St. Paul’s Exhibition Puts Visitors Inside a Ministry

In bright, swirling letters, one banner reads “Peace,” and another, “Courage.” Another reads “Oklahoma City Loves You.”

Exhibition tablets at St. Paul's.

Once icons of the ministry to ground-zero’s workers at St. Paul’s, the banners are key elements in a new Trinity Church exhibition honoring ground zero workers and the volunteers who served them.

St. Paul’s, a chapel of Trinity Church built in 1766, is adjacent to the former World Trade Center plaza. For eight months after last September’s terrorist attacks, until recovery work stopped at the end of May, thousands of recovery workers ate, slept, received counsel and supplies there, and felt part of a nourished community.

For the ministry’s duration, St. Paul’s was closed to the public. Lynn Brewster, Trinity’s designer for the exhibit, wanted to share the chapel’s spirit. “At St. Paul’s, there was something wonderful. With the exhibition, we’re showing the world a piece of what happened.”

Long tablets show photographs and text describing the facets of the ministry - such as “Rest,” “Pastoral Care,” and “Memorial Altar.” Visitors may pray in chapel pews, which are scuffed by worker’s boots and tools - and walk the exhibition, which begins on the portico facing Broadway.

Posted on Trinity News September 6, 2002.

When & Where: “St. Paul’s Chapel Out of the Dust: A Year of Ministry at Ground Zero” opens September 11, 2002 at 8 am. St. Paul’s Chapel is located at Broadway and Fulton streets in lower Manhattan. After September 11, the exhibit is open Monday through Saturday 10am - 6pm; Sundays 10 am to 4 pm. NY One news tells the story (text and video) A Day of Hope and Healing Full schedule