Costs of New York Lutheran Disaster Response Effort High

NEW YORK (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) may need as much as $20 million over a three-year period to respond to a multitude of human needs here in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center, said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, LDR director, Chicago.
Furst made the comments during a visit here Sept. 18-19, one week after the terrorist attacks. The visit included leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS), which work together in responding to domestic disasters through LDR.
"This is probably more money than has been ever put in a disaster in the history of the ELCA," Furst said. "This is a long-term effort, the needs are deep, and they're incredible."
Resources from both the ELCA and LCMS will be needed. Funds will be used for ministry to children, clergy support, counseling, emergency assistance for families and educational resources on Islam, Furst said. The programs will be administered through local Lutheran partner agencies, he said.
As of Sept. 20, as many as 6,300 people are missing or dead in the World Trade Center attacks, according to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. More than 200 people are missing or dead in the attack on the Pentagon, according to the United States Department for Defense. Two- hundred and sixty-six people died in the four airplanes that were hijacked and crashed Sept. 11.
In New York, Lutherans know the names of more than 100 parents of children or church members who are unaccounted for or dead as a result of the attacks, said the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod.
At least 50 Lutheran schools and centers have at least one child with a parent or immediate family member missing in lower Manhattan, said Marlene Lund, executive director, Lutheran Schools Association of Metropolitan New York/New Jersey. In addition, some 19 schools in New York that serve Islamic children are asking Lutheran counselors for help, she said.
As a result of the attacks, staff of Lutheran Social Services (LSS) of Metropolitan New York are housed temporarily at the Interchurch Center in Upper West Manhattan, said Anthony Harris, acting chief executive officer. The LSS building, within two blocks of where the World Trade Center towers stood, was damaged when falling debris knocked a hole in the roof, he said.

LUTHERAN LEADERS, STAFF MEET TO OFFER MUTUAL SUPPORT

The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, Chicago, and the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, St. Louis, traveled to New York to show support for local church leaders. Bouman and the Rev. David H. Benke, president of the LCMS Atlantic District, have been working together to respond to human needs following the attacks. The ELCA and LCMS leaders met at the Interchurch Center in Manhattan.
"You have no idea how heartening it is that you are here today," Bouman said. "We are doing this together as the church."
"We will work together to the maximum possible degree as Lutherans," Benke said. "We'll focus on what unites us as we proclaim the Gospel."
Local church leaders should know that they are not alone, Anderson said. The ELCA has received phone calls and messages of condolence and support from Lutherans throughout the world in the wake of the attacks, he said.
The church appreciates what the local leaders have done and is sensitive to what they are experiencing, Kieschnick said.
The Lutheran leaders met with Stephen Unger, a chaplain with the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who has been working the site of World Trade Center destruction since Sept. 11. Unger, who attends an LCMS congregation on Long Island, described the grisly scene for the Lutheran leaders. Later, he escorted Anderson, Kieschnick, Bouman, Benke and LDR representatives for an exclusive visit to the World Trade Center site for a first-hand look at the rescue and recovery effort.
After the site visit, Furst said one thing he will remember is the smell in the air.
"I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death" he said in an interview. "That was the heaviest moment I think -- to realize the depth of loss, to see a seven-story pile of twisted girders and steel and other kinds of building materials. Those buildings stood 110 stories high and they were compressed in this pile. It was very tragic. It was a war zone in the worst war movie you ever could imagine."
The force of the twin towers' collapse, which left the structure in a pile of rubble, was an image Anderson said he would remember.
"I was also struck by how needed the chaplains were at the site," Anderson added. "They were ministering to police and fire personnel who were working through the rubble." FBI, police and fire personnel also expressed deep appreciation to the Lutheran leaders during the site visit, Anderson said.

LEADERS AND MEMBERS GATHER TO SHARE STORIES, PRAY AND WORSHIP

Lutheran clergy and members from the ELCA and LCMS met together Sept. 19 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Manhattan. They shared information, prayed and worshiped together, in a rare show of unity between the two Lutheran denominations. Also attending were at least five ELCA synod bishops from nearby synods and several LCMS district presidents.
Kieschnick told the pastors that one of their greatest challenges is to help people who want to close this chapter in their lives. "Your challenge is to help people who want closure, but won't have a body to place in a grave," he said.
In his remarks, Anderson urged the pastors to take care of themselves and realize they cannot do everything for everyone. Each should make time for "distance and rest," he said.
"Pace yourselves," he said. "This will be a long struggle." The church must also be a place of calm and restraint in communities, he added.
"Everything is connected and nothing is connected," Benke said at worship, adding the differences that separate the ELCA and LCMS "seem so trivial."
"Nothing will separate us from the love of Jesus Christ," he said.
In his worship reflection, Bouman said it is important for people not to seek vengeance for what happened. And, any pastor who thought his or her work was not needed should not believe that anymore.
"It may take the biggest act of faith you can ever work up to be behind the [altar] table, or in the pulpit or in the narthex, but this world needs you," Bouman said.
"It is good to be together today," he concluded. "I have yearned for this. Know how much you are cherished and loved."
In an interview, Bouman said that ELCA and LCMS members and organizations in New York have a long history of working together. But for every church member in the city, things will be different.
"This is really a defining moment for the church, and we have to step up," he said. Bouman expressed appreciation for the many messages of support the synod has received.
"It's important for people to know that we're still reacting, so we don't know what we're going to need," Bouman said. "So, all these wonderful pledges of support are received as prayers." Bouman promised to "reach out" to the church with specific requests for help when those are clearly known.

ATTACKS AFFECT ARABIC LUTHERAN CONGREGATION
During the Sept. 19 meetings, the Rev. Khader N. El-Yateem, pastor of Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Brooklyn, expressed great concern for members of his small congregation. He said he has spoken with many members who will not leave their homes because they are terrified of retributions for the attacks. Arab Christians and Muslims in the United States "mourn with America," he said.
"I'm just asking them to stay calm and not to respond to anybody who makes remarks against them,"