Father Mychal Judge Day

Submitted By: FabulousRob on September 11, 2009 No Comment

“Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?”
- Father Mychal Judge

Today is September 11, eight years after the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania. The popular trend is to name this day “Patriot Day.” Perhaps it will eventually become a holiday – ideally marked with celebration of the courage and compassion shown by simple Americans on a day of tragedy.

We learned about ourselves on that dark day. We also learned about the individual people who sacrificed of themselves to help others at the site (Ground Zero) and those who made sacrifices every day of their lives until that day.

stapleton-low One of those people was a Franciscan Priest named Father Mychal Judge. You may remember him. His body is the subject of one of the most stirring photos to come out of New York on that day. Five rescue workers – burly men, with tears in their eyes – are seen carrying Father Judge’s body in a chair.

Mychal Judge was a New York Fire Department Chaplain. He ministered to the men and women who were among the first into the burning Trade Center Buildings. When Judge heard of the attacks, he rushed to the North Tower. On the way, he met Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the city. Judge assented, performed Last Rites for a victim in the street and went to the command center in the North Tower. He ministered to the workers there in the tower. When the South Tower collapsed, the debris killed a handful of people, including Judge.

Only after the attacks did the real story of the unassuming Father Judge come to light. The men and women of the New York Fire Department completely loved Judge. There was reason.

In New York, Judge was also well known for ministering to the homeless, the hungry, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, the sick, injured, and grieving, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and those alienated by the Church.

For example, Judge once gave the winter coat off his back to a homeless woman in the street, later saying, “She needed it more than me.” When he anointed a man who was dying of AIDS, the man asked him, “Do you think God hates me?” Judge just picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms. [Wikipedia]

Father Judge came out as a gay man, but by all accounts remained celibate. Think about that for a minute. He identified as a sexual minority because that is the way he felt, not because he wanted to act. Is there any better illustration that sexual identity is an innate trait – and not a choice – than that?

He was an established member of Dignity, a Catholic LGBT organization determined to change the Church’s teachings on homosexuality. In 1986, the Vatican declared homosexuality an “intrinsic moral evil,” which got Judge and others banned from several churches in the New York area. Father Judge responded by moving the Dignity AIDS ministry to his Franciscan church, partially circumventing the Vatican order.

Father Judge is remembered as often uterring the question that started this article when issues about the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality were discussed.

Father Mychal Judge was declared Victim #0001 of the September 11th attacks. He was described as a “living saint” for his relentless ministry to the poor, the alienated and specifically to the thousands of people deeply affected by HIV/AIDS.

Forget Patriot Day. Let’s honor the spirit of those who sacrificed much during the rescue efforts on September 11 by naming it after a person whose death on that day was an example of an entire lifetime of giving.