Mychal F. Judge
Encyclopedia
Mychal F. Judge, OFM (born Robert Emmet Judge on May 11, 1933; died September 11, 2001) was a Roman Catholic priest
of the Franciscan
Order of Friars Minor, Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York and the first certified fatality of the September 11, 2001 attacks
.
from County Leitrim
and the firstborn of a pair of fraternal twins. With his twin sister Dympna and his older sister Erin, he grew up in Brooklyn
, N.Y. during the Great Depression
. His lifelong affinity for the poor began at a young age; he often gave his only quarter to beggars on the street.
At the age of six, he watched his father die of a slow and painful illness. To compensate for his father's inability to work, Judge shined shoes at New York Penn Station from where he would visit St Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street
. Seeing the Franciscan
friar
s there, he later said, "I realized that I didn't care for material things ... I knew then that I wanted to be a friar."
community. He trained at three seminaries
in New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire before receiving his BA degree from St. Bonaventure University
. He completed his training and was ordained
a priest at Holy Name College in Washington, DC in 1961. Upon entering the Order of Friars Minor, he took the religious name
of Michael, later changing the spelling to Mychal.
From 1961 to 1986, Father Mychal Judge served at St Anthony Shrine in Boston
, St Joseph Parish in East Rutherford, NJ, Sacred Heart Parish in Rochelle Park, NJ, and St Joseph Parish in West Milford, NJ. For three years he served as assistant to the president at Siena College
in Loudonville, NY. In 1986, he was assigned to the monastery
of St Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street
, New York, where he lived and worked until his death in 2001. Around 1971, Judge became an alcoholic, although he never showed obvious signs. In 1978, with the support of Alcoholics Anonymous
, he became sober and continued to share his personal story of alcoholism to help others facing addiction.
In 1992, Father Judge was appointed chaplain
of the Fire Department of New York. As chaplain, he offered encouragement and prayers at fires, rescues, and hospitals, and counseled firemen and their families, often working 16 hour days. "His whole ministry was about love. Mychal loved the fire department and they loved him."
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, gay
s and lesbian
s and those alienated by the Church and society.
For example, he 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?" Father Judge just picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Even before his death, many considered Father Mychal Judge to be a living saint
for his extraordinary works of charity
and his deep spirituality
. While praying, he would sometimes "become so lost in God, as if lost in a trance
, that he'd be shocked to find several hours had passed." "He achieved an extraordinary degree of union with the divine," said Judge's former spiritual director, Father John McNeill. "We knew we were dealing with someone directly in line with God."
had been hit, Father Judge rushed to the site. He was met by the Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge administered the Last Rites
to some lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center
North Tower, where an emergency command post was organized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured and dead.
When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am, debris went flying through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside, including Judge. At the moment he was struck in the head and killed, Judge was repeatedly praying aloud, "Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!", according to Judge's biographer and New York Daily News
columnist Michael Daly.
Shortly after his death, a NYPD lieutenant, who had also been buried in the collapse, found Judge's body and assisted by two firemen and two civilian bystanders carried it out of the North Tower lobby to nearby St Peter's Church
. This event was captured in the documentary film 9/11
, shot by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Shannon Stapleton, photographer from Reuters
, photographed Judge's body being carried out of the rubble by five men. It became one of the most famous images related to 9/11. The Philadelphia Weekly
reports the photograph is considered an American Pietà
.
Mychal Judge was designated as "Victim 0001," recognized as the first official victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Other victims perished before him including air crew, passengers, and occupants of the towers, but Judge was the first certified fatality because his was the first body to be recovered and taken to the coroner.
Judge's body was formally identified by NYPD Detective
Steven McDonald
, a long-time friend. The New York Medical Examiner found that Judge died of "blunt force trauma to the head".
. Cardinal Edward Egan presided over the funeral Mass. Former President
Bill Clinton
, who attended the funeral, said that Judge's death was "a special loss. We should lift his life up as an example of what has to prevail ... We have to be more like Father Mike than the people who killed him."
Judge was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey
. On October 11, 2001 Brendan Fay organized A "Month's Mind Memorial" in Good Shepherd Chapel, General Theological Seminary
, New York. It was an evening of prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Mychal Judge.
There have been calls within the Roman Catholic Church to canonize Father Mychal Judge to saint
hood. While there is no indication that Rome is seriously considering this, several churches independent of Rome, most notably the Orthodox Catholic Church of America, have declared him a saint.
Some Catholic leaders recognize Judge as a de facto saint. Some assert that Mychal Judge has already been declared a saint by widespread acclamation of the faithful, as was the custom of the early Church. There have been claims of miraculous healings through prayers to Judge. Evidence of miracles is required for canonization
to Sainthood in the Catholic Church.
