Posted on 08/18/2002 3:05:56 PM PDT by NYer
Victims of the September 11 hijackers were not just people. One victim of the September 11 terrorists was the truth about a Catholic priest. This is the story of how homosexual activists hijacked the truth about Father Mychal Judge.
The Father Mike We Knew
By now, nearly everyone in America knows the story of Father Mike. He was born May 11, 1933, and ordained as a Franciscan priest on February 25, 1961. He died September 11, 2001, administering last rites of the Catholic faith to fallen firefighters as the World Trade Center Towers collapsed. Before his tragic death, Father Mike ministered to families in parishes throughout the metropolitan New York area, to students at Sienna College, and to New York City firefighters. And Father Mike ministered to the homeless, the sick and dying of AIDS, to homosexuals, heterosexuals and especially to anyone needing help. Father Mike saw Christ in everyone without exception and without objection.
Yet, as is typical with activists, the truth about someone never stood in their way to advance their agenda. This was true with the homosexual activists who saw in Father Mike's heroic death a chance to attack the Roman Catholic Church. It didn't matter if what they said about Father Mike wasn't true. All that mattered was that a heroic, celibate, faithful Catholic priest could become a homosexual icon. This is how it happened.
The Father Mike I Knew
I knew Father Mike for about one decade before his death. Father Mike was very close to the Steven and Patti Ann McDonald family. Father Mike was present at the Hospital after Police Officer Steven McDonald was shot and paralyzed in 1987. Father Mike prayed with Officer McDonald and his family and was present when Officer McDonald, although completely paralyzed, forgave the person who shot him. The McDonald family and Father Mike shared a special love of Ireland. I was privileged to help Father Mike and Officer McDonald travel to Northern Ireland spreading Jesus' message of reconciliation through forgiveness in that troubled part of the world.
During the planning for one of these trips to Northern Ireland, a homosexual activist named Brendan Fay contacted me. After a very successful first trip to Northern Ireland where Officer McDonald and Father Mike preached Jesus' message of reconciliation through forgiveness, the second trip was being planned amid much publicity. Father Mike told me that Brendan Fay, who was born in Ireland, really wanted to become part of our Project Reconciliation Team. Father Mike told me that Brendan Fay was someone he was trying to help bring closer to Christ, although Brendan had a history of being a troublemaker.
The Homosexual Activist
I also knew Brendan Fay as the person who attacked the Catholic Church by trying to have homosexuals march as a recognized unit in the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Now, we all know that homosexuals and heterosexuals have marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade since it began. Yet, homosexual activists didn't just want that equal right to march. Homosexual activists like Brendan Fay wanted recognition and approval of their conduct in a Catholic event by being accepted for their sins. Brendan Fay was the person everyone in New York City saw on television and who was mentioned elsewhere in the media. Brendan Fay had an activist's mission to force Irish-Catholics to accept in their Parade not love of the sinner, but love of the sin.
I met with Brendan Fay and Father Mike for lunch. Brendan Fay told me how much he wanted to help plan and participate in our trip to Northern Ireland. Brendan Fay told me of many contacts he had in Ireland and how his participation could help make the trip even more successful. I sensed that Brendan was not being truthful, but just a troublemaker as Father Mike mentioned. I also sensed that all Brendan Fay wanted was a headline or a story about him or his homosexual agenda through this trip to Northern Ireland. Brendan Fay wanted trouble, not reconciliation.
Nevertheless, I agreed to have Brendan join the planning and even the trip - on one condition. That condition was that the trip would only be about Police Officer Steven McDonald and his effort to spread Jesus' message of reconciliation through forgiveness in Northern Ireland. I told Brendan this meant no names are ever mentioned in referencing the trip except Police Officer Steven McDonald and Father Mike. Brendan asked me, "Does that mean I can't do television interviews?" I told Brendan clearly, "Absolutely not. This is a story about Steven McDonald and his trip. This is not about you or me or any agenda." As a result, Brendan never followed through on the planning or the trip to Northern Ireland. He had no interest in the message of reconciliation. If the story wasn't about Brendan Fay, Brendan was not interested.
