Honoring the gay saint of 9/11

A gay priest is considered a saint by many since his heroic death in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Father Mychal Judge, chaplain to New York City firefighters, responded quickly when Muslim extremists flew hijacked planes into the twin towers. He rushed with firefighters into the north tower right after the first plane hit.

Refusing to be evacuated, he prayed and administered sacraments as debris crashed outside. He saw dozens of bodies hit the plaza outside as people jumped to their deaths. His final prayer, repeated over and over, was “Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!”

While he was praying, Father Mychal was struck and killed in a storm of flying steel and concrete that exploded when the south tower collapsed. He was the first officially recorded fatality of the 9/11 attack. Father Mychal was designated as Victim 0001 because his was the first body recovered at the scene. More than 2,500 people from many nationalities and walks of life were killed. Thousands more escaped the buildings safely.

After Father Mychal’s death, some of his friends revealed that he considered himself a gay man. He had a homosexual orientation, but by all accounts he remained faithful to his vow of celibacy as a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan order.

The charismatic, elderly priest was a long-term member of Dignity, the oldest and largest national lay movement of LGBT Catholics and their allies. Father Mychal voiced disagreement with the Vatican’s condemnation of homosexuality, and found ways to welcome Dignity’s AIDS ministry despite a ban by church leaders. He defied a church boycott of the first gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens, showing up in his habit and granting news media interviews.

Many people, both inside and outside the GLBT community, call Father Mychal a saint. He has not been canonized by his own Roman Catholic Church, but some feel that he has already become a saint by popular acclamation, and the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America did declare officially declare him a saint.

The above icon is “Holy Passion Bearer Mychal Judge and St. Francis of Assisi” by Father William Hart McNichols.  It shows Father Mychal with St. Francis of Assisi as the World Trade Center burns behind them. They hold out a veil to gather and help people who cry out in times of violence and terror. In the text accompanying the icon, Father McNichols describes Father Mychal as a Passion Bearer who “takes on the on-coming violence rather than returning it… choosing solidarity with the unprotected.”

Father McNichols is a renowned iconographer and Roman Catholic priest based in New Mexico. After earning a Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in New York, he studied icon painting with the Russian-American master Robert Lentz. Like Lentz, he paints icons with contemporary subjects, as well as many with classical themes. Some of his icons express compassion for people with AIDS, based on his experiences working at an AIDS hospice in New York City in the 1980s. Father McNichols is one of 11 artists featured in “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ and More” by Kittredge Cherry.

For more info on Father Mychal Judge, visit his Wikipedia entry or the Saint Mychal Judge blog.

Image credit: “Holy Passion Bearer Mychal Judge and St. Francis of Assisi” By Father William Hart McNichols

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This is cross-posted at the Jesus in Love Blog, where it launches a new “GLBT Saints” series. Lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry will write about saints and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies on appropriate dates throughout the year.

Comments

[pennyjane]

thank you kitt, it is beautiful. imagine that, a gay saint.

like a lot of christians i've been asked what my vision of heaven it. for me it's quite simple...just following Jesus around all day, loving and learning. if my vision is real a lot of people are going to be shocked at how many saints in that crowd will be gay. i think Jesus' smile will be just as soft, just as gentle just as loving and just as welcoming with them as with all others....in fact, sometimes i think i can feel it already.

much love and hope. pj

[Christopher Dombrowski]

Who wrote this article? There is some misinformation I desire to correct.

[pennyjane]

hi christopher. it is my understanding that kittredge cherry author's the "Jesus in love" blog from whence this post originated.

i'd be interesting in hearing what misinformation you feel needs to be corrected here as i put quite some faith in what i read from kitt.

much love and hope. pj

[Ed]

Awesome and a spiritual feeling around this article. I really admire this holy effort.

[Kittredge Cherry]

Thank you for offering to correct misinformation in the piece that I wrote about Mychal Judge at the MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog: “Honoring the gay saint of 9/11.” What corrections do you recommend?

I did a lot of research for this piece because I wanted to honor Father Mychal with an accurate account of his heroic life. I will be happy to make corrections if they are needed. Please let me know. You can contact me through JesusInLove.org. I will also email you directly.

I’m sorry that it wasn’t clear who wrote the post or how to contact me directly. In the future I will try to make it clear.

I don’t understand why the Gay Spirituality Blog doesn’t automatically include a link to my profile with my posts! I recently went to the effort of setting up a profile at Typepad for that purpose, but it doesn’t seem to connect to the blog. It’s certainly a challenge to get everything right!

[Kittredge Cherry]

Thanks to a quick reply from Christopher, the text has been corrected. Father Mychal Judge was canonized by the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America -- NOT the Orthodox Church in America as previously reported. I regret the error.

[I am Proud]

Is there a chance to see more such a pictures ? I mean one at the top of the article

[Kittredge Cherry]

I am starting the process of compiling more such pictures into one easy-to-find place at the Jesus in Love Blog:
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

I hope to have the “GLBT Saints” section up and running in October, and will be adding pictures of more saints in the coming months before the official launch.

Meanwhile, you can search online for icons by William Hart McNichols and Robert Lentz. We also have some GLBT saints icons on this page:

http://jesusinlove.org/links.php

[Katie]

After Father Mychal’s death, some of his friends revealed that he considered himself a gay man. He had a homosexual orientation, but by all accounts he remained faithful to his vow of celibacy as a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan order.....
he had his life, as we have ours!
now he just need to rest in peace!
katie