Amid the "saints" in the Church--and the very heterogeneous LGBTQ community--the one person who stands out on 9/11 is Fr. Mychal Judge, a Franciscan priest and brother, who also happened to be gay, who served with the fire station personnel. He went into the calamity of 9/11 in NYC, administering last rites to those on the streets and rushing in to World Trade Center North to help when it too collapsed, and he died in the midst of helping others. He was the first recorded fatality or victim of 9/11 among those who went to rescue others.
Pace, B
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Even prior to his heroic death on 9/11, Father Mychal Judge, was widely seen by many New Yorkers as a living saint for his deep spirituality and his extraordinary work not only with firefighters -- but with the homeless, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and others rejected by society.
Though he kept his priestly celibacy, he supported committed gay relationships, asking, "Is there so much love in the world, that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?!"
This often annoyed the Roman church hierarchy. But like his spiritual father St. Francis of Assisi, Mychal reported directly to a Higher Authority, as evidenced by several miraculous healings through him.
See
http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com
Here’s the last Homily he gave, on Sept. 10, 2001, at a Mass for firefighters, but it's really a call to all of us --
“You do what God has called you to do.
You go out and do the job.
No matter how big the call, no matter how small,
you have no idea of what God is calling you to, but
God needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us.
God needs us to keep supporting each other,
to be kind to each other, to love each other….
“We love this job, we all do. What a blessing it is !
It’s a difficult, difficult job, but God calls you to do it,
and indeed, He gives you a love for it
so that a difficult job will be well done.
“Isn’t God wonderful ?!
Isn’t He good to you, to each one of you, and to me ?
Turn to God each day --
put your faith, your trust, your hope and your life in His hands.
He’ll take care of you and you’ll have a good life.
And this firehouse will be a great blessing
to this neighborhood and to this city.
Amen.”
Father Mychal Judge, pray for us.
Thanks, Jim, for your addition to the initial blog. I had a chance to talk to some of his Franciscan brothers after his death and was deeply impressed by the depth of his life--mind, body, and spirit.
Fr. "St." Mychal's intercession is welcome!
Peace, Brett
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