Sunday, September 12, 2010

Re: Remembering Father Mychal Judge, The Saint of 9-11

If you want to solve the "gay" issue, stop talking about it. Just live your life as you choose to live it.

On 9/12/2010 10:59 AM, Tommy News wrote:
Yes, Father Judge pitched in and helped, as did many others. Many gave their lives doing so. Knowing more about them helps to keep their memory alive and teaches tolerance.
 
Read this:
 


 
On 9/12/10, dick thompson <rhomp2002@earthlink.net> wrote:
The man gave his life ministering to the firemen and others at the disaster.   Who cares whether he was gay or not.   His sexual inclination does not matter to the story one little bit.   I do get a wee bit tired of those who look for sexual inclinations no matter what.  Celebrate the man for the greatness he had and the rest does not matter at all.   The disaster affected us all, gay and straight and I happen to be gay.   When you in the middle of a situation like that you don't ask about sex ual inclination; you either pitch in and help or you run away.   He pitched in and helped.   End of story.


On 09/12/2010 10:11 AM, Tommy News wrote:
Dick-
 
Exactly what "Gay Nonsense" are you referring to?
 
Give us a break, Dick!

 
On 9/11/10, dick thompson <rhomp2002@earthlink.net> wrote:
    And whether the Father was gay or not means what with regard to what he was doing on 9/11/2001.    He was there fulfilling his mission and I am sure he would not have cared whether the men and women he helped were gay or not.   And we should not either when it comes to this day.  If there is a time to forget all the gay nonsense it is a day like today.   Give it a break!!


On 09/11/2010 09:04 AM, Tommy News wrote:

Father Mychal Judge, the New                                     York City Fire Department chaplain,                                     stands at the shore before a service                                     where candles were lit for the                                     victims of TWA Flight 800, July 17,                                     2000, at Smith Point Park in                                     Shirley, N.Y.
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Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain, stands at the shore before a service where candles were lit for the victims of TWA Flight 800, July 17, 2000, at Smith Point Park in Shirley, N.Y.
 



A man carrying an American flag joined other mourners at Ground Zero on the 8th anniversary of 9-11-01.

Remembering The Saint of 9/11: Father Mychal Judge 


*Father Mychal Judge*

 


On 9/11/01, rescue workers remove the body of Father Judge, a parish priest
from one of New York's fire halls. Father Judge was administering last rites
to a firefighter who was killed by one of the many bodies that fell to the
ground after people leapt from the tower to their deaths, when he too was
struck and killed.

   Father Mychal Judge   There is a word that upsets Cardinal Edward Egan
more than "terrorist" and that is the word "gay."

After the funeral service for Father Mychal Judge, the fire chaplain who
perished ministering to a dying fireman at the World Trade Center, I tried
to ask Egan, "Given Father Mychal's many contributions to the gay community
and all you've just heard about how loving and loved he was, does it make
you want to rethink your condemnation of homosexuality?" When Egan heard the
word "gay," he didn't wait for the question. "Oh, COME ON!," he thundered as
he abruptly turned away. Purple with rage, he literally ran to his car.

Egan's response explains Mychal Judge's decision not to be a more outspoken
gay activist-- something that he debated with me, host of a gay news show on
TV that he said he enjoyed, and others over the years. Cardinals John
O'Connor or Egan would certainly have put an end to his ability to function
as a priest in this Archdiocese, a role that allowed him to roam the city in
his brown Franciscan habit giving solace and strength to countless New
Yorkers. It might also have meant the loss of his chaplaincy serving his
beloved fire fighters, even though he enjoyed the support of the Fire
Commissioner, Mayor, and virtually all the rank and file.

At his wake and funeral, Mychal Judge, 68, was mourned and celebrated by his
two sisters, brother Franciscans, elderly nuns who were his grade school
teachers, powerful friends, diverse parishioners, the homeless and others he
served, and scores of fire fighters, some covered with dust from the
catastrophe downtown. But evidence of Judge's involvement with the gay
community-- and his wary relationship with the church hierarchy-- was hiding
in plain sight.

At the wake, Mayor Giuliani himself said, "Father Mychal is now up in heaven
with Cardinal O'Connor-- and O'Connor is letting him say mass," referring to
the rivalry these two priests had, especially over funerals of fallen fire
fighters. It was a grim day in a devastating week, but the mourners roared
with knowing laughter.

Eulogizing him at the funeral, Father Michael Duffy broke up the crowd and
humanized his friend by noting that when Judge got the word to dash downtown
to the stricken Trade Center, "he did take time to comb and spray his hair!"
Public Advocate Mark Green spoke of how he served people of "every
orientation."

The night before, his 23 years in Alcoholics Anonymous were invoked, but not
that Judge went mostly to gay AA meetings. His gay brothers from the program
were all over the church.

