Monday, September 3, 2012

In the Spirit: Did priest’s work at ground zero cost him life?


From Wisconsin-

In the weeks and months following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dozens of clergy members attached to federal agencies rotated through the World Trade Center, praying over the pulverized remains of victims and providing spiritual support to rescue workers.

One of those clergy members was the Rev. Thomas Winslow, an Episcopal priest from Pewaukee and chaplain for the Wisconsin FBI. The week he spent there, in November 2001, would define his final decade. It gave him a deep sense of pride in his country and its people, but it also possibly killed him.

Winslow died Aug. 23 at UW Hospital at age 68. His death, of acute respiratory distress, now becomes another murky statistic in the ongoing debate over health problems suffered by so many of the people involved in the post-9/11 cleanup.

Winslow was convinced that the toxic air he breathed at ground zero triggered serious sinus and bronchial problems, then pneumonia, gastric reflux disease and, ultimately, lung failure.

Read more:

http://host.madison.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/in-the-spirit-did-priest-s-work-at-ground-zero/article_8c6030ae-f3a8-11e1-bfb9-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz25PE0QcQt

1 comment:

agedcheddar said...

I am a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, and also a retired Milwaukee Asst. District Attorney. I knew Tom Winslow in both capacities, as he was the Chief of the Wisconsin State Fair Park Police Department before becoming ordained. He was what I call a "deep-water Christian" - willing to wade out to where the current is swift and the rocks slippery. He planted himself where his Lord told him to be, and did the job. I am privileged to have known him. We will commend his body to God tomorrow, Sept. 4. He himself is already at the Great Banquet. We already miss him.