The 9-11 Foundation encourages everyone to attend a religious event to remember September 11.
The foundation does not endorse a specific church, faith, or belief, but we do recognize the selfless sacrifice of Roman Catholic priest, Father Mychal Judge, who was a chaplain for the Fire Department of New York on September 11, 2011.
Father Mychal Judge
Father Mychal Judge was a Franciscan friar and per a NPR report was a “true New York character.” He was born in Brooklyn in May 1933 and most would say Judge knew everyone in the city, from the homeless to the mayor.
Judge arrived at the World Trade Center shortly after the first plane hit on September 11, 2001. As firefighters and rescue personnel ran into the North Tower, he ran with them.
Father Judge is a shining example of the powerful personal motivation from acting positively on your faith and we hope everyone attends a service to consider the lives lost and how we can better represent our common humanity towards one another.
Father Mychal Judge
Mychal Judge spent his freshman year at the St. Francis Preparatory School in Brooklyn, where he studied under the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn.
At the age of 15, in 1948, Judge began the formation process to enter the Order of Friars Minor. He transferred to St. Joseph’s Seraphic Seminary in Callicoon, New York, the minor seminary of the Holy Name province of the Order. After graduation, he enrolled at St. Bonaventure University.
After completing his year of formation, he received the religious habit and professed his first vows as a member of the Order. At that time, he was given the religious name of Fallon Michael. He later dropped ‘Fallon’ and changed ‘Michael’ to Mychal.
He professed his solemn vows as a full member of the Order in 1958. Following this, he did his theological studies at Holy Name College Seminary in Washington, D.C. Upon completing these studies in 1961, he was ordained a priest.
After his ordination, Judge was assigned to the Shrine of St. Anthony in Boston and served various parishes there.
In 1986 he was assigned to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan, where he had first come to know the friars. He lived and worked there until his death.
Around 1971, Judge developed alcoholism, 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, Judge was appointed a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. As chaplain, he offered encouragement and prayers at fires, rescues, and hospitals, and counseled firefighters and their families, often working 16-hour days. “His whole ministry was about love. Mychal loved the fire department and they loved him.”
Judge was also well known in the city 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 society. 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 picked him up, kissed him, and silently rocked him in his arms.
Judge worked with St. Clare’s Hospital, which opened the city’s first AIDS ward, in order to start an active AIDS ministry. He visited hospitals and AIDS patients and their families, presided over many funerals, and counseled other prominent gay Catholics like Brendan Fay and John McNeill.
Judge continued to be an advocate for gay rights throughout the rest of his life, marching in pride parades and attending other gay events.
Even before his death, many considered 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.” Judge’s spiritual director, the late Jesuit John J. McNeill, observed that Judge achieved an “extraordinary degree of union with the divine. We knew we were dealing with someone directly in line with God.”
Eleven Ways To Remember 9-11: Attend A Religious Event
Father Mychal Judge is a shining example we should never forget. He encourages all with his focus on service and consideration of others. We hope you will consider ways you can remember 9-11 and act on them not only in September 2021, but every day of the year.
Day One: Learn CPR
Day Two: Volunteer
Day Three: Less Partisanship
Day Four: Donate Blood
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