Albuquerque church marks 9/11 with World Trade Center beams

An Albuquerque church marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks Sunday with two full-sized steel beams recovered from the World Trade Center in New York City. Sacred Heart Catholic Church is the only site in New Mexico with beams from the twin towers, and the congregation held a memorial ceremony to honor the nearly 3,000 people killed in 2001.

Deacon Robert Vigil said visitors spent the day coming and going from the chapel downtown to see the beams. “Throughout the day today a lot of people will be in and out just wanting to touch these beams,” Vigil said.

The beams sit inside the chapel alongside a memorial plaque bearing the names of those who died. Grand Knight Richard Frias, also of Sacred Heart, said the church is the only one in the state with the artifact. “We’re the only one in the whole state of New Mexico that is honored enough to have this,” Frias said.

Church leaders acquired the beams in May 2002, about a year after the attacks. The chapel had recently been torn down because of structural problems, and leaders wanted to rebuild it with a bell tower but did not have the money.

“Someone came up with the idea to write to the mayor of New York, see if they’ll donate us two full sized beams to build our chapel,” Vigil said. “So we did that.”

The request was granted a few months after the attacks. “So they blessed the beams at ground zero,” Vigil said. “The trucker was there right on time and began trucking cross country here to our community. He said along the way at every state line people were gathered to greet him and touch those beams all the way to New Mexico, to our community here.”

Once the beams arrived, donations to the church poured in, allowing the congregation to afford the tower construction.

The ceremony at the chapel, on Stover Avenue downtown, began at 5:30 p.m. and featured testimonials from people with personal connections to the attacks. Lit-up towers were also displayed outside the chapel over the weekend.

Vigil said telling the story matters most for younger generations. “We’re very thankful that we can still tell the story and especially to our youngsters that were not born yet, and give them a piece of history. Not only give them a piece of history, but bring them in to witness it and touch it,” he said.

“Having the blessed, sacred beams from 9/11 in a very remote place in New Mexico and the Barelas community which is very small but very rich in heritage is humbling,” Frias said.