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American Morning

Talk with Father Kevin Smith

Aired September 11, 2003 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: September 11th is one of those rare touchstone days when generations of people will remember exactly where they were when the unimaginable happened. The personal story of our first guest this morning embodies the much larger one of unfathomable tragedy. Father Kevin Smith is a volunteer chaplain with New York City's Nassau County Fire Department. On September 11 he became the spiritual counselor at the saddest place on earth, the World Trade Center. And he joins me this morning.
It's nice to have you. Thank you.

REV. KEVIN SMITH, NASSAU COUNTY FIRE CHAPLAIN: Good to be here, Soledad. How are you?

O'BRIEN: I'm well, thank you. How are you? Looking back now, that was a day of much personal trauma for you. You lost many friends, and you were down at the site really as the spiritual guide for people who felt that they were entering hell that morning.

SMITH: And the city of two years later, it's an eerie feeling in the sense that it's just about the same kind of day. It was a beautiful September morning. I came into the city and got here just about after the second tower had just come down.

And for months I guess I've been down here working with all the rescue workers through recovery efforts, and then after that, to start to put people's lives back together and help them, until today.

O'BRIEN: The description of what you did that day was so moving. I know you came upon a body lying next to an ambulance, and as a priest, you said, I need to perform last rites. The body was obviously deceased. Tell me a little bit about who that turned out to be and what that meant to you.

SMITH: One of the firefighters came up to me when I first came on the scene and told me about Father Mike Judge, who I have known for years. And they told me he was deceased, and he was up a block, but everything was exploding all over the place. So when I got up the block, there was a body lying next to an ambulance, but it was really, really covered up with ash and a lot of the debris coming down from the sky. And so I blessed the body, and then later on, one of the other firemen came back to me and said, where is he? We left him right here. And that became the story of how we found him, back over the office building, found out it was Mike, and I asked a couple firemen to bring him into the church, just so that we wouldn't lose him again, you know. O'BRIEN: A man who meant so much to so many people of faith. A quick question for you, today's symbolism is about the children, the focus there. And how the children are really a bridge to looking forward as opposed to looking back. Do you think that's a good way to go?

SMITH: I think it's the perfect symbolism for today. Whoever thought of it I think is it's just beautiful. I'm excited about it. Because in my last two years of working with the families, both of the survivors, as well as those that are no longer with us, it's been the kids who have had all the different emotions, all the different reactions. A lot of the kids whose fathers are still here that worked for so long in the pit, they make the phone calls to their fathers at work now, how are you doing? When are you coming home?

O'BRIEN: Changed everything, huh?

SMITH: It has really changed it.

Father Kevin Smith, it's nice to have you. We're going to have you as our guest all morning. So thanks for joining us. We'll be checking in with you a little bit later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 11, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: September 11th is one of those rare touchstone days when generations of people will remember exactly where they were when the unimaginable happened. The personal story of our first guest this morning embodies the much larger one of unfathomable tragedy. Father Kevin Smith is a volunteer chaplain with New York City's Nassau County Fire Department. On September 11 he became the spiritual counselor at the saddest place on earth, the World Trade Center. And he joins me this morning.
It's nice to have you. Thank you.

REV. KEVIN SMITH, NASSAU COUNTY FIRE CHAPLAIN: Good to be here, Soledad. How are you?

O'BRIEN: I'm well, thank you. How are you? Looking back now, that was a day of much personal trauma for you. You lost many friends, and you were down at the site really as the spiritual guide for people who felt that they were entering hell that morning.

SMITH: And the city of two years later, it's an eerie feeling in the sense that it's just about the same kind of day. It was a beautiful September morning. I came into the city and got here just about after the second tower had just come down.

And for months I guess I've been down here working with all the rescue workers through recovery efforts, and then after that, to start to put people's lives back together and help them, until today.

O'BRIEN: The description of what you did that day was so moving. I know you came upon a body lying next to an ambulance, and as a priest, you said, I need to perform last rites. The body was obviously deceased. Tell me a little bit about who that turned out to be and what that meant to you.

SMITH: One of the firefighters came up to me when I first came on the scene and told me about Father Mike Judge, who I have known for years. And they told me he was deceased, and he was up a block, but everything was exploding all over the place. So when I got up the block, there was a body lying next to an ambulance, but it was really, really covered up with ash and a lot of the debris coming down from the sky. And so I blessed the body, and then later on, one of the other firemen came back to me and said, where is he? We left him right here. And that became the story of how we found him, back over the office building, found out it was Mike, and I asked a couple firemen to bring him into the church, just so that we wouldn't lose him again, you know. O'BRIEN: A man who meant so much to so many people of faith. A quick question for you, today's symbolism is about the children, the focus there. And how the children are really a bridge to looking forward as opposed to looking back. Do you think that's a good way to go?

SMITH: I think it's the perfect symbolism for today. Whoever thought of it I think is it's just beautiful. I'm excited about it. Because in my last two years of working with the families, both of the survivors, as well as those that are no longer with us, it's been the kids who have had all the different emotions, all the different reactions. A lot of the kids whose fathers are still here that worked for so long in the pit, they make the phone calls to their fathers at work now, how are you doing? When are you coming home?

O'BRIEN: Changed everything, huh?

SMITH: It has really changed it.

Father Kevin Smith, it's nice to have you. We're going to have you as our guest all morning. So thanks for joining us. We'll be checking in with you a little bit later.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com