Finally! Deal Struck to Rebuild NY Church Destroyed on 9/11

"We will again light many candles in the new St. Nicholas Church and remember those who were lost to us, and those heroes who so nobly sacrificed their lives,"  Archbishop Demetrios, Greek Orthodox Church in America

Atlas has been blogging for years on the gross miscarriage of justice suffered by the 106-year-old St. Nicholas church, destroyed in the monstrous Islamic attacks on American soil at Ground Zero.

Disgusted New Yorkers watched the Bloomberg and Obama administrations prostrate themselves in front of the American people in their wretched campaign to build the Ground Zero mosque on the cemetery on sacred ground, while ignoring and neglecting the church that stood for 95 years at the site that in 1970 became the base of the WTC.

Huge props to Congressional candidate George Demos (who spoke at our 911 Freedom Rally) and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

9/11 Church to be Rebuilt 

 George Demos, the Conservative Republican candidate for US Congress in New York's First District, who helped lead the effort to bring national attention to the plight of the 9/11 Church today praised Governor Cuomo for fulfilling Governor Pataki's pledge to rebuild the only house of worship destroyed on September 11th.  

George Demos said, "Fifteen months ago when the ember of hope to rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was nearly extinguished and our nation was embroiled in a controversy about the propriety of a Mosque at Ground Zero, we stood up and let the nation know that it was our obligation to rebuild the only house of worship destroyed on September 11th.

[...]

Sadly the breakthrough only came after the Port Authority's Director Christopher Ward, who had been maliciously blocking the rebuilding of the Church, was forced to resign.

Deal Struck to Rebuild NY Church Destroyed on 9/11

It took a decade, but a deal has finally been struck to rebuild a church destroyed on 9/11, the church and a public agency announced Friday.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said they have resolved their long dispute over how to rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a small, 85-year-old chapel that stood across the street from the World Trade Center and was destroyed when the towers fell.

The church and the public agency had been at odds over the details of a land swap that will move the church slightly down the street to make way for some of the giant construction projects now under way at ground zero.

The settlement, mediated by the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, will end a lawsuit filed by the archdiocese earlier this year. Under the deal, the Port Authority will pay for site-work and below-ground infrastructure. The cost of that work is estimated to be about $25 million, according to the governor's office. The archdiocese will pay for the construction of the chapel.

The new church will be about 3½ times as large as the old one, and also house a nondenominational bereavement center.

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Demetrios, said the church's continued presence at the trade center site will be "an affirmation of the significance of religious freedom and experience for all New Yorkers and all Americans."

"We will again light many candles in the new St. Nicholas Church and remember those who were lost to us, and those heroes who so nobly sacrificed their lives," he said.

Comments

[Brandy]

Finally!! Thank you to everyone who pushed this!

[Nick]

Thank you Pamala for not forgetting us. we will not forget you .A very happy day.

[a person]

Bravo to all who supported this tireless effort. It should not have taken this long. It should have been a no brainer. But such is life. Thank God for all of those who kept this issue front and center.

[Cheryl Barker]

This is wonderful news. Many thanks to The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and to Pamela and everyone who did not give in to bullying of the Bloom-turd administration and the PA. Bravo!

[Nat's daughter]

Some great news today. Hallelujah!

[Frank]

St. Nicholas (Nicholas means "holy victory of the people" if memory serves me correctly) was known as a gift giver. In America he became Santa Claus.

There is a saying that "Gd writes straight with crooked lines." There is symbolism in this victory. It would take a Carl Jung to read the symbolism.

Christian teaching (I know this for certain) in Catholicism is that the Jewish people have a "special covenant" with Gd. I assume that is also true for the Greek Orthodox. Though Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah, it is not the business of the followers of Jesus to convert or oppress Jews (though political interests have attempted to do that in history for their own purposes (Hitler e.g.). The special relationship of Gd and the Jewish people is part of the drama to be worked out by Gd and man in history. This rebuilding of the Church of Saint Nick looks like good symbolism for Jewish people in America, too.

This is a symbolic victory with some meaning greater than we can comprehend.

[herdzcatz]

The rebuilding of St. Nicholas and the demise of the plans for a mosque on that hallowed ground remind me of the words in an old Christmas carol: "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men."

[ApolloSpeaks]

The prayers of many good people have been answered. With the resurrection of St. Nicholas Church the rebuilding of the World Trade Center can now truly be complete.

[ApolloSpeaks]

ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH DESTROYED ON 9/11 TO BE RESTORED

Yesterday October 14th (the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Athens from Nazi rule) a deal was finally reached to rebuild St. Nicholas Church, the only house of worship to be destroyed by al-Qaida on 9/11. Due to the mediation of Governor Cumo's office the ten year dispute to rebuild the church was finally resolved between the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Frank, in his comment above, mentions Carl Gustav Jung the psychologist of synchronicity and meaningful coincidence. Yesterday's agreement, as you shall see, was rich in meaningful signs related to the history and destruction of the church suggesting the hand of a Higher Power in the resolution of the dispute. Consider the following calculations and judge for yourself whether providence or mere chance was at work here:

Click my name to continue.

[dellajo]

As former parishioner of that Church, I want to personally thank Pamela Gellar, on behalf of all Greel Orthodox Christians, for her vociferous advocacy on behalf of St. Nicholas Church. I understand that Ms. Geller is Jewish, and yet she undertook her efforts on behalf of the faithful of another religion. Ms. Geller serves as a role model for how all persons of faith should act. God bless you, Ms. Geller!