Judge's fire helmet was presented to Pope John Paul II
. France
awarded him the Légion d'honneur
. Some members of the U.S. Congress have nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom
. In 2002, the City of New York renamed a portion of West 31st Street "Father Mychal F. Judge Street", and christened a commuter boat "The Father Mychal Judge Ferry".
In 2002, the U.S. Congress passed The Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act into law. This was the first time the federal government ever extended equal benefits for same-sex couples, allowing the domestic partners of public safety officers killed in the line of duty to collect their federal death benefit.
Soon after his death, the New York Press Club
instituted "The Rev. Mychal Judge Heart of New York" journalism award, presented annually for the news story or series that is most complimentary of New York City. Entries focus on good news about people, places and deeds.
A campaign has been started in Carlstadt, New Jersey
to have a statue of Judge erected in its Memorial Park.
Alvernia University, a private independent college in the Franciscan tradition in Reading, Pennsylvania
, named a new residence hall in honor of Judge.
The Father Mychal Judge Memorial in the village of Keshcarrigan
, County Leitrim
, Ireland was dedicated in 2005, on donated land which had belonged to Judge's ancestors. People from the village and surrounding area celebrate his life every year on the 9/11 anniversary.
In 2006 a documentary film, Saint of 9/11, directed by Glenn Holsten, co-produced by Brendan Fay and narrated by Sir Ian McKellen
, was released, celebrating Mychal Judge's life. The film includes testimonies of work colleagues and people who met him at different stages of his life. Larry Kirwan
, leader of the Irish-American band Black 47
, wrote a tribute song entitled "Mychal" in honor of Judge that appeared on the band's 2004 album New York Town.
The Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance takes place every year in New York on the Sunday before the 9/11 anniversary. It begins with a Mass at St. Francis Church on West 31st Street, then proceeds to the site of Ground Zero
, retracing Judge's final journey and praying along the way. Every September 11, there is a Mass in memory of Mychal Judge in Boston, attended by many who lost family members on 9/11.
At the National 9/11 Memorial, Judge is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-18.
– as a matter of orientation
rather than practice, as he was a celibate priest. According to fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen
: "I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association
. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firemen to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything."
The revelations about Judge's sexual orientation
were not without controversy, however. Dennis Lynch, a lawyer, wrote an article about Judge that appeared on the website catholic.org. Lynch claimed that the priest was not gay and that any attempt to define him as gay was due to "homosexual activists" who wanted to "attack the Catholic Church" and turn the priest into "a homosexual icon
".
Others refuted Lynch’s claims with evidence that Judge did, in fact, identify himself as gay, both to others and in his personal journals.
Judge was a long-term member of Dignity
, a Catholic LGBT
activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. On October 1, 1986, the Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
issued an encyclical
, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which declared homosexuality to be a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil". In response, many bishops, including John Cardinal O'Connor
, banned Dignity from diocesan
churches under their control. Father Judge then welcomed Dignity's AIDS ministry to the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
, which is under the control of the Franciscan friars, thereby partially circumventing the cardinal's ban of Dignity.
Judge disagreed with official Roman Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality, though by all accounts he remained celibate. Judge often asked, "Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?"
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
of the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Order of Friars Minor, Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York and the first certified fatality of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
.
Early years
Robert Emmet (Mychal) Judge was the son of Irish Catholic immigrantsIrish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
from County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
and the firstborn of a pair of fraternal twins. With his twin sister Dympna and his older sister Erin, he grew up in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, N.Y. during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. His lifelong affinity for the poor began at a young age; he often gave his only quarter to beggars on the street.
At the age of six, he watched his father die of a slow and painful illness. To compensate for his father's inability to work, Judge shined shoes at New York Penn Station from where he would visit St Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street
St. Francis of Assisi's Church (New York City)
The Church of St. Francis of Assisi is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 135-139 West 31st Street Manhattan, New York City. The parish was established in 1844, and is staffed by the Franciscan Friars....
. Seeing the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
s there, he later said, "I realized that I didn't care for material things ... I knew then that I wanted to be a friar."
Franciscan Order of Friars Minor
In 1948, at the age of 15, Judge began the formation process to enter the FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
community. He trained at three seminaries
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire before receiving his BA degree from St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private, Franciscan Catholic university, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students....
. He completed his training and was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
a priest at Holy Name College in Washington, DC in 1961. Upon entering the Order of Friars Minor, he took the religious name
Religious Name
A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for a religious purpose, and which is generally used in religious contexts. Different types of religious names may be in use among the clergy of a religion, as well in some cases among the laity....
of Michael, later changing the spelling to Mychal.