Present in the pews were Judge's close friends, gay couple Brendan Fay and
Tom Moulton. Judge had openly supported (and surreptitiously funded) Fay's
Queens St. Patrick's Parade that welcomed gay groups, the only Catholic
priest to do so. (The next one, on March 3, is dedicated to Judge's memory.)
And when the Emerald Society of the Fire Department honored Father Mychal,
he had Brendan and Tom as his guests and the couple danced together at the
banquet. He was always building bridges, especially between the conservative
and progressive worlds he was equally at home in.

Hillary Clinton inelegantly spoke of the "AIDS victims" Judge helped. She
did not note how that ministry came about. When Cardinal O'Connor expelled
Dignity, the gay Catholic organization, from St. Francis Xavier Church in
the mid-1980s, Judge provided a home for the group's AIDS ministry, led by
the Rev. Bernard Lynch, an outspoken gay priest. Judge later made that
outreach St. Francis of Assisi's own. Several gay men came at the funeral
told me how Judge had buried their partners and gotten them through their
grief.

In 1988, Lynch was falsely accused of molesting a teen-age student at a
Bronx school he once served. Lynch said that without being asked, Judge
"flew to Ireland to meet with my provincial superior to tell him that the
charges were politically motivated because I had stood up against the
Cardinal in 1986 on the gay rights bill." This, Lynch said, convinced Father
Con Murphy, his superior, to hire high-powered lawyer Michael Kennedy to
defend Lynch. Judge made a side trip to a small Irish town to reassure
Lynch's father about his son. Lynch returned to the Bronx and the flimsy
case evaporated in court, with Judge Burton Roberts angrily declaring the
priest not just "not guilty," but innocent of all charges.

The Archdiocese denies any involvement in bringing the charges, but they
never answered letters from Kennedy seeking their files on Lynch nor pleas
from religious leaders asking the Cardinal to help him. While O'Connor did
speak out for his friend the Rev. Bruce Ritter when he was charged
(accurately) with abusing boys at Covenant House, he was silent while Lynch
twisted in the wind. Now the Archdiocese can know that their church's hero,
Mychal Judge, helped undermine the case meant to destroy Lynch.

Judge kept a high profile, from comforting the kin of those who died on
Flight 800 and meeting with Presidents to his poignant martyrdom on Bloody
Tuesday. But in other ways, he was like the underground priests in Ireland,
homeland of his parents, who defied the 18th century anti-Catholic Penal
Laws, saying mass on the sly and always on the run. Working on gay issues,
however, he was hiding from his own Cardinal Archbishop, who proclaimed him
a saint at his funeral and refused to hear that Judge was the kind of person
his church has condemned as "intrinsically disordered."

For Mychal (nee Emmet) Judge, an Irish American kid from Brooklyn, gayness
was one of his many gifts, but it was the one that gave him his most
personal experience of being an outsider, blessing him with the empathy that
gave him such a tremendous ability to connect to and heal so many broken
people.
More:
http://www.whitecranejournal.com/wc_Father_Mychal_Judge.htm

 


 

*Father  Mychal F. Judge, The Saint of 9/11*

Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM was a busy Franciscan priest who dedicated his
life to serving God's people.  He is known for his work with the homeless,
recovering addicts, AIDS patients, and his work as chaplain to the New York
City Fire Department.

On September 11, 2001, Father Mychal rushed from the friary at Saint Francis
of Assisi Church to the scene of the World Trade Center attacks.

After administering last rites to a firefighter, Father Mychal was hit by
debris and killed.  He became the first officially recorded fatality
following the attack.

During his life, Father Mychal spent much of his time ministering to the
homeless on the Breadline at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City.
This is one of the many places where he found God - in the hurting, the
broken, the suffering, and the poor.

His dedication to homeless men, women and children has become a calling to
us that manifests itself as Mychal's Message.

*Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM Biography
*Reprinted with permission of the Holy Name Province.

Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department,
died Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in a hail of falling debris near the World
Trade Center.  He became the first officially recorded fatality following
the attack.  Father Mychal was 68.

Born in Brooklyn, NY on May 11, 1933, Robert Emmett Judge was the son of two
Irish immigrants from County Leitrim.  As a young boy, he watched his father
die after a long illness.  To help his mother and two sisters make ends
meet, he shined shoes in Manhattan, ran errands and did odd jobs, before
being called to his Franciscan vocation at age 16.  He then entered St.
Joseph's Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, NY, and graduated in 1954 after
completing the first two years of college.

He was received into the Franciscan Order on August 12, 1954 and the
following year, on August 13, professed his first vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience as stated in the Rule of Life of St. Francis of Assisi.  He
professed final vows on August 20, 1958.