Father Mike's Death
The next time I met Brendan Fay was three years later at Father Mike's funeral mass, at the Franciscan friary in Manhattan, which was packed with mourners. Everyone I saw was solemn and sad - everyone, that is, except Brendan Fay. Brendan was smiling and strangely happy. I greeted him before Mass started and watched him carry on almost joyfully on a day when tears were on the faces of everyone else. I didn't know why Brendan was acting in that strange, almost demonic, way, but I would soon find out.
Prior to Father Mike's death, everyone who knew him for any length of time would never describe him as a homosexual. In fact, never has even one homosexual activist ever provided evidence that Father Mike was "gay." Yet, in newspapers immediately after the funeral mass, Brendan Fay was quoted saying that Father Mike was a homosexual. Fay arranged a media event where many people spoke of Father Mike's concern for the homosexual community and claimed Father Mike was "gay." This was news to me, and I knew Father Mike for nearly a decade.
The Media Lies About Father Mike
After the first series of newspapers stories reported that Father Mike was a homosexual, suddenly politicians were standing up in Congress lamenting the death of "Father Mike, the gay priest." Concerned that Father Mike was being used by homosexual activists, I began to contact many people who knew him for as long or longer than I did. I wanted the truth about Father Mike to be published. Not one of these longtime friends every heard or saw anything that Father Mike did that would indicate he was homosexual. I personally spent weeks at a time with Father Mike where he and I spoke about many personal matters. Not once was there even a suggestion that Father Mike was "gay." He was a celibate Catholic priest and nothing more.
As time passed, Brendan Fay began to organize events claming Father Mike to be "Hero, Priest and Gay." The media began to refer to Father Mike as being not just "gay," but an "openly gay" priest. None of this was true. I wrote a letter to Gannett Newspapers about one such reference to Father Mike. Gannett responded by citing law that you can't defame a dead person. I wrote back to say that I wasn't bringing a defamation claim; I only wanted the truth about Father Mike to be published. I received no further response. The New York Times also wrote an article alleging that Father Mike was a homosexual. I wrote to the Times requesting evidence, since many, many people did not believe Father Mike to be "gay." I received no response from the Times.
In fact, when one newspaper wrote an article proclaiming that Father Mike was homosexual and the newspaper was challenged about the story, the editor's response was shocking. The editor wrote that it really didn't matter if Father Mike was a homosexual or not. Homosexuals are a disadvantaged group, the editor said, and if the story helped them with their self-esteem, then Father Mike would be happy. In other words, the truth about Father Mike being a faithful Catholic priest didn't matter in our Politically Correct world.
As more time passed after Father Mike's death, homosexual activists embellished their story even more. During "Gay Pride Week" in the New York City area, one newspaper published the falsehood that Father Mike had been a "leader" in the homosexual "GLBT movement" (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual). The lies about Father Mike continued to grow in the Politically Correct media. Sadly, even a member of the Catholic hierarchy in New York commented in the media that Father Mike was "a gay Priest." When questioned later about this comment, the priest admitted he only knew what he had "read in the media" about Father Mike.
The Truth About Father Mike
The truth is that Father Mychal F. Judge, O.F.M., was a wonderful Catholic priest. Father Mike saw Christ in everyone. He ministered to everyone with a smile, a prayer and the love of Jesus Christ in his heart. Father Mike was tireless in living a life as a Priest modeled after St. Francis of Assisi. Although homosexual activists have hijacked this truth, I know that, from heaven, Father Mike would want you to know the truth about him. He would also want you to pray for those who bear false witness. Most of all, Father Mike would care not that you remember him, but that you remember and live the Prayer of St. Francis.
As we draw closer to the anniversary of September 11, I feel compelled to clear the good name and reputation of Fr. Mychal Judge who has been besmirched by activists with an agenda.
PAX ET BONUM
I remember crying when I first read the story and reading about Father Judge puts a very big lump in my throat.
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Thank you for posting this. |
I remember reading some of the early FR threads right after 9-11 when this story first came out.
Many freepers stated the sentiment put forth in the first couple sentences of the last paragraph defending the priest against other freepers who were cutting him down for being homosexual ( they had also bought into the activist message hook, line, and sinker it seems).