From 1961 to 1986, Father Mychal Judge served at St Anthony Shrine in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, St Joseph Parish in East Rutherford, NJ, Sacred Heart Parish in Rochelle Park, NJ, and St Joseph Parish in West Milford, NJ. For three years he served as assistant to the president at Siena College
Siena College
Siena College is an independent Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Loudonville, in the town of Colonie, New York, United States. Siena is a four-year, coeducational, independent college in the Franciscan tradition, founded by the Franciscan Friars in 1937. It has 3,000 full-time students and...
in Loudonville, NY. In 1986, he was assigned to the monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of St Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street
St. Francis of Assisi's Church (New York City)
The Church of St. Francis of Assisi is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 135-139 West 31st Street Manhattan, New York City. The parish was established in 1844, and is staffed by the Franciscan Friars....
, New York, where he lived and worked until his death in 2001. Around 1971, Judge became an alcoholic, although he never showed obvious signs. In 1978, with the support of Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
, he became sober and continued to share his personal story of alcoholism to help others facing addiction.
In 1992, Father Judge was appointed chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
of the Fire Department of New York. As chaplain, he offered encouragement and prayers at fires, rescues, and hospitals, and counseled firemen and their families, often working 16 hour days. "His whole ministry was about love. Mychal loved the fire department and they loved him."
In New York, Judge was also well known for ministering to the homeless, the hungry, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, the sick, injured, and grieving, immigrants, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
s and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
s and those alienated by the Church and society.
For example, he 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?" Father Judge just picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Even before his death, many considered Father Mychal Judge to be a living saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
for his extraordinary works of charity
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
and his deep spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
. While praying, he would sometimes "become so lost in God, as if lost in a trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
, that he'd be shocked to find several hours had passed." "He achieved an extraordinary degree of union with the divine," said Judge's former spiritual director, Father John McNeill. "We knew we were dealing with someone directly in line with God."
World Trade Center, September 11, 2001
Upon hearing the news that the World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
had been hit, Father Judge rushed to the site. He was met by the Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the city and its victims. Judge administered the Last Rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...
to some lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
North Tower, where an emergency command post was organized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured and dead.
When the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 am, debris went flying through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside, including Judge. At the moment he was struck in the head and killed, Judge was repeatedly praying aloud, "Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!", according to Judge's biographer and New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
columnist Michael Daly.
Shortly after his death, a NYPD lieutenant, who had also been buried in the collapse, found Judge's body and assisted by two firemen and two civilian bystanders carried it out of the North Tower lobby to nearby St Peter's Church
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, New York
St Peter's Church is the oldest Roman Catholic parish in New York City and part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The church was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. The original church's cornerstone was laid in 1785 and the first...
. This event was captured in the documentary film 9/11
9/11 (film)
9/11 is a 2002 American documentary film about the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, in which two planes crashed into the buildings of the World Trade Center from the point of view of the New York City Fire Department...
, shot by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. Shannon Stapleton, photographer from Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, photographed Judge's body being carried out of the rubble by five men. It became one of the most famous images related to 9/11. The Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly
Philadelphia Weekly , is an award-winning alternative newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published every Wednesday.The paper was founded in 1971 as a sister publication to the South Philadelphia Press. In 1995, the paper became Philadelphia Weekly...
reports the photograph is considered an American Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
.
Mychal Judge was designated as "Victim 0001," recognized as the first official victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Other victims perished before him including air crew, passengers, and occupants of the towers, but Judge was the first certified fatality because his was the first body to be recovered and taken to the coroner.
Judge's body was formally identified by NYPD Detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Steven McDonald
Steven McDonald
Steven McDonald is a NYPD detective who was shot on July 12, 1986. The shooting left him quadriplegic. He is the most seriously injured New York City Police officer to survive his injury....
, a long-time friend. The New York Medical Examiner found that Judge died of "blunt force trauma to the head".
Mourning and honors
3,000 people attended Judge's funeral on September 15, 2001, at St Francis of Assisi Church in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Cardinal Edward Egan presided over the funeral Mass. Former President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who attended the funeral, said that Judge's death was "a special loss. We should lift his life up as an example of what has to prevail ... We have to be more like Father Mike than the people who killed him."
Judge was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey
Totowa, New Jersey
Totowa is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the borough population was 9,892.Totowa was formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1898, from portions of the now-defunct Manchester Township and Wayne...
. On October 11, 2001 Brendan Fay organized A "Month's Mind Memorial" in Good Shepherd Chapel, General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
, New York. It was an evening of prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Mychal Judge.
There have been calls within the Roman Catholic Church to canonize Father Mychal Judge to saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
hood. While there is no indication that Rome is seriously considering this, several churches independent of Rome, most notably the Orthodox Catholic Church of America, have declared him a saint.
Some Catholic leaders recognize Judge as a de facto saint. Some assert that Mychal Judge has already been declared a saint by widespread acclamation of the faithful, as was the custom of the early Church. There have been claims of miraculous healings through prayers to Judge. Evidence of miracles is required for canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
to Sainthood in the Catholic Church.