He was ordained to the priesthood on February 25, 1961 at the Franciscan
Monastery – Mt. St. Sepulchre, Washington, DC.  He spent a year of pastoral
formation at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, Mass., before his first assignment
1962-66 as an assistant at St. Joseph's Church, East Rutherford, NJ.  He
also served as an assistant at Sacred Heart Church, Rochelle Park, NJ from
1967-69.  In 1969 he came to St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City, as
local moderator for the Secular Franciscan fraternities.

In 1970, he returned to St. Joseph's Church, East Rutherford, NJ, as
coordinator of the parochial team ministry of Franciscan friars.  After six
years, he was appointed in 1976 as assistant to the president at Siena
College in Loudonville, NY, serving until 1979.  He then became pastor of
St. Joseph's Church in West Milford, NJ.  In 1985 he undertook a one-year
theological sabbatical at the Franciscan house of studies in Canterbury,
England.

Upon returning in the summer of 1986, he was appointed an associate pastor
of St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City.  At the friary there,
finding many "Michaels" on the staff, he decided to change the spelling of
his name to Mychal.  Only a few days after arriving at St. Francis, he
responded to a call to celebrate Mass in the hospital room of New York
police officer Steven McDonald, who had been critically wounded during an
investigation of a youth in Central Park.  Father Mychal and the McDonald
family soon became devoted friends.  Among their good-will travels, Father
Mychal accompanied Detective McDonald on visits to Northern Ireland in 1998,
1999 and 2000 to encourage reconciliation.

In 1992, upon the death of Fr. Julian Deeken, OFM, a Franciscan friar who
had served as one of the Catholic chaplains for the New York Fire
Department, Father Mychal accepted an invitation to serve temporarily in his
place.  Fr. Mychal was named chaplain officially in 1994 to serve the
boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

When TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff from New York in July
1996 and fell into the Atlantic off Long Island, Father Mychal helped
counsel the families and friends of the victims every day for three weeks
and worked to arrange a permanent memorial at the site.  He had since
returned every summer to offer a memorial service and comfort the families.

Over the years, Father Mychal won the hearts of the firefighters and their
families by his charismatic Irish personality and warm Franciscan outreach
to them in all their needs – baptisms, weddings, funerals, hospital visits –
wherever and whenever he was sought.  He was also active in a diverse
ministry to various groups throughout the Metropolitan area.

More than 2,800 people attended the Mass of Christian Burial for Father
Mychal on Saturday, September 15 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in
Manhattan.  Father Mychal was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa,
NJ.  He is survived by two sisters, Erin McTernan and Dympna Jessich.
More:
http://www.mychalsmessage.org/aboutfrm/aboutfrm.htm

Children's Book:
*He Said Yes*
The Story of Father Mychal Judge
*written by Kelly Ann Lynch
illustrated by M. Scott Oatman*

A true story about the remarkable life and untimely death of Father Mychal
Judge, *He Said Yes *tells how an ordinary boy from Brooklyn became an
extraordinary Franciscan priest and the beloved New York City Fire
Department chaplain who gave his life for his friends on September 11, 2001.
More:
http://www.mychalsmessage.org/aboutmm/share/book.htm

The story of a gay priest killed on 9/11
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

By LARRY McSHANE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kelly Ann Lynch, like so many others in Father Mychal Judge's vast
congregation without walls, was devastated by word of the fire chaplain's
death in the shadows of the World Trade Center.

"Those first few weeks, it was hard to see anything good," said the
Pennsylvania mother of four. "It just felt so dark and so sad and so empty."

<http://ads.northjersey.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.northjersey...>

Time passed, until the darkness gave way to a bright idea. Lynch -- whose
father once served as an altar boy for Judge -- became consumed with turning
the priest's life into a children's book, keeping his message of love alive
for future generations.

"He Said Yes: The Story of Father Mychal Judge," a biography timed to arrive
with the sixth anniversary of 9/11, is an illustrated 32-page walk in the
Franciscan priest's sandals. M. Scott Oatman did the artwork.

"He left behind a legacy for all of us," Lynch said recently over breakfast
at a Secaucus hotel, a short hop from the East Rutherford parish where her
family first met Judge. "I took the most important parts of his story and
tried to simplify it. His story was meant to be shared."

The biography starts with Judge's birth in Brooklyn, where he had a job
shining shoes to help his widowed mother make ends meet. It follows him into
the seminary, through his ordination, to parishes in Massachusetts, New
Jersey (East Rutherford, Rochelle Park and West Milford) and finally
Manhattan.

First official victim

Lynch, in a simple, straightforward style, details how Judge picked up
congregants for his far-flung flock at every stop: suburban families and the
homeless; AIDS patients and alcoholics; firefighters and a paralyzed police
officer; the loved ones of those killed aboard TWA Flight 800.

The tale ends on Sept. 11, 2001, when Judge became the first official victim
of the terrorist attack that killed 2,750 people in the Twin Towers. His
dying soon gave life to Lynch's remembrance.

