Hundreds of families in the World Trade Center attack, already robbed of the intimacy of the deathbed, are now being cheated out of the rituals of mourning. Having the deceased dressed in her favorite clothes for a Catholic wake, scattering ashes in a river for a Hindu ceremony, reading prayers at the Jewish cemetery, cocooning the body in a white shroud for a Muslim burial: They are traditions born of faith and handed down across time. And none of them are possible.
The reason is both simple and overwhelming: They have no bodies.
"Whatever religion people may be, having the body gives people some real sense of consolation," said the Reverend Jim Cunningham, pastor of St. Bartholomew's Church in Elmhurst, Queens, who has consulted with the relatives of several victims. "I would want it myself. But if you look at it from a religious perspective, the soul leaves the body and is with God."
Family members' decisions about what to do now have been as varied as the lives taken by the terrorist attack on the twin towers. Many are going ahead with memorials that contain many of the same prayers and ceremonies of a conventional funeral. Some are waiting for remains to bury before holding any service. Some are nudging their reluctant kin to say goodbye. Others are utterly unsure of what to do.
In lieu of the physical, there are pictures, sometimes in place of where an open casket would be.
There are objects dear to the person. A wife's chartreuse scarf is placed at an altar. A husband's sneakers are displayed at a memorial Mass. Favorite candy is offered to the guests.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday that every family would receive something from the site. "We hope that we can recover remains," the mayor said, "but we will give every family something from the World Trade Center, from the soil, from the ground, so that they can take it with them."
Moving ahead with the rituals of mourning is complicated by a most delicate calibration: When do you give up hope?
Hope lasted five, maybe six, days for Maureen Olson's family in Rockville Center, on Long Island. At first, they jumped every time the phone rang. They thought she might be wandering dazed through Brooklyn. Then they thought maybe she lay unconscious in a hospital. Then they hoped someone would find her under the rubble.
Finally, last Monday, the family held a memorial Mass. Pictures of Olson filled the vestibule of the church. A thousand people showed up.
After the Mass, Olson's sister, Dorothy Crowley, admitted that she sometimes imagines her sister pulling up the driveway, with lollipops in her purse. Perhaps, Crowley mused, that is because she hasn't been able to lean on some of the old traditional mourning rites -- dressing her sister for the funeral, hearing the sound of dirt being shoveled over the coffin. "I think it is going to take a long time before we fully accept it," Crowley said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from