September 10, 2010
By Pat McCaughan and Mary Frances Schjonberg

Episcopal Church and other religious leaders are planning interfaith events on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the day when highjacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the day a Christian pastor had said he would burn copies of the Quran.

The Sept. 11 commemorations will come the day after both the Jewish New Year celebration of Rosh Hashanah and Eid-el Fitr, the end of the monthlong Islamic observance of Ramadan.

They will also take place against the backdrop of what the National Council of Churches recently called the "anti-Muslim frenzy" that has existed in the United States since plans were announced to build an Islamic community center in Manhattan, two blocks from where the Twin Towers of the Trade Center once stood.

The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, NCC general secretary, told the group's Governing Board members in a Sept. 9 letter that the aftermath of the 2001 attacks has been "almost as horrible" as the day itself "What began with a twisted plot by a handful of terrorists with bizarre ideas about God evolved quickly into two wars, tens of thousands of additional deaths among all combatants, and the deepening of xenophobic misunderstandings on all sides about the nature of Christianity, Judaism and Islam," he wrote.

The American Bible Society ran an advertisement in the New York Times Sept. 10 headlined "Burning the Qu'ran does not illuminate the Bible" and signed by major religious groups, including the NCC and Christian Churches Together in the USA, both of which include the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Sarah Midzalkowski, Canterbury Michigan State University chaplain, said she initially planned a "Read the Qu'ran" Sept. 11 public interfaith event to counter the "hate-filled actions" of the widely publicized intention of nondenominational Dove World Outreach Church Pastor Terry Jones' vow to stage an "International Burn the Koran Day" at his church in Gainesville, Florida.

"To burn something is to remain ignorant of it, so we said the best response is to read it, … as an act of education and community," Midzalkowski said during a Sept. 9 telephone interview from her East Lansing office in the Diocese of Michigan.

She and the Rev. Kit Carlson, rector of nearby All Saints Church where the campus ministry meets "wanted to let the community and the campus have a chance to come and do something positive on Sept. 11 and to make a statement against the type of action happening in Florida."

Midzalkowski said the event would proceed as planned, whether or not Jones actually burned copies of the sacred texts.

Jones announced Sept. 9 that he had canceled the event after striking an agreement with a Manhattan imam to move construction of a mosque away from ground zero. But hours later, after the Islamic center project's planners said no such deal existed, he appeared to reconsider, later telling the New York Times that he had merely suspended the book-burning.

Jones' relatively unknown church sparked worldwide political and media furor as well as condemnation and concern for the safety of American troops and civilians abroad. The intense publicity also prompted questions about the role of media coverage. Internet access to the church's website was unavailable Sept. 10, replaced by a message that the website is "under construction."

Local reaction was swift, as Bishop Leo Frade of Southeast Florida in a Sept. 7 letter challenged Jones and called his book-burning plans "an act of intolerance and religious stupidity."

The Rev. Andrew R. Heyes, rector of St. Clement Episcopal Church in Tampa, about 130 miles south of Gainesville in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, said he will preach against extremist actions such as Jones during a Sunday sermon. In Gainesville, Dr. Mohammad Taqi, an assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine and a spokesman for the Gainesville Muslim Initiative, an educational initiative, told the Miami Herald that he applauded vocal opposition to Jones.

Taqi said the institute has planned a homeless-feeding outreach on Sept. 11 and is organizing educational and interfaith events throughout the month in response to the Dove Center. On Sept. 8, about 300 people had gathered at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Gainesville for an interfaith service to pray for peace.

The Rev. Bill Tully, rector St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City, said in a Sept. 10 e-mail that the world may be in the midst of "religiously obsessed culture wars," but "we're also largely ignorant, often even of our own religious traditions, and almost always about others.'"

"That won't do in this global village, where the crudest, most anxious and reactive opinions can digitally spread the world in seconds," he said.

Episcopal congregations large and small, close to the sites destroyed on Sept. 11 and those far away will mark the day with some using the events to promote ecumenical and interfaith understanding.

The planned activities include meditative labyrinth walks at many Episcopal churches such as Trinity Episcopal Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and St. John's Episcopal Church in Montclair, New Jersey. Nine of those who died on Sept. 11 were either from Montclair or had familial connections in the town across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

At Trinity Wall Street and its St. Paul's Chapel (both within site and sound of World Trade Center site) commemorations will begin at 12 a.m. with a six-hour vigil until dawn at St. Paul's. The chapel will be available for prayer, meditation and labyrinth walks.

The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Trinity's rector, will ring the church's Bell of Hope from 8:45 a.m.- 9 a.m., coinciding with the minutes during which a highjacked plane hit each of the Trade Center's 110-story towers.

Also that day at Trinity, there will be a Votive Eucharist for Peace over the noon hour and an ecumenical service followed by prayers for healing at St. Paul's, the site of a relief center for recovery and construction workers who labored at the Trade Center site for eight months following the attacks. Harpist Laura Sherman will offer a musical mediation at St. Paul's from 1 p.m.- 3 p.m.

A bell will also ring at All Saints Episcopal Church in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, during its ninth annual interdenominational commemoration. The gathering will begin at 8:30 a.m. and last until 1 p.m. The church bell will be rung at 8:46 a.m. to mark the time when the first airplane struck, crashing into the World Trade Center's north tower.

"This gives everyone an opportunity to pray and meditate on that tragedy," coordinator Marilyn Barrett-O'Leary told the Hammond Daily Star newspaper, noting that many people in the area have lost a loved one serving in the military in the years since the attacks.

In a sampling of other commemorations:

• The Saturday noon service at Washington National Cathedral will be offered in recognition of the ninth anniversary of the attacks and prayers will be offered in memory of the lives lost and affected. At the start of the service, the cathedral's Bourdon Bell will toll nine times, marking the ninth anniversary of the attacks.

