd Precinct on Staten Island.

Tickets also will be available at the Family Assistance Center at Pier 94 in Manhattan.

Those outside the city should contact Nassau County police, Suffolk County police, Westchester County police, New Jersey State Police and the Connecticut State Police for tickets.

Doors to the stadium will open at 11 a.m. Sunday and seats will not be held after 2 p.m. The mayor urged people to use public transportation and said that no bags, backpacks, bottles or umbrellas will be allowed inside.

Speakers at the event are to include Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki, Cardinal Edward Egan and Imam Izak-El M. Pasha, spiritual leader of Harlem's Masjid Malcolm Shabazz mosque and other leaders of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.