Those touched by the peripatetic priest during his 68 years greeted word of
the Paulist Press publication with warm reviews.

"It sounds sweet -- a lovely idea," said actor and author Malachy McCourt.
"Anything that perpetuates the goodness of this man is fine with me."

Brendan Fay, a gay activist and Judge friend, recalled how easily "Father
Mike" bonded with children.

"He wrote notes and letters to children at their baptism," Fay recalled. "A
few who saved them now treasure them with the affection of relics. ... Kids
who never knew Father Judge can now read his story."

Longtime family friendship

Lynch's ties with Judge predate her birth. He counseled her family in good
times and in crisis -- the sudden death of her grandfather, the death of a
2-month-old sibling, her own daughter's lifesaving liver transplant.

"He made you feel that you were the one special person in his life," said
the 39-year-old Lynch. "What we've come to realize, six years later, is that
he did that for everybody. He was a constant presence."

Besides her book, Lynch runs the non-profit Mychal's Message, which provides
aid to the dispossessed. Proceeds from "He Said Yes" will also benefit the
homeless.

Lynch said getting the book in print was a long process. Plans fell through
with one publisher, and talks with an agent moved slowly. She was on the
verge of self-publishing, just to get the book out, when one of Father
Mike's fellow Franciscans steered her to Paulist Press.

Everything clicked. And, as Lynch hoped, the book, which came out Sept. 3,
was released in time for the anniversary of the attacks.

Judge, possessor of a dry Irish wit, would have enjoyed the book's title,
Fay said. The Franciscan father's instinctive "yes" made him indispensable
to many, but it was also wearing him out -- much like his phone answering
machines, which routinely broke down from overuse every six months.

"It was his gift, and it connected him to thousands," Fay said of the late
yes-man. "But it also wore him out. The title would make Mychal laugh."

On the Web:

paulistpress.com

mychalsmessage.org
More:
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky...



 
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--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Do Governments Protect Us?

This is an example of how "wonderful" our federal government is:

Still Love Governments?

It's truly amazing despite all the crimes committed by governments, people still religiously cling to the idea governments are necessary to protect life, liberty and property.  You can even point out governments not only have no duty to protect anyone, but also do a disastrous job at whatever they bother doing.  Despite overwhelming evidence government is not only unnecessary, corrupt and a cancer on the world, its victims continue to revere them.  Maybe this will help convince them governments are nothing more than gangs of killers, thieves and liars.

Show a friend who believes governments are necessary this copy of title 50 of the United States Code, section 1520 (this "law" was repealed in 1998 by those same people who said they were not wiretapping without a "warrant").  This "law" authorizes the "Department of Defense" to conduct chemical and biological warfare experiments on "civilian populations".  You'll notice there is nothing in there about about informing the "civilian population" and getting their consent.  While the only ones "notified" are "local civilian officials", there is nothing about getting consent first.

I seem to remember hearing something about a dictator in the middle east being accused of doing something like this. 

It'll warm your heart to know chemical and biological agents are weapons of mass destruction.  This means the "Department of Defense" conducts experiments on "civilian populations" with weapons of mass destruction. Maybe I'm just being cynical, I just don't think you protect people by attacking them with weapons of mass destruction.  Maybe the anthrax attacks after 911 was just an authorized "experiment"?

If you think I'm "paranoid", consider all the "programs" conducted by governments that are "classified", where governments deny their existence for decades.  MK-Ultra and Operation Northwoods are good examples.  If attacking "civilian populations" with weapons of mass destruction is admitted and shamelessly advertised in the United States Code, then what is being hidden or "classified"?  Don't worry, you only need to wait fifty or so years to find out.    

Have any of the "local civilian officials" where you live ever notified you of a chemical and biological warfare "experiment" being conducted?  Of course these "experiments" are harmless and for our benefit, that's why you and I are not informed.  Once again, with government our consent is not necessary.  Do you like the idea of being "experimented" on without your consent?  

Yes, governments are wonderful, after all, without governments who'll conduct those lovely chemical and biological warfare "experiments" on entire populations?  Who'll steal trillions of "dollars" worth of our energy every year?  Who'll conduct horrific mind control  "experiments" and  domestic terrorists acts?  Just how do you wage wars without governments?

Look at the hypocrisy, there are over 40,000 paramilitary raids conducted in the United States every year because "drugs are bad," while there are whole populations being attacked with weapons of mass destruction.  Which group is doing the drugs here?

The government solution to every problem is simple: launch another attack on the people.  When you think about it, that's about the only thing governments are good at.  So if you're still a skeptic or know one, remember 50 USC section 1520 where the "Department of Defense" is authorized to conduct chemical and biological warfare "experiments" on populations.

