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Symbolic Sculpture Honors Trinity-St. Paul's 9/11 response

Episcopal News Service. May 9, 2005 [050905-1]

Matthew Davies

Roots of a sycamore tree that fell in St. Paul's Chapel churchyard in downtown Manhattan on September 11 -- missing all the historic tombstones and the church itself -- were returned May 5 to Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, by sculptor Steve Tobin after casting a mold of the stump and its remaining roots to use in preparation for his sculpture honoring St. Paul's. An outdoor community event and a festive Eucharist also marked Ascension Day at Trinity Church as well as the 159th anniversary of its consecration.

An uplifting story

After hearing the story of the sycamore, Tobin, who is best known for his bronze "Roots" sculpture, decided that he would use the roots of the sycamore as inspiration for a new sculpture. He envisioned the roots becoming a metaphor for the strength and connectedness of the ministry of St. Paul's in the aftermath of 9/11, and also wanted to honor the victims, volunteers and rescue workers.

The morning after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Rev. Lyndon Harris, an associate of St. Paul's at that time, walked to the chapel assuming that it had been demolished as the towers fell. When he saw the spire rising through the dust and discovered that the chapel had not suffered any damage, he knew he had a mission.

Over the next eight months St. Paul's operated full time as a relief site for emergency workers, keeping its doors open around the clock in order to provide food, respite and sanctuary.

When asked at the time when St. Paul's would get back to being a real church, Harris responded, "I don't think we've ever been, nor will ever be, any closer to a 'real church' than we are right now."

Tobin, who has been creating art since he was 13, described the response of St. Paul's to the events of September 11 as "the only uplifting story" surrounding the terrorist attacks. "St. Paul's changed its mandate that year and opened its doors," he said. "They were a vehicle for an uplifting response, so to make something that will be a lasting monument to this is a real honor."

Tobin explained that he has always been interested in science, and in his work he is connected to a broader spiritual context through studying "a philosophical reaction to the earth and the reaction to man and the surrounding environment."

"It is symbolic that [the terrorists] knocked down the buildings," he said, "and all that did was uncover the roots."

The completed sculpture will be dedicated and installed at Trinity Church, Wall Street, on September 10, 2005. [Further information on the work of Steve Tobin may be found online at: http://www.stevetobin.com/.]

Making a difference

Preaching at a midday Eucharist, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold acknowledged the work in which Trinity is involved throughout the church and the wider Anglican Communion, and the ministry of care and reconciliation into which St. Paul's entered after 9/11.

Trinity's rector, the Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, thanked Griswold for his life and leadership in the Church before introducing the deputy for grants at Trinity Church, the Rev. James Callaway, who announced the 2005 Trinity Transformational Fellows, honoring those committed to transformational ministry within the Diocese of New York.

This year's fellows were awarded to Marion E. D. Peng, a parishioner at the Church of St. Edward the Martyr in East Harlem, and the Rev. Richard L. Witt Jr, executive director of Rural and Migrant Ministry, a non-profit aligned with the Diocese of New York and connected with other Christian judicatories throughout New York.

Peng, a retired teacher and published poet, has been a leader in the Industrial Areas Foundation for more than 25 years. In the 1970s, she was active in school reform efforts in East Harlem. More recently, she registered voters in public housing projects and advocated for change in a local postal facility.

Witt has been instrumental in building coalitions that bring suburban and urban allies in support of farmworker issues. There have been significant legislative and policy changes as a result, including mandates for sanitation and drinking water in the fields. For the first time, farmworkers are part of the state minimum wage. Witt has also been instrumental in creating service-learning and civic engagement programs for the children of farmworkers and has been successful in creating partnerships with local colleges that provide scholarship funds to immigrants.

The yearlong fellowship, created in 2004, includes a $20,000 award and a six-week sabbatical to strengthen the recipients' ministries and mentor emerging leaders.

Callaway explained that for more than 300 years Trinity has supported the work of the Church and beyond. "We have been ministering to social transformation," he said. "Now we are supporting the people who make a difference."

[A video and photo gallery memorializing the St. Paul's Sycamore root can be accessed online at:

http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/news/article_484.shtml ]

[thumbnail: The roots of the sycamore...] [thumbnail: Steve Tobin, sculptor, pu...] [thumbnail: The Rev. James Cooper, re...]