Tears flowed at St. Catherine of Genoa Church yesterday, where hundreds of members of the Washington Heights community gathered to say goodbye to the victims of American Airlines Flight 587.
The largely Dominican crowd packed in to pray for the victims of the Santo Domingo-bound jetliner that crashed into the Rockaway Beach neighborhood last week, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
“In these difficult times, in spite of the many diverse circumstances life has thrown us, we need to reaffirm our confidence and faith in God,” the Rev. Ricardo Fajardo told about 400 mourners, including Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg, incoming Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Charles Rangel.
The bilingual memorial service was delayed for 30 minutes as the congregation waited for a dozen mourners who were stuck in traffic as they made their way from an earlier service in Rockaway.
The tragedy of Flight 587 hit Washington Heights hard, as many of the dead came from the neighborhood, home to the largest Dominican community outside the Dominican Republic.
The neighborhood was already in mourning, having lost dozens of residents in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“There are a lot of people grieving [here],” said Dominican Republic Vice Consulate Henry Taveras.
Elizabeth Balaguer, who works at the Dominican Consulate, lost her friend Sobeida Cedeño on the ill-fated flight, which crashed after taking off from Kennedy Airport on Nov. 12.
Cedeño, 45, a Citibank employee from Washington Heights was flying to the Dominican Republic to buy a house.
“She had a lot of dreams – she wanted to go to the Dominican Republic again,” Balaguer said. “In one second, she lost everything.”
Susana Quezada, an executive secretary from Washington Heights, said she attended the service to show support for the whole community, but especially for a fellow parishioner who had lost a daughter and three grandkids.
“It’s very sad for our families and our country, Quezada said. “But if we keep close together and pray we can cope with the situation.”