• In New Haven, Connecticut, the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries is sponsoring an interfaith prayer vigil at 7 p.m. on the front steps of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church (Elm and College streets in New Haven) "to express solidarity and support for freedom of religion and for the Muslim communities of the Greater New Haven area," according to a press release.

"All are welcome to gather peacefully with members of our Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities – as well as people of other religions who choose to join in – to lift voices in prayer for peace, respect and collaborative ministry in the New Haven area and Southern Connecticut," the release said.

• Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in the Diocese of California will celebrate the lives of those who died in the terrorist attacks during the cathedral's quarterly Requiem Eucharist at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Grace. The quarterly Requiem Eucharists to memorialize those whose ashes rest in the cathedral's columbarium.

• In New York City, St. Bartholomew's Church plans a choral Eucharist sung at 11 a.m. in memory of those who died. Members of St. Bartholomew's Choir will sing works that include a chant setting of the final commendation in the Book of Common Prayer's Burial Rite. St. Bart's tradition originated several years ago as a memorial for the 10 members of Engine 8 Ladder 2, Battalion 8 of the New York Fire Department station house on East 51st Street near the church. St. Bart's choral Eucharist on Sept. 12 will offer the Requiem of Jean in memory of those who died in the attacks.

• The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania will convene an "Interfaith Remembrance" at St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Harrisburg on Sept.12 at 3 p.m. The date was chosen to avoid conflicts with the Jewish Sabbath and the Muslim Eid-el Fitr. The Remembrance will include Buddhist, Baha'i, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Hindu and other representatives with brief readings or reflections illustrating their faith's response to Sept. 11, according to a press release.

"Each religion has valuable insights which may complement those of others, and regarding many great moral issues, the great religions share common moral values," the release said. "On this ninth anniversary of 9/11, we hope to hear some of those teachings, noting with respect both when they converge with and when they differ."

• The Rev. Ed. Bacon, rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, in the Diocese of Los Angeles is a featured speaker at "United We Stand" an interfaith peace vigil held at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

• Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis in the Diocese of Missouri was to host "Standing Together Against Intolerance," from 3 p.m.-4 p.m., a service to honor diversity and commitments to peace. A diverse and growing coalition of Muslims, Christians and other faith communities "want to stand together with one voice to reclaim the value of our shared humanity and honor the Sacred that sustains all of us. We want to say ‘No More!' to the voices of intolerance and distrust which assume that difference means menace," according to an event flyer posted on the church's website.

• St. Thomas' Church in Richmond in the Diocese of Virginia is hosting "One God of Love and Peace," a 2 p.m. Muslim/Christian celebration and thanksgiving "for our common humanity as brothers and sisters created by one God," according to the church website. Dr. Imad Damaj of the Islamic Center of Virginia and the Rev. Susan N. Eaves, St. Thomas' rector, will read passages from the Quran and Christian Scriptures, according to the website.

• In the Cincinnati-based Diocese of Southern Ohio Episcopalians are planning to join an interfaith solidarity service, "Burn NO Sacred Books" at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Clintonville, Ohio. The service is intended to "affirm religious tolerance and build a pluralistic society where all share equal dignity and mutual loyalty," according to a brochure publicizing the event.

• The Rev. Dorothy Natonabah Sauceda of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Tempe, in the Diocese of Arizona is a featured speaker in "Children of Abraham" at the Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe, a celebration of diversity and solidarity during which local imams, pastors and rabbis will tell beloved stories from sacred Scripture.

Elsewhere, church leaders said they intend to tackle the subject on Sunday morning.

Bishop Jeffrey Lee of Chicago called upon diocesan congregations to observe a weekend of prayer Sept. 10-12 using "An Invitation to Pray Together for the Extinguishing of Fires and Kindling of a Flame" resources provided by the Chicago Faith Coalition for Mideast Policy.

In his statement, Lee said acts of intolerance "must be met with an unambiguous assertion of God's reconciling and unifying love. Through our prayer let us be the voice for understanding and compassion, respecting the dignity of every human being, and loving our neighbors as ourselves."

Bishop William Smalley, interim rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Anderson, Indiana, in the Diocese of Indianapolis, also endorsed tolerance.

"We're all children of Abraham. Islam and Judaism and Christianity all come from Abrahamic roots and we really are children of common parents and we shouldn't be acting this way," said Smalley.

"In the Episcopal Church, we have been saying we really need to have dialogue with one another. We can't have dialogue with one another if we're burning each other's sacred books," he said.

However, not everyone applauded the efforts at dialogue.

In East Lansing, Michigan, the Rev. Kit Carlson, All Saints' rector, said she'd received numerous phone calls, both supportive of and in opposition to the church's "Read the Qu'ran" event.

"We've had a number of phone calls accusing us of not being the right kind of Christians because we're allowing some other religious holy book to be read in our sanctuary," Carlson told the Lansing State Journal Sept. 9.

"We are not reading this holy book as part of our own worship. We are simply reading it to hear the words of another faith and to realize that other religions – while we may not follow them or practice them or believe in them – other religions are not things to fear or hide from."

Canterbury Michigan State University chaplain Midzalkowski said representatives from the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing will read the Quran in Arabic and translate it into English.

"Right now it is desperately important for people of good will of all faiths to strive toward better interfaith relationships and understandings. It has to begin with education and friendship between people of different faiths," she said, adding "churches have got to do everything we can to reach out to people of other faiths and to have another voice to counterbalance the hate stuff out there."

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Pat McCaughan is a national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service. She is based in Los Angeles. The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service and editor of Episcopal News Monthly/Quarterly.