AS HOUSING PROJECT HIGH-RISES FALL,
A CONGREGATION'S HOPES SOAR

[Forty years in pictures] [Pastor Eaddy's January 16 sermon]
[Implosion -- before and after in photos]

When the two empty high-rise apartment towers at Southwark Plaza are imploded at 8 a.m. Sunday, January 23, 2000, the 200 members of Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1001 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, will be praying for the well-being of their community...and peeking anxiously through their fingers to see if their 150-year-old steeple is still standing.

The church is entirely surrounded by the old Southwark Plaza housing project, now re-named The Courtyard Apartments at Riverview.

"Our church has the highest steeple in all South Philadelphia," says Pastor Cornelius D. Eaddy, who grew up in Southwark Plaza and returned to serve a community in transition. "We're just 100 feet or so from the towers, and we can't help worrying about the effects of the blast. But we have faith that whatever happens is part of God's plan. And we believe that God has important work for Emanuel to do as we rebuild our neighborhood."

Emanuel has been helping to build and rebuild its neighborhood since its beginnings as a church school in 1847, when it served a community of German-speaking immigrants. When its surrounding neighborhood was razed in the 1950s to make way for Southwark Plaza, the congregation voted to remain in place. Now an English-speaking church, Emanuel has served the new neighborhood and its new residents with both spiritual care and a broad range of social programs.

The last 10 years, while the fate of Southwark Plaza was hotly debated by groups with different interests, were difficult ones for Emanuel. With occupancy rates dropping in the projects and many regular members moving away, the congregation struggled to maintain its member base and to recruit new members.

Emanuel's denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is committed to urban ministry, and help was offered in the persons of Louisa Groce, Associate In Ministry, joined by the Rev. Philip D.W. Krey, mentoring pastor. Groce, 81, recently became the oldest person ever to be ordained a pastor in the ELCA. Krey is the new President of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Under the leadership of Groce and Krey, the congregation was able to tackle ambitious renovation projects and began to reach out to former members and to the community to rebuild membership.

In partnership with Lutheran Children and Family Services, a certified ELCA Social Ministry organization, Emanuel now hosts a Family and Community Life Center in a nearby building, and provides after-school care for middle-school students weekdays. "I have a special fondness for urban ministries," Krey explains. "Emanuel is a place that is filled with God's promise. We were instrumental in the revitalization of this neighborhood forty years ago, and we're prepared to do it again."

For Eaddy, some of the issues seem more immediate and more pressing. "We lived through the dust when the old low-rises came down, and we're glad to see new life breathed into the dry bones of Southwark," he says. "But many of our neighbors still need help to rebuild their lives. They need spiritual guidance, and they also need practical assistance. Many of our senior citizens need help adjusting to their new surroundings. Our young people need an alternative to the streets."

And he worries about that old steeple. "You can see it for miles away. You can see it from the Ben Franklin Bridge, and the Walt Whitman. You can see it when you fly into the Philadelphia Airport. It's a South Philadelphia landmark, and we'd hate to see anything happen to it." The construction company, which has built Emanuel a new parking lot and carefully preserved its antique wrought-iron fence, has assured the congregation that the building is in no danger. "I have a lot of confidence that proper precautions have been taken, says Eaddy. "Still, I'll be a lot happier when the dust settles and I see that steeple still standing."