A chaplain’s sacrifice

Richard A. Sokerka

On Sept. 11, the nation will pause to reflect, to pray and to remember the nearly 3,000 innocent lives lost in the terrorists’ attacks in 2001.

Sixteen years later, still indelibly etched in our minds are the times the planes struck the World Trade Center towers: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m.: the time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes, and the time they took to fall: 12 seconds, bringing a nation to its knees in prayer.

On a day that will live in infamy, the first officially recorded fatality was the former pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in West Milford here in the Diocese of Paterson — Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, who at that time was serving as chaplain for NYC fire department. He rushed from the friary at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan to the scene of the World Trade Center attacks. He administered last rites and prayed over bodies lying on the streets, then entered the lobby of the World Trade Center North Tower, where an emergency command post had been organized. There he continued offering aid and prayers for the rescuers, the injured, and the dead. When the South Tower collapsed, debris went flying through the North Tower lobby, killing many inside, including the friar. Frozen in our minds is the iconic photo of his lifeless body being carried out of the building by the firefighters he served.

In the years since the attack, many honors have been bestowed posthumously on the friar. Earlier this year, the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago held its Irish American Hall of Fame Awards presentation and inducted Father Judge. Other honors include the presentation of his fire helmet to Pope John Paul II. France awarded him the Légion d’honneur. Some members of the U.S. Congress have nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And the Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance takes place every year in New York on the Sunday before the 9/11 anniversary. It begins with a Mass at St. Francis Church on West 31st St., then proceeds to the site of Ground Zero, retracing his final journey and praying along the way.

On that tragic day, there were more heroes than we can count. Father Judge was certainly one of them, although he would be the first to say he was only doing the job he was called by God to do.

Father Judge is buried in the friars’ plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa where the annual service at his gravesite on 9/11 will be held immediately after the 11:30 a.m. Mass in St. Bonaventure Church, Paterson. It is a fitting place to be on this day of national mourning for the innocent lives lost.