Title: Oklahoma City: One Year Later
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 17, 1996
FE-96-01-KR
OKLAHOMA CITY: ONE YEAR LATER
by: Kurt Reichardt
As the trial of an alleged bomber begins in Denver this
month, the pain of loss and memory goes on in Oklahoma City.
Of that April 19, 1995, one living victim of the terrorist
attack on the U.S. Federal Building there recalls "...sitting by
my desk in the middle of the eighth floor...seeing a kind of red
haze, nothing more. When I opened my eyes, the desk was on top
of me. I looked out, and there was nothing between me and the
outside. The people between me and the windows were gone. All
of them. Gone, and I never saw them again."
Memories like that live on, not only for those who walked
out of the building alive but for the relatives and friends of
each of the hundreds of men, women and children killed that day.
Among those who lay buried in the ruins were dozens of children
from the building's day care center. Elderly men and women, some
with grandchildren in tow, who were waiting to ask questions or
deal with problems at the social security office were crushed by
falling concrete.
Oklahoma City represented a disaster new and terrible to the
American scene: one intentionally caused. "There were no
properties to rebuild and relative few material goods to
replace," notes the Rev. Leon A. Phillips, Jr., director of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Lutheran Disaster
Response (LDR), adding "but there were human lives to rebuild."
In the year between the explosion that brought trauma to an
entire nation in fear that it might be under siege, and the trial
of the man arrested for an apparent solitary act, Lutheran
Disaster Response has been in the forefront of helping to rebuild
the lives of people who were there. As American eyes and ears
turn toward Denver in the hope that someone will make sense out
of the madness that wrenched their hearts a year ago, Lutheran
Social Services of Kansas-Oklahoma (LSS-KO) will intensify its
emphasis on counseling and helping the people of Oklahoma City
cope with their painful reminders of loss.
The Rev. Foster R. McCurley, a Lutheran theologian, and
Rabbi Alan Weitzman, authors of Making Sense Out of Sorrow, who
held seminars last spring to help pastors and care givers deal
with grief, will return this month to provide follow-up
assistance. "A year after the bombing, we know that few domestic
disasters have been so emotionally difficult for those who were
the caregivers," Phillips said.
"People turned to their faith counselors, seeking spiritual
answers in the wake of human evil. Pastors and others --
themselves grieving the community's loss -- were called upon to
hear again and again the agonizing stories of those who suffered
and to lead them through their grief," Phillips said. He added,
"Religious leaders and church disaster relief personnel were
confronted by questions regarding the nature of evil."
LDR pastoral care specialist the Rev. Gary L. Harbaugh
conducted a retreat for clergy and workshops for both pastors and
caregivers. Hundreds of copies of Making Sense Out of Sorrow were
distributed to families and survivors.
The efforts this month represent an interfaith response that
began quickly the day of the bombing. Within an hour of the
explosion, LSS-KO staff were on the scene and at local hospitals
to comfort the injured and hold the families of the dead as they
waited for news. A partner in one of the country's leading
social ministry networks, they worked together with other church
and benevolent agencies trying to alleviate that initial pain.
LSS-KO has maintained its year-long ministry to Oklahoma
City residents most affected in the explosion's aftermath,
including both those displaced by damage to adjacent living
complexes and people who risked their own safety and lives to
rescue survivors and recover the dead. Their work was
undergirded financially and augmented by personnel representing
LDR, an arm of ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
(LCMS), and funded by designated member contributions. Since
1992 the ELCA has disbursed over $12.5 million for such domestic
disasters as Hurricanes Andrew and Marilyn, floods in the
northeast and midwest, and the Northridge (California)
earthquake.
The initial response of both LDR and LSS-KO was to minister
to the needs of those directly affected by the bombing. They
established a telephone "hot line" a few days after the
explosion, and for weeks provided counseling to hundreds who
called in for help and assurance. According to Phillips,
"Lutherans provided special counseling and pastoral care in the
African American community, which was disproportionately affected
by the tragedy."
As the circle of loss expanded, pastoral care meant reaching
out to others who would have also fallen through the cracks:
* Hundreds of elderly residents of Regency Towers,
directly across from the destroyed Federal Building,
were forced from structurally damaged apartments. For
more than six months, as they lived in temporary
quarters LDR assisted them, providing emergency
supplies and needed goods. LDR aided most resident's
return to Regency Towers in November, helping the last
five people move back in February.
* LDR worked with 32 men, women and children left
homeless when the explosion damaged boarding houses
that did not reopen. LDR and LSS-KO staff helped them
examine alternatives for new housing, making long-term
arrangements for one group home. Work with their
resettlement and counseling continues a year after the
explosion.
* LSS-KO offered Spanish language counseling in the
Latino community, where a mobile counseling van was
stationed after the disaster.
* Special materials were prepared to help teachers in
public, parochial and Sunday church schools deal with
the fears, grief and anxiety of children. LSS-KO
published a book and offered grief counseling training
to teachers. The book has been used with children
throughout the United States.
Even if the trial in Colorado renders a conclusion for what
happened in Oklahoma last April, the pain and memories for those
who survive the consequences will not be over. "As long as their
struggle lasts, they will be supported by the ministries of LSS-
KO, LDR and others who have not forgotten their pain and who
continue to offer help," Phillips said. Other Lutheran partner
organizations that have helped undergird the ongoing relief
efforts coordinated by LDR and LSS-KO include Lutheran Hour
Ministries, Lutheran Brotherhood and Aid Association for
Lutherans.
-- 30 --
Available for interviews:
The Rev. Leon A. Phillips Jr., director, Lutheran Disaster
Response, Wescosville, Pa. Phone: 610/395-6891
Bernice Karstensen, executive director, Lutheran Social Services
of Kansas-Oklahoma, Wichita, Kan. Phone: 316/686-6645
The Rev. Foster R. McCurley Jr., Mohnton, Pa. Phone: 610/775-
7298
The Rev. Gary L. Harbaugh, Orlando, Fla. Phone: 407/856-6204
Elaine Richter, director, LCMS World Relief, St. Louis phone:
800/248-1930 x.1392
[The Rev. Kurt Reichardt, associate director for internal church
communication, ELCA Department for Communication, wrote this
story for ELCA News and Information.]
For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia
Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956