--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Eye-Opening Look At Islam In America

http://www.shoebat.com/videos/pjtv1.php
http://www.shoebat.com/videos/pjtv2.php

CONTACT: Amy Reis or Lynne Campbell of Special Guests at: 630-848-0750.  9/11 MOSQUE IMAM BOASTS: 'Obama's historic speech in Egypt came from me'  In previous reports researched by the Walid Shoebat Foundation, it was revealed that Imam Rauf has made statements in the Arabic language - while appearing on Arabic media outlets - that completely contradict his moderate tone when speaking english, exposing him as a direct supporter of terrorism, both financially and verbally.  NOW THIS!  So who really was speaking on that historic day of June 4th 2009 in Egypt? President Obama or the Imam of the proposed Ground Zero Mosque, Feisal Abdul Rauf?   The Shoebat Foundation has obtained a shocking audio recording of Rauf's own voice boasting in Arabic that Obama's historic speech in Cairo was provided by the Imam's work with the Cordova Initiative in what the Imam called "The Blue Print" which, according to him, was the solution to the Islamic-American divide. Rauf claimed that Chapter 6 of the Imam's work engineered by the Cordova Initiative was the construct for the entire speech:    "This is an example of the impact of our work in a positive way to be used by the president."   "The blue print," Rauf elaborated, included everything from U.S. policy to Jewish and Christian relations with Muslims.    For an Imam in New York to be involved in the orchestrating U.S. foreign policy is quite the claim. In the recording dated February 5th, 2010 Rauf boasted that:    "We have to look at it [as] how to engineer solutions. At the Cordova Initiative we think of ourselves as an engineering shop. Yes. We have an analytical approach. Our work has been that. IN THE BOOK CHAPTER 6, I WROTE ABOUT THIS BLUE PRINT as to WHAT HAS TO BE DONE BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, what has to be done by the Jewish community, what has to be done by the Christian community, what has to be done by the Muslim community, what has to be done by educators, what has to be done by the media. For example, IN MY BOOK IN THE ARABIC VERSION page 293, what did I write? WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO DO. IF YOU EXAMINE THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL FIND THAT THE OBAMA SPEECH IN CAIRO WAS ALL TAKEN FROM THIS SECTION [Section 6].  When you do a job that is very complicated. You ask yourself, what have you accomplished. All these problems can be solved but requires the will to solve it. It requires political will, resources and the right focus. The signs of how to go to  the moon was known 200 years ago, but the political will and financial will for it happened during 1960-1961. When John Kennedy said that we will send an American to the moon before the end of the 60's, he established the financial resources and the political will."   The story was even collaborated in a written article in an interview with Hani Al-Waziri of Egypt. The clue was revealed while Rauf was answering a question regarding President Barack Obama's speech in which Rauf replied:   "the speech was wonderful and wise in his choice of words, the Prime Minister of Malaysia after the speech disclosed to me that it is now easy for any president of a Muslim country to establish good relations with America, and I AM NOT GOING TO HIDE FROM YOU THAT ONE OF THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN WRITING THE SPEECH, TRANSFERRED ENTIRE PARTS OF MY BOOK 'A NEW VISION FOR MUSLIMS AND THE WEST', which he referred to U.S. interests being compatible with top interests of the Muslim world".   Rauf did not disclose the name of this speechwriter that included Rauf's work in president Obama's historic address to the Muslim world. It is crucial to note that the Arabic version of Feisal Abdul Rauf's book was published in Malaysia titled "A CALL TO PRAYER, FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RUBBLE: ISLAMIC DAWA (SUMMONS TO ISLAM) IN THE HEART OF AMERICA POST-9/11."   The interview with Hani Alwaziri dated February 7th, 2010 intended to discuss Rauf's plans for what he terms "American Style Islam" and the Cordova Initiative goals for the U.S. Rauf later stated that his goal was "To establish an American style Islam in the United States" in which he explains his aspiration of spreading Islam in America by using flexibility and molding Islam to become palatable to the American culture while preserving the integrity of Islamic ideology:   "If we look how Islam was spread from Hijaz (Arabia) to Morocco then Turkey, we note that Islam was shaped by the culture and society, hence showing a Muslim version of the architecture and culture and the arts, but with preservation of the framework of belief and worship. We need to provide a GLOBAL ISLAM in accordance with the nature of each society."   Rauf boasted about his towering structure by Ground Zero as:  "an icon that will make Muslims proud, not only locally but globally."  His suggestion to Muslims on how to deal with western Christians and Jews was:  "deal with them as one courts a pretty girl he wants to date; stop thinking like a typical Muslim. Then you can engage."    He also discussed how he courted Bloomberg and the Jewish Community boards that "we have inroads with the Jewish Community Center". It is interesting that Rauf stated in Arabic to Hadielislam, another prominent Muslim think tank that:  "people need to use peaceful means to advise the governors and government institutions...we also suggest to the governors and political institutions to CONSULT [MUSLIM] RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND [MUSLIM] PERSONALITIES IN THE FIELD SO AS TO ASSURE THEIR DECISION MAKING TO REFLECT THE SPIRIT OF SHARIAH."  Walid Shoebat a former terrorist now an advocate for the U.S. and exposes Jihadist political agenda will be available for media interviews.    ABOUT WALID SHOEBAT...  Walid is the author of several bestselling books including "Why I Left Jihad," "Why We Want To Kill You" and "God's War on Terror." Walid is an American citizen and lives in the USA with his wife and children, under this assumed name. Walid has spoken all over America and the world including Chile, Mexico, Canada, UK, and South Africa. He has appeared on national television also all over the world including CNN, CNN International, FOX News, ITN, RTE, NBC, CBS, The 700, ABC and ABC Australia. He has also been featured on BBC radio 4, 5 and the largest radio audience on the BBC World Service reaching 180 million people.  Walid has the unique insight so as people can now fully understand the issue of terrorism from the perspective of someone who was once a terrorist. Walid Shoebat has given lectures at Harvard Law School and Columbia University, and has also spoken at Oxford University UK, National Constitution Center, Capitol Hill, UCLA, USC, University of Georgia, Washington University, Penn State, and San Diego State University.  

