IN HIS NEW York visit, Pope Benedict addressed the pedophile scandal, met with pedophilia victims and became the first Pontiff to visit a synagogue in the United States.These were important acts of contrition, outreach and reconciliation.
But the Pope missed a historic opportunity to similarly reach out to gays and lesbians during his visit to Ground Zero by not acknowledging Father Mychal Judge, the beloved chaplain of the Fire Department of New York, who died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Father Judge had an easy out that day. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani invited the FDNY Chaplain to leave with him. Instead, as Father Judge had done on other occasions, he knowingly stepped into harm’s way to benefit others.
A Reuters photographer captured Father Judge’s body being carried out of the World Trade Center by emergency service personnel, and instantaneously the photo was seen worldwide. It made Father Judge a symbol of 9-11 heroism and a source of special pride to Catholics. His FDNY chaplain’s hat was presented to Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica at a Mass remembering victims of the terrorist attacks.
It became well known that Father Judge was gay. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is sinful for anyone to have sex outside marriage. The church has used its political clout to oppose same-sex marriage insisting that gays and lesbians remain celibate. In an encyclical authorized by then-Cardinal Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI — the church stated that being gay or lesbian is “intrinsically disordered.” Though the church recognizes gays and lesbians as children of God, its official position is to condemn the sin, but love the gay and lesbian “sinners.”
THE CHURCH’S WAYS of demonstrating this love, however, have been questionable. It has prohibited Dignity, an organization of openly gay and lesbian Catholics to hold Mass or meet in a Roman Catholic sanctuary. At best indifferent during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the church continues to enunciate homophobic messages that have caused significant suffering.
For all who knew Mychal Judge from his days as the assistant to the president of a Catholic college; as a parish priest in three New Jersey churches; as a Franciscan serving the homeless at St. Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street; and as chaplain, FDNY, knew a man who honored his priestly vows and humbly lived a life filled with quiet acts of heroism.
A recovering alcoholic, who was sober for 23 years prior to his death, he attended almost daily AA meetings, where he shared his pain and his reliance on the love of God, providing counsel and offering a self-effacing role model. When TWA Flight 800 crashed over the waters of Long Island in 1996, Father Judge comforted the victims’ families and presided at an all-faiths memorial service.
AT TIMES OF heightened tension, Father Judge wore Franciscan sandals and led walks in Ireland for peace and reconciliation. He was among the first clergy to minister to people with AIDS. He went into their rooms dressed in his friar’s garb without mask or gloves. When others would have no contact, he massaged their feet and engaged them in discussion about the power of God’s love.
Father Judge consistently gave all his worldly goods to the poor. At Christmas, he raised money and delivered hundreds of coats to those living on the streets. He was, by every account, the quintessential Franciscan priest. Many considered him to be among the most Jesus-like of Christians.
But while Father Judge’s twin sister Dympna was among the victims’ family members invited to Ground Zero during the Pontiff’s visit, Pope Benedict did not mention Father Judge. This omission reminded gays and lesbians of a not-so-distant time when they were expected to be — and indeed were — invisible.
By not acknowledging Father Judge and to seemingly closet him, the Pontiff missed a historic opportunity to offer reconciliation to gays and lesbians by recognizing a beloved Franciscan priest who was gay, served God with humility and who loved the Almighty’s children in the noblest Christian tradition.
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