13 Comments

David Nickol
September 10th, 2011 | 11:56 am

The NRO article by Frank and Simon notes:

It turns out that this omission of clergy participants has been a normal pattern of annual commemorations of 9/11. But on this tenth anniversary, the decision has finally been noticed, and it has become hugely controversial.

An AP article says:

The mayor’s office says the annual event focuses on relatives of Sept. 11 victims and has never included clergy invocations. Bloomberg has said it would be impossible to include everyone who would like to participate.

Evelyn Erskine, a Bloomberg spokeswoman, said the program was designed in coordination with 9/11 families and included readings that were “spiritual and personal in nature.” Six moments of silence were planned for personal reflection and prayer. Police and fire chaplains who work with the 9/11 families will attend.

It goes on to say the following:

Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan said he had met with Bloomberg about a month ago and they had discussed the ceremony.

“He, too, I think was under some restrictions. I think other people were involved in the planning not just him,” Dolan said in an interview last week with the cable news outlet NY1. “He was very honest and up front. ‘I think it’s very limited. It may not be the way I want it, but it’s just going to be immediate family and the political people who were in office then and political people now.’ I’m fine with that.”

Dolan said he and other clergy have “stacks of invitations” for prayer services surrounding the anniversary.

Here’s an excerpt from a USA Today editorial:

City officials have worked for years with the families to design a way to pay tribute to those who died on 9/11, and this format is what they devised. Surely, some family members agree with critics that prayer should be part of the ceremony, but organized protest by family groups is conspicuously absent among the loud voices demanding prayer. The Families of September 11, a key group for those whose relatives died that day, had no comment when asked whether it wanted a change. Frankly, if the families are OK with the ceremony, what right does anyone else have to tell them how to honor their loved ones? . . .

This is how the day has been commemorated for nine years, so long that the ceremony at Ground Zero is now a tradition — emotional, respectful, inspiring and, until now, non-controversial. That’s how it should remain.

The tenth-anniversary commemoration is going to follow the same pattern as the previous nine, following the wishes of the 9/11 families. If it is all that important to have clergy at this particular annual event, one might ask why it took so long for their absence to be noticed.

I think the real question, which I am not sure anyone is willing to frankly discuss, is whether the families of the victims killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11 have been given too much attention and power over these past ten years. It appears they are getting what they want in this year’s commemoration, as they have previously, and Mayor Bloomberg is the one being criticized.

Liam
September 10th, 2011 | 12:50 pm

I think the sacrifice of a textured vegetable protein in the shape of a young bull on the steps of the Federal Hall National Memorial on Wall Street, catty corner from the NYSE, might be the most appropriate religious rite to epitomize this nation’s vector in the last decade. Let the People say, “Mission Accomplished!”.

John Farrier
September 10th, 2011 | 2:24 pm

I stopped reading at “Mayor Bloomberg’s Naked”. I don’t know if the post will go in the wrong direction, but I don’t want to take any chances.

Bruce Tereski
September 11th, 2011 | 4:29 pm

Bloomberg’s event gave prominent place to many politicians who were probably hiding in bunkers right after the attacks.
I wish Dolan had had a special Mass at the same exact time for all the police, firefighters, and clergy who were actually there and involved in the healing afterward but excluded from Bloomberg’s event. How sad to think that so many churches let his dis-Honor give a eulogy after funeral Masses for those killed in 9/11, but now this godless tyrannt (elected 3 terms after changing a law, although his ultra liberal cronies would not change the law in 2001 to allow Giuliani to run a third term right after 9/11) won’t allow prayers at this event.

David Nickol
September 11th, 2011 | 5:46 pm

I wish Dolan had had a special Mass at the same exact time for all the police, firefighters, and clergy who were actually there and involved in the healing afterward but excluded from Bloomberg’s event.

Bruce,

In case you didn’t read what I wrote above, I would like to point out that Archbishop Dolan spoke in defense of Mayor Bloomberg. Archbishop Dolan said:

“He [Bloomberg], too, I think was under some restrictions. I think other people were involved in the planning not just him,” Dolan said in an interview last week with the cable news outlet NY1. “He was very honest and up front. ‘I [Bloomberg] think it’s very limited. It may not be the way I want it, but it’s just going to be immediate family and the political people who were in office then and political people now.’ [To which Archbishop Dolan says:] I’m fine with that.”

Christiane
September 11th, 2011 | 8:36 pm

I am sincerely glad that the Families, who represent people of every faith, are being given say in how they want this remembrance to take place.

I’m afraid I’ve read too many snarky comments from people claiming to wish that their faith had been ‘represented’ at the memorial, and giving graphic Islamophobic examples of what should be said there.
When I think of having the Families exposed to some of that venom, it is a good thing that people in authority looked ahead and thought to shield the Families from that contempt.

David Gray
September 11th, 2011 | 9:12 pm

There are a lot of 9/11 families. I wonder which ones were consulted.

Joe McFaul
September 11th, 2011 | 11:18 pm

Well, this —-the mayor prefers the “naked public square” — stripped bare of religion—wasn’t true at all was it?

There were many references to religion, including a very tasteful and meaningful one by George Bush.

What was missing was preachers. “Preachers” are not “religion.” A very good decision for this particular occasion.

Richard M Bruton
September 12th, 2011 | 12:16 am

I watched the commemoration ceremony and found it to be very moving. I concur with Joe, preachers are not religion.

Liam
September 12th, 2011 | 8:37 am

And let us not forget President Obama’s offering of Psalm 46 without any commentary.

Brian English
September 12th, 2011 | 10:48 am

“I wish Dolan had had a special Mass at the same exact time for all the police, firefighters, and clergy who were actually there and involved in the healing afterward but excluded from Bloomberg’s event.”

On September 10th at 3:00 there was a Memorial Service at St. Patrick’s for the 343 Firefighters who were killed. I am sure there must be clips of it up on Youtube by now, and you really should track them down. It was an incredible thing to see.

Paul Cornish
September 12th, 2011 | 11:40 am

I was somewhat offended by the President’s reading of Psalm 46, as it smacks of civil/political religion and was misread (it is “bow” as in bow and arrows, not “bow” as in bow down to foreign leaders).

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