--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Government Intrusion: Do We Really Need Traffic Lights?

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/#/v/4304480/do-we-really-need-traffic-lights/?playlist_id=87530
--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Government Intrusion: Small Business' Expansion Blocked by Bureaucracy

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/#/v/4334233/small-business-expansion-blocked-by-bureaucracy/?playlist_id=87530
--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Government Intrusion: Transit Union Tries to Block Entrepreneur

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/#/v/4334232/transit-union-tries-to-block-entrepreneur/?playlist_id=87530
--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Government Intrusion: Monks Told They Can't Sell Caskets Retail

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/#/v/4334235/monks-told-they-cant-sell-caskets-retail/?playlist_id=87530

--  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects something that cannot be." - Thomas Jefferson "When we move God will move." - Joan of Arc

Re: Remembering Father Mychal Judge, The Saint of 9-11

The man gave his life ministering to the firemen and others at the disaster.   Who cares whether he was gay or not.   His sexual inclination does not matter to the story one little bit.   I do get a wee bit tired of those who look for sexual inclinations no matter what.  Celebrate the man for the greatness he had and the rest does not matter at all.   The disaster affected us all, gay and straight and I happen to be gay.   When you in the middle of a situation like that you don't ask about sex ual inclination; you either pitch in and help or you run away.   He pitched in and helped.   End of story.

On 09/12/2010 10:11 AM, Tommy News wrote:
Dick-
 
Exactly what "Gay Nonsense" are you referring to?
 
Give us a break, Dick!

 
On 9/11/10, dick thompson <rhomp2002@earthlink.net> wrote:
    And whether the Father was gay or not means what with regard to what he was doing on 9/11/2001.    He was there fulfilling his mission and I am sure he would not have cared whether the men and women he helped were gay or not.   And we should not either when it comes to this day.  If there is a time to forget all the gay nonsense it is a day like today.   Give it a break!!


On 09/11/2010 09:04 AM, Tommy News wrote:

Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain, stands at the shore before a service where candles were lit for the victims of TWA Flight 800, July 17, 2000, at Smith Point Park in Shirley, N.Y.
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Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain, stands at the shore before a service where candles were lit for the victims of TWA Flight 800, July 17, 2000, at Smith Point Park in Shirley, N.Y.
 



A man carrying an American flag joined other mourners at Ground Zero on the 8th anniversary of 9-11-01.

Remembering The Saint of 9/11: Father Mychal Judge 


*Father Mychal Judge*

 


On 9/11/01, rescue workers remove the body of Father Judge, a parish priest
from one of New York's fire halls. Father Judge was administering last rites
to a firefighter who was killed by one of the many bodies that fell to the
ground after people leapt from the tower to their deaths, when he too was
struck and killed.

   Father Mychal Judge   There is a word that upsets Cardinal Edward Egan
more than "terrorist" and that is the word "gay."

After the funeral service for Father Mychal Judge, the fire chaplain who
perished ministering to a dying fireman at the World Trade Center, I tried
to ask Egan, "Given Father Mychal's many contributions to the gay community
and all you've just heard about how loving and loved he was, does it make
you want to rethink your condemnation of homosexuality?" When Egan heard the
word "gay," he didn't wait for the question. "Oh, COME ON!," he thundered as
he abruptly turned away. Purple with rage, he literally ran to his car.

Egan's response explains Mychal Judge's decision not to be a more outspoken
gay activist-- something that he debated with me, host of a gay news show on
TV that he said he enjoyed, and others over the years. Cardinals John
O'Connor or Egan would certainly have put an end to his ability to function
as a priest in this Archdiocese, a role that allowed him to roam the city in
his brown Franciscan habit giving solace and strength to countless New
Yorkers. It might also have meant the loss of his chaplaincy serving his
beloved fire fighters, even though he enjoyed the support of the Fire
Commissioner, Mayor, and virtually all the rank and file.

