Dear Friends,

Part of my job as vicar over the past year or so has been to work with various community, city, state, and Port Authority groups who are planning for a new World Trade Center. Making sure that St. Paul’s Chapel is an integral part of those plans and that anything built on the site remains open and accessible to the chapel have been our themes throughout the planning process. Fortunately, our vision of what a rebuilt and renewed Church Street might look like is shared by several of our most important neighbors, including the Century 21 Department Store and the Millennium Hilton Hotel (which is set for its grand re-opening on May 5).

I believe that Daniel Liebeskind’s proposal for building at the World Trade Center site provides soaring inspiration. The current plans, however, include a tall building opposite St. Paul’s that could overshadow the churchyard and its all-important trees which, as you know, were at least partially responsible for saving the chapel itself from destruction on September 11, 2001. A modest alteration to the plan could leave the corner of Church and Vesey Streets open and green, respecting the history and sacred nature of St. Paul’s and proclaiming that the World Trade Center site itself has now become sacred ground, as well.

I like the architects’ plans for a “Wedge of Light” because that open space between new buildings would preserve, at least partially, a sight line through which the steeple of St. Paul’s Chapel could be seen from the west. If you have walked or driven along the west side of lower Manhattan, I am sure that you appreciate the inspiring sight of the St. Paul’s Chapel steeple, visible now from the west for the first time in over thirty years.

Finally, wouldn’t it be grand if the architects and planners gave some thought not just to the site, but to the whole neighborhood, as well? There is a unique opportunity at this moment to create along Church Street a sort of downtown version of Fifth Avenue, with store fronts, lively pedestrian traffic, and a new retail area...all boundaried on the north by St. Paul’s Chapel and on the south by Trinity Church, reminding our community and the world of the redeeming love of God in Jesus Christ.

May God continue to bless each of you richly in this Easter season!

Faithfully,

The Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard,
Vicar

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