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As the Rev. Greg Carpenter moved among the rescue and construction workers at the site of the former World Trade Center, he realized he needed something to give to them. So Carpenter, pastor of Haven United Methodist Church in East Providence, R.I., called Cokesbury and convinced the denominational supply house to send him 100 angel pins at a reduced price. In the late night and early morning hours he spent at "ground zero," he distributed the pins and a note including his name and his church affiliation. "That would help break the ice," he said.
A volunteer chaplain for the East Providence Police Department since 1996, he was sent to the New York area the week of Oct. 15 by the International Conference of Police Chaplains and then assigned to work with the Critical Incident Stress Management Teams for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Carpenter has training in the critical incident stress technique, which is used to "help debrief and defuse people" in hopes of preventing post-traumatic stress. He also has worked as a licensed marriage and family therapist for 18 years. But the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, of course, have been a bit different than other situations. Because the trauma is considered to be ongoing, he explained, there was no formal debriefing process. "What we did there was pretty much one-to-one peer support," he added.
When such a traumatic event first occurs and people, including the rescuers, are still in shock, they often want to talk about what they've witnessed. "Then they have to zip themselves up because they know they have a job to do," he said. As a chaplain in this situation, "you don't necessarily unzip people because they have to keep going," he said.
Carpenter ended up spending most of the week at the site itself, with full clearance as a police chaplain, working the 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. shift. Being there in the early morning hours also strengthened his credibility, he said, because it was clear that he was not just one of the visitors who occasionally tour the site.
His own reaction to the devastation was not overwhelming emotion but a "sense of awe" that only allowed him to soak in the impact bit by bit. On one level, the area where the twin towers and other collapsed World Trade Center buildings had stood resembled a construction site. On another level, it looked like a crime scene. "Then there would be things that reminded you that this is hallowed ground," he said.
Among the reminders were the notes and pictures pinned to memorials surrounding the area and the sight of about 100 American Airline employees, in uniform, visiting the site for the first time.
"What's most vivid for me is the faces of the people I had in-depth conversations with," Carpenter said. Some people talked about anything but Sept. 11, while other people "were clearly dislocated by the events."
The church, he believes, can help in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks by showing "a way back to hope" and offering a light in the darkness.
In Carpenter's view, his presence at the site brought witness of the love of God "and a different reality to the reality that was staring you in your face."
November 1, 2001
Source: United Methodist News Service. Photo Credit: Andrea Booher, FEMA News Photo, September 23, 2001. Click the picture to see a larger version.
UMCOR 9/11 Update September 2004: UMCOR's response to the aftermath of September 11 continues. We thank are thankful for all of contributions that United Methodists and others have so generously given.
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