At his wake and funeral, Mychal Judge, 68, was mourned and celebrated by his
two sisters, brother Franciscans, elderly nuns who were his grade school
teachers, powerful friends, diverse parishioners, the homeless and others he
served, and scores of fire fighters, some covered with dust from the
catastrophe downtown. But evidence of Judge's involvement with the gay
community-- and his wary relationship with the church hierarchy-- was hiding
in plain sight.

At the wake, Mayor Giuliani himself said, "Father Mychal is now up in heaven
with Cardinal O'Connor-- and O'Connor is letting him say mass," referring to
the rivalry these two priests had, especially over funerals of fallen fire
fighters. It was a grim day in a devastating week, but the mourners roared
with knowing laughter.

Eulogizing him at the funeral, Father Michael Duffy broke up the crowd and
humanized his friend by noting that when Judge got the word to dash downtown
to the stricken Trade Center, "he did take time to comb and spray his hair!"
Public Advocate Mark Green spoke of how he served people of "every
orientation."

The night before, his 23 years in Alcoholics Anonymous were invoked, but not
that Judge went mostly to gay AA meetings. His gay brothers from the program
were all over the church.

Present in the pews were Judge's close friends, gay couple Brendan Fay and
Tom Moulton. Judge had openly supported (and surreptitiously funded) Fay's
Queens St. Patrick's Parade that welcomed gay groups, the only Catholic
priest to do so. (The next one, on March 3, is dedicated to Judge's memory.)
And when the Emerald Society of the Fire Department honored Father Mychal,
he had Brendan and Tom as his guests and the couple danced together at the
banquet. He was always building bridges, especially between the conservative
and progressive worlds he was equally at home in.

Hillary Clinton inelegantly spoke of the "AIDS victims" Judge helped. She
did not note how that ministry came about. When Cardinal O'Connor expelled
Dignity, the gay Catholic organization, from St. Francis Xavier Church in
the mid-1980s, Judge provided a home for the group's AIDS ministry, led by
the Rev. Bernard Lynch, an outspoken gay priest. Judge later made that
outreach St. Francis of Assisi's own. Several gay men came at the funeral
told me how Judge had buried their partners and gotten them through their
grief.

In 1988, Lynch was falsely accused of molesting a teen-age student at a
Bronx school he once served. Lynch said that without being asked, Judge
"flew to Ireland to meet with my provincial superior to tell him that the
charges were politically motivated because I had stood up against the
Cardinal in 1986 on the gay rights bill." This, Lynch said, convinced Father
Con Murphy, his superior, to hire high-powered lawyer Michael Kennedy to
defend Lynch. Judge made a side trip to a small Irish town to reassure
Lynch's father about his son. Lynch returned to the Bronx and the flimsy
case evaporated in court, with Judge Burton Roberts angrily declaring the
priest not just "not guilty," but innocent of all charges.

The Archdiocese denies any involvement in bringing the charges, but they
never answered letters from Kennedy seeking their files on Lynch nor pleas
from religious leaders asking the Cardinal to help him. While O'Connor did
speak out for his friend the Rev. Bruce Ritter when he was charged
(accurately) with abusing boys at Covenant House, he was silent while Lynch
twisted in the wind. Now the Archdiocese can know that their church's hero,
Mychal Judge, helped undermine the case meant to destroy Lynch.

Judge kept a high profile, from comforting the kin of those who died on
Flight 800 and meeting with Presidents to his poignant martyrdom on Bloody
Tuesday. But in other ways, he was like the underground priests in Ireland,
homeland of his parents, who defied the 18th century anti-Catholic Penal
Laws, saying mass on the sly and always on the run. Working on gay issues,
however, he was hiding from his own Cardinal Archbishop, who proclaimed him
a saint at his funeral and refused to hear that Judge was the kind of person
his church has condemned as "intrinsically disordered."

For Mychal (nee Emmet) Judge, an Irish American kid from Brooklyn, gayness
was one of his many gifts, but it was the one that gave him his most
personal experience of being an outsider, blessing him with the empathy that
gave him such a tremendous ability to connect to and heal so many broken
people.
More:
http://www.whitecranejournal.com/wc_Father_Mychal_Judge.htm

 


 

*Father  Mychal F. Judge, The Saint of 9/11*

Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM was a busy Franciscan priest who dedicated his
life to serving God's people.  He is known for his work with the homeless,
recovering addicts, AIDS patients, and his work as chaplain to the New York
City Fire Department.

On September 11, 2001, Father Mychal rushed from the friary at Saint Francis
of Assisi Church to the scene of the World Trade Center attacks.