Judge's fire helmet was presented to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
. France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
awarded him the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. Some members of the U.S. Congress have nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
. In 2002, the City of New York renamed a portion of West 31st Street "Father Mychal F. Judge Street", and christened a commuter boat "The Father Mychal Judge Ferry".
In 2002, the U.S. Congress passed The Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act into law. This was the first time the federal government ever extended equal benefits for same-sex couples, allowing the domestic partners of public safety officers killed in the line of duty to collect their federal death benefit.
Soon after his death, the New York Press Club
New York Press Club
The New York Press Club is a membership organization of and for journalists and media professionals in the New York City metropolitan area. The club is a private, non-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any government office or agency and does not advocate or participate in any political...
instituted "The Rev. Mychal Judge Heart of New York" journalism award, presented annually for the news story or series that is most complimentary of New York City. Entries focus on good news about people, places and deeds.
A campaign has been started in Carlstadt, New Jersey
Carlstadt, New Jersey
Carlstadt is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 6,127.Carlstadt was originally formed as a village by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 12, 1860, within Lodi Township. It was named after Dr...
to have a statue of Judge erected in its Memorial Park.
Alvernia University, a private independent college in the Franciscan tradition in Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, named a new residence hall in honor of Judge.
The Father Mychal Judge Memorial in the village of Keshcarrigan
Keshcarrigan
Keshcarrigan is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland. The village is situated on the Shannon-Erne Waterway and the R209 road near Lough Scur and Sheebeg, an ancient pagan burial site overlooking Kesh Lake....
, County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland was dedicated in 2005, on donated land which had belonged to Judge's ancestors. People from the village and surrounding area celebrate his life every year on the 9/11 anniversary.
In 2006 a documentary film, Saint of 9/11, directed by Glenn Holsten, co-produced by Brendan Fay and narrated by Sir Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, was released, celebrating Mychal Judge's life. The film includes testimonies of work colleagues and people who met him at different stages of his life. Larry Kirwan
Larry Kirwan
Larry Kirwan is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York based Irish rock band, Black 47....
, leader of the Irish-American band Black 47
Black 47
Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
, wrote a tribute song entitled "Mychal" in honor of Judge that appeared on the band's 2004 album New York Town.
The Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance takes place every year in New York on the Sunday before the 9/11 anniversary. It begins with a Mass at St. Francis Church on West 31st Street, then proceeds to the site of Ground Zero
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
, retracing Judge's final journey and praying along the way. Every September 11, there is a Mass in memory of Mychal Judge in Boston, attended by many who lost family members on 9/11.
At the National 9/11 Memorial, Judge is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-18.
Gay orientation and affiliations
Following his death a few of his friends and associates revealed that Father Mychal Judge was gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
– as a matter of orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
rather than practice, as he was a celibate priest. According to fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen
Thomas Von Essen
Thomas Von Essen was appointed the 30th FDNY Commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on April 15, 1996 and served in that position until the end of the Giuliani Administration on December 31, 2001, nearly four months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.In 2002 he was...
: "I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association
Uniformed Firefighters Association
The Uniformed Firefighters Association is the main union of firefighters in the Fire Department of New York .Its president is Stephen J. Cassidy, a vocal critic of mayor Rudy Giuliani's decisions during the Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks.The union has made several...
. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firemen to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything."
The revelations about Judge's sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
were not without controversy, however. Dennis Lynch, a lawyer, wrote an article about Judge that appeared on the website catholic.org. Lynch claimed that the priest was not gay and that any attempt to define him as gay was due to "homosexual activists" who wanted to "attack the Catholic Church" and turn the priest into "a homosexual icon
Gay icon
A gay icon is a public figure who is embraced by many within :lesbian, :gay, :bisexual and :transgender communities...
".
Others refuted Lynch’s claims with evidence that Judge did, in fact, identify himself as gay, both to others and in his personal journals.
Judge was a long-term member of Dignity
DignityUSA
DignityUSA is a U.S. organization with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts that "works for respect and justice" for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in the Roman Catholic Church and the world through education, advocacy and support...
, a Catholic LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. On October 1, 1986, the Vatican's
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
issued an encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which declared homosexuality to be a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil". In response, many bishops, including John Cardinal O'Connor
John Cardinal O'Connor
John Joseph O'Connor was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death in 2000, and was created a cardinal in 1985...
, banned Dignity from diocesan
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
churches under their control. Father Judge then welcomed Dignity's AIDS ministry to the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is a church in Pampulha district of Belo Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It was designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the organic modern style...
, which is under the control of the Franciscan friars, thereby partially circumventing the cardinal's ban of Dignity.
Judge disagreed with official Roman Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality, though by all accounts he remained celibate. Judge often asked, "Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?"
External links
- Fire Chaplain Becomes Larger than Life
- The Happiest Man on Earth: Eulogy of Fr. Mychal Judge
- Rev Mychal "Father Mike" Judge entry at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...