Construction Workers Remembered During Annual Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

On Wednesday, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and St. Patrick’s Cathedral held their 13th annual Hardhat Memorial Service, remembering the 16 construction workers who perished due to on-site-related accidents over the past year.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral usually has a rule to remove hats and headgear upon entering the religious site; however, hundreds of workers arrived at the iconic house of worship, still wearing their hard hats as a sign of respect. The priests also donned these hard hats as a symbol of solidarity.

Inside the gigantic cathedral, 17 chairs sat atop the pulpit steps, each one holding a safety helmet. While 16 of them were inscribed with the name of the deceased, a center most helmet was included to honor the lives of the essential workers who succumbed to COVID-19.

“Today we are having a memorial mass for workers in the construction industry that have died on the job. We’ve been doing this every year for over a decade and we are out here today to remember them, honor their memories, and the importance of this is that construction is a very dangerous industry, and unfortunately every year we lose people,” LaBarbera said. “We treat all lives the same. The unionized construction industry comes together and honors and remembers all construction workers who’ve lost their lives. It’s an important day for all of us.” Read more in AMNY.