Thanks for the post.
Thank you for posting the article.
Oh, and by the way.....anyone who is described as "gay", as I understand the term to be defined in the gay community, is not celibate. "Gay" describes a worldview and way of life that doesn't include celibacy, or even, as far as I can ascertain, much reflection or self-examination. Except in the mirror.
Was he, really? Or is that something that someone put out afterward? What we have here, is a poisoned well. This story of his being gay needs very careful checking out, and debunking as per the article if in fact this Brendan Fay character has tried to hijack a dead hero.
Now, when the man is dead, and cannot answer for himself, individuals campaign publicly to characterize him as a sinner who betrayed his most solemn vows that were the foundation upon which he lived his life. Do you really mean to say that this is not an important matter?! If so, I feel badly for you. Does the truth and honor not matter to you at all?
I recall being depressed upon hearing that the Church in which I grew up--but no longer am associated with--had fallen to such depths that it would have an "openly gay priest" running around lower Manhattan for several years being a chaplain to heroic firemen who were reported to love him deeply.
This was a great disconnect--hard to fathom what that "love" really meant. Was it the love of real men? Or was it immature sodomy? The firemen that I knew growing up in NYC would not have "loved" a "gay" man. Something smelled wrong in this story from the beginning. The story tried to besmirch the heroic firemen as well. The firemen were being praised all over. The sodomites must have thought--Let's make them appear to be like us, so we may be associated with those who are being praised; and if the public has a problem with their mysterious "love" of a gay priest in their firehouses, well tough on them. Such are the hearts of the "gay boys". Indeed, they are among us. And yes, they never will grow up.
The church I knew would not have countenanced any "openly gay priests". If it had now in the past 30 years, indeed, come to this, things were worse than I had thought for the Church. If we rely on the press, the Church is lessened in the public's mind. Later, when the scandal of the homosexual priests sexually molesting boys entrusted to their care was writ large across the same "media", I gave up all hope for the church of which I still hold in gratitude for my formation in youth.
The alleged fact came to light in the recent chld sex abuse scandal that since the late 1960's, the hierarchy had abandoned their supervisory duties over many seminaries, and virtual homsexual colonies had sprung up within the church as a result. Obviously, the activists had the aim of perverting and destroying the Roman Catholic Church which they planned to make an unwitting host to their lifestyle and agenda. Masquerading as real priests, these sodomites would seek to corrupt the faithul in the Church who looked to their priests for moral guidance. The shock was not that the sodomites would seek that end--as perverse and sick and as hateful as it is. Rather, the shock was that the hierarchy had allowed them to do so. I heard a figure of one-third to one-half of priests were homosexuals. You can imagine my disgust.
I left the church at the time that this abdication, among others, was first occurring around 1969. The Vatican Council had made all this possible, but not inevitable. It was painful to see what had happened. The failure of leadership and loss of faith in principles at that time in government, business, universities and child education, did not escape the Catholic hierarchy.
This story about Fr. Judge is important in that it reveals the kind of people who associate around the fringes of the church and try to sully and destroy its reputation and character as well as its individual priests. Of course, the leftist femininst press happily joins in with both feet. The inveterate liar and plagerist, Michael Barnicle, went on in print, TV and the Imus radio show to nationaly characterize this man as a "gay priest" as he was lionizing him. Do not believe for an instant that he would have mentioned Mychal Judge at all, if he did not have some alleged basis to lay the false [in more than one sense] adjective "gay" upon Mychal Judge's memory.
These people are detestable. And so are you, Torie, if you do not think that it matters.
Pardon me for horning in, but what is your basis for so believing? Other than the accounts which the article posted here disputes as contaminated? Or are you just saying that the article's writer is somehow deluding himself?
By the way, this priest wasn't "gay" if he was celibate, even if he was homosexual. Which hasn't been proven, but has only been claimed by people who have an ideological axe to grind. Mike Barnicle is not what I'd call the gold standard of credibility, as ontos-on has pointed out, and the activists at Dignity, if Fr. Mychal ever spoke to their group (did he? really?) or ministered to them, may have labored under a misapprehension at least as great as the one you impute to the writer.
Care to discuss?
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