Controversy Over World Trade Center Cross - A Franciscan Connection

 

On NBC’s Today’s show website, Today.com, was a story concerning a group called American Atheists, and their attempts to prevent the “World Trade Center cross” from being displayed in the “9/11” museum.  The WTC cross is a section of crossbeams, shaped like the Christian cross, which was discovered in the rubble of World Trade Center.  Many of the workers on the site, first responders, and visitors to site said they received comfort from seeing the WTC cross on the site.  The American Atheists filed suit, claiming that although the “9/11” museum is a private organization; is being located on land being leased from the government.  The group believes displaying the cross will violate the constitutional separation of Church and State.  A federal judge has ruled against their suit, but the group is appealing.

There is a Franciscan connection to this story.  Father Brian Jordan, OFM, a Franciscan Friar of Holy Name Province, was one of the many members of the clergy helping those working on the WTC site.  It was Father Jordan who blessed the WTC cross before it was moved to the 9/11 museum.  There is a story of that event on the Holy Name Province website.