The Ground Zero Cross They Wanted Erased — 25 Years Later, It’s Still Standing
Two days after September 11th, a laborer digging with his bare hands through the rubble of the World Trade Center looked up and saw a steel cross left standing. Twenty years later, someone took it before a federal judge to make it disappear — and lost.
This is the true story of the Ground Zero Cross. How it emerged from the twisted beams of Building Six of the World Trade Center, how it became the place of prayer for the rescue workers, the Franciscan friar Brian Jordan and the Midnight Mass celebrated in the mud on Christmas of 2001, Father Mychal Judge — chaplain to the New York firefighters and the first officially confirmed victim of the attack — the page of the Gospel found fused inside a piece of steel, and the legal battle in which the American Atheists tried to have the cross removed from the Memorial, rejected by the judges in 2013 and again in 2014.
A story of faith, of grief, and of hope, on the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
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CHAPTERS
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0:00 — A Cross on Trial
0:28 — Two Days Later: Found in the Rubble
1:50 — The Rescue Workers’ Place of Prayer
3:03 — Father Brian Jordan and Christmas 2001
4:20 — The Page of the Gospel Fused in Steel
5:08 — Father Mychal Judge, the First Victim
6:29 — From the Ruins to the Museum
7:06 — The Lawsuit: The American Atheists
8:06 — The Ruling: And They Lost
8:59 — 25 Years Later: Still Standing
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SOURCES (by chapter)
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• The discovery, Frank Silecchia, the steel cross (ch. 0:28):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_cross
• The rescue workers’ testimonies (ch. 1:50):
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/rescue-recovery-their-own-voices-father-brian-jordan
• Father Brian Jordan, the blessing, the Masses and Christmas 2001 (ch. 3:03):
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/rescue-recovery-their-own-voices-father-brian-jordan
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/priest-details-wtc-cross-13-year-journey-new-book
• The Bible page fused to steel (ch. 4:20):
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/911-bible/
https://www.history.com/articles/9-11-artifacts-ground-zero-photos
• Father Mychal Judge, first confirmed victim (ch. 5:08):
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/remembering-fdny-chaplain-father-mychal-judge
• The move to the museum (ch. 6:29):
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/wtc-cross-installed-911-memorial-museum-updated
• The American Atheists lawsuit and the 2013–2014 rulings (ch. 7:06 and 8:06):
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/0729/Why-court-rejected-atheists-lawsuit-against-cross-at-ground-zero
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/cross-shaped_beam_found_in_9-11_rubble_may_be_displayed_in_ground_zero_muse
#GroundZero #GroundZeroCross #Faith
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