Chaplain Mychal Judge
Laid to Rest on
September 15, 2001
NEW
YORK, N.Y. - Father Mychal Judge, OFM, chaplain to the New York
City fire department since 1992, died Tuesday, Sept. 11 in a
hail of steel and concrete as he administered last rites to
a firefighter near the scene of the terrorist attack on the
World Trade Center. Father Judge became the first officially
recorded fatality following the attack. He was 68.
"The
losses within our fire department are staggering, but I know
Father Judge is praying for us," New York Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani said. "The fire department is going to emerge
stronger from this tragedy and Father Judge is going to be there
praying for us and supporting us."
Firefighters
found Father Judge's lifeless body beneath a smashed fire engine
at "ground zero" and took him to St. Peter's Church
on nearby Barclay Street. They laid the friar in front of the
altar, covered him with a white cloth and his priest's stole
before placing his helmet and chaplain's badge on his chest.
He was then taken to Engine 1 and Ladder 24 on West 31st Street
here, the location where he kept his chaplain's car. "There
is a lot of sadness because this is a tremendous loss, but the
manner in which Mychal died is also a great honor because he
died in service," said Father Peter Brophy, OFM, pastor
of St. Francis of Assisi Church, located almost directly across
the street from the firehouse. "As a friar, I'm honored
by who he was and how he reached out to people no matter who
they were."
Edward
Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, who was the principal
celebrant of Father Judge's funeral Mass Saturday, Sept. 15
at St. Francis of Assisi Church said, "New York is going
to be rebuilt better and stronger than ever before out of the
blood and sweat of our heroes."
It was estimated that more than 2,800 people attended Father
Judge's funeral Mass including hundreds of Franciscans from
Holy Name Province, religious, uniformed members of the fire
and police departments and friends. The mourners also included
former President Bill Clinton, New York Senator Hillary Rodham
Clinton, their daughter, Chelsea, New York Public Advocate Mark
Green, former New York Mayor David Dinkins and former New York
City Police Chief William Braton.
Father
John Felice, OFM, Provincial Minister of Holy Name Province,
Father Brophy and Father Myles Murphy, a priest from the Archdiocese
of New York and a cousin of Father Judge, all served as concelebrants.
Father Michael Duffy, OFM, in service at St. Francis Inn, a
Franciscan-run soup kitchen in Philadelphia, was the homilist.
During the homily, Father Duffy told the congregation he served
with Father Judge during the early 1970s at St. Joseph's Church
in East Rutherford, N.J. He recalled Father Judge, then pastor,
would always put the needs of his parishioners first, especially
if they needed someone to talk to or listen to their problems.
"His heart was open, his ears were open and he truly was
a people person," Father Duffy said. "When he was
talking to you, he made you feel like you were the only person
on the face of the earth." Father Duffy also said, "Father
Judge loved to be where the action was. He loved to be where
there was a crisis, so he could serve God."
In
1986 after Father Judge returned from studying in England, he
was called to Bellevue Hospital to say Mass for New York City
police officer Steven McDonald, who was left paralyzed from
the neck down after being shot by a 15-year-old he was questioning
in Central Park. "When I first saw him, he was just lying
in bed, motionless," Father Judge told this reporter, this
past July. "He was in bad shape, but determined to live."
In
the days and years following the shooting, Father Judge became
extremely close to McDonald, his wife, Patti Ann and their son,
Conor. The priest also had the opportunity to travel with McDonald
during a number speaking engagements in the United States and
Northern Ireland. "He was my confessor, my spiritual advisor
and my best friend," McDonald said. "He was my idea
of what a priest should be and above all, he was a living example
of Jesus Christ. I'm going to miss him a great deal and I'm
not sure what I'm going to do without him."
McDonald called Father Judge to inform him about the 1996 crash
of TWA flight 800 off Long Island in which all 230 people aboard
were killed. For more than two weeks straight, Father Judge
drove daily from Manhattan to the Ramada Hotel near JFK Airport.
There he spent 12 hours a day consoling friends and families
who lost their loved ones. He also celebrated Mass every other
day, participated in counseling sessions for people of all denominations
and organized ecumenical, memorial prayer services for the victims'
families and TWA personnel. "When that call came through
it was the Lord calling me somehow," he told this reporter,
some years ago, during a visit to his third-floor room at the
friary, which overlooks Engine 1 and Ladder 24. "I went
out there that night and I stayed there for all hours of the
morning, talking to people from all over the country and all
over the world."
When
tragedy struck on Sept. 11, Father Brian Carroll, OFM, went
up to Father Judge's room to inform him that a plane had just
crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. Father Carroll
recalled that without hesitation, Father Judge quickly took
off his Franciscan habit, changed into his chaplain's uniform
and headed for the door. That was the last time the friar would
see his friend alive.
Born
in Brooklyn, the son of two Irish immigrants from County Leitrim,
Father Judge watched his father die from a long illness. As
a result, the six-year-old was unable to establish a relationship
with his father. To help his mother and two sisters make ends
meet, he shined shoes at Penn Station, ran errands and did odd
jobs, before being called to his Franciscan vocation at 15.
He was ordained in 1961 and assigned to St. Joseph's Church
in East Rutherford and Sacred Heart in Rochelle Park, N.J.,
before serving as assistant to the president at Siena College
in Loudonville, N.Y. He was later named pastor of St. Joseph's
Church in West Milford, N.J., before becoming a fire chaplain
in 1992. "I always wanted to be a priest or a fireman,
now I'm both," Father Judge told me some years ago. "I
had to bust my tail to get this habit, so I wear it always.
I wanted to be a Franciscan so bad and this is something I believe
so strongly in and I have absolutely no regrets."
In addition to his work with the fire department, Father Judge
was also involved in ministering to AIDS/HIV patients, recovering
alcoholics and with the simply professed friars who have been
associated with Holy Name Province for less than five years.
Although Father Duffy told the congregation he was spiritually
crushed when he heard the news of Father Judge's death, he saw
God's purpose for choosing him to be among the first to die
in the line of duty. "We're going to have more and more
people brought out of the rubble and Mychal Judge is going to
greet them on the other side of death," he said. "He's
going to greet them with his big Irish smile. He's going to
take them by the hand and say, 'Welcome, let me take you to
our father.'"
Father
Judge was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, N.J.,
and is survived by two sisters, Erin McTernan and Dympna Jessich,
both of Berlin, Md.
from
fathermychal.org
Legacy.com
Article
NewsDay
Article
From
the Sacramento Bee
From
American Catholic
Senate
Press Release
Catholic.org
Article
PRWEB Article
New York
Metro Web Site
Saint Mychal
Web Site
Back To
Chaplain Index