St. John's Prep to plant World Trade Center beam on Danvers campus

By Justin A. Rice, Town Correspondent

St. John's Preparatory School will install a piece of steel from the World Trade Center in a garden on its campus on Sunday following a special liturgy in honor of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The 18-inch piece of beam will be installed in the garden adjacent to the Peace Labyrinth. The morning will begin at 11:45 a.m. in the school chapel with a liturgy led by the Rev. Joseph O’Keefe, a 1972 graduate of the boys’ Catholic high school.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently made steel from the Trade Centers available to communities and organizations across the country in honor of Sept. 11.

Members of the school’s community are welcome to attend the liturgy and dedication at the school’s chapel is located in the administration building.

The school also held a Sept. 11 event last March when it publicly displayed a 30-foot American flag that flew from a Manhattan office building heavily damaged by the collapse of the World Trade Center.

St.  John’s alum, George J. Ferguson III, died in an elevator at the building located at 90 West St. on Sept. 11, 2001.
 
The flag was nearly destroyed by fire and debris but was reborn as the National 9/11 Flag, with a goal of having its stars and stripes restored to its original glory by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The flag’s visit to St. John’s was part of a national journey to stitch the flag back together.

Boston Globe Staff Reporter Kathy McCabe contributed to this report.

Justin A. Rice can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com.