After administering last rites to a firefighter, Father Mychal was hit by
debris and killed.  He became the first officially recorded fatality
following the attack.

During his life, Father Mychal spent much of his time ministering to the
homeless on the Breadline at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City.
This is one of the many places where he found God - in the hurting, the
broken, the suffering, and the poor.

His dedication to homeless men, women and children has become a calling to
us that manifests itself as Mychal's Message.

*Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM Biography
*Reprinted with permission of the Holy Name Province.

Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department,
died Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in a hail of falling debris near the World
Trade Center.  He became the first officially recorded fatality following
the attack.  Father Mychal was 68.

Born in Brooklyn, NY on May 11, 1933, Robert Emmett Judge was the son of two
Irish immigrants from County Leitrim.  As a young boy, he watched his father
die after a long illness.  To help his mother and two sisters make ends
meet, he shined shoes in Manhattan, ran errands and did odd jobs, before
being called to his Franciscan vocation at age 16.  He then entered St.
Joseph's Seraphic Seminary, Callicoon, NY, and graduated in 1954 after
completing the first two years of college.

He was received into the Franciscan Order on August 12, 1954 and the
following year, on August 13, professed his first vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience as stated in the Rule of Life of St. Francis of Assisi.  He
professed final vows on August 20, 1958.

He was ordained to the priesthood on February 25, 1961 at the Franciscan
Monastery – Mt. St. Sepulchre, Washington, DC.  He spent a year of pastoral
formation at St. Anthony Shrine, Boston, Mass., before his first assignment
1962-66 as an assistant at St. Joseph's Church, East Rutherford, NJ.  He
also served as an assistant at Sacred Heart Church, Rochelle Park, NJ from
1967-69.  In 1969 he came to St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City, as
local moderator for the Secular Franciscan fraternities.

In 1970, he returned to St. Joseph's Church, East Rutherford, NJ, as
coordinator of the parochial team ministry of Franciscan friars.  After six
years, he was appointed in 1976 as assistant to the president at Siena
College in Loudonville, NY, serving until 1979.  He then became pastor of
St. Joseph's Church in West Milford, NJ.  In 1985 he undertook a one-year
theological sabbatical at the Franciscan house of studies in Canterbury,
England.

Upon returning in the summer of 1986, he was appointed an associate pastor
of St. Francis of Assisi Church, New York City.  At the friary there,
finding many "Michaels" on the staff, he decided to change the spelling of
his name to Mychal.  Only a few days after arriving at St. Francis, he
responded to a call to celebrate Mass in the hospital room of New York
police officer Steven McDonald, who had been critically wounded during an
investigation of a youth in Central Park.  Father Mychal and the McDonald
family soon became devoted friends.  Among their good-will travels, Father
Mychal accompanied Detective McDonald on visits to Northern Ireland in 1998,
1999 and 2000 to encourage reconciliation.

In 1992, upon the death of Fr. Julian Deeken, OFM, a Franciscan friar who
had served as one of the Catholic chaplains for the New York Fire
Department, Father Mychal accepted an invitation to serve temporarily in his
place.  Fr. Mychal was named chaplain officially in 1994 to serve the
boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

When TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff from New York in July
1996 and fell into the Atlantic off Long Island, Father Mychal helped
counsel the families and friends of the victims every day for three weeks
and worked to arrange a permanent memorial at the site.  He had since
returned every summer to offer a memorial service and comfort the families.

Over the years, Father Mychal won the hearts of the firefighters and their
families by his charismatic Irish personality and warm Franciscan outreach
to them in all their needs – baptisms, weddings, funerals, hospital visits –
wherever and whenever he was sought.  He was also active in a diverse
ministry to various groups throughout the Metropolitan area.

More than 2,800 people attended the Mass of Christian Burial for Father
Mychal on Saturday, September 15 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in
Manhattan.  Father Mychal was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa,
NJ.  He is survived by two sisters, Erin McTernan and Dympna Jessich.
More:
http://www.mychalsmessage.org/aboutfrm/aboutfrm.htm

Children's Book:
*He Said Yes*
The Story of Father Mychal Judge
*written by Kelly Ann Lynch
illustrated by M. Scott Oatman*

A true story about the remarkable life and untimely death of Father Mychal
Judge, *He Said Yes *tells how an ordinary boy from Brooklyn became an
extraordinary Franciscan priest and the beloved New York City Fire
Department chaplain who gave his life for his friends on September 11, 2001.
More:
http://www.mychalsmessage.org/aboutmm/share/book.htm

The story of a gay priest killed on 9/11
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

By LARRY McSHANE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kelly Ann Lynch, like so many others in Father Mychal Judge's vast
congregation without walls, was devastated by word of the fire chaplain's
death in the shadows of the World Trade Center.

"Those first few weeks, it was hard to see anything good," said the
Pennsylvania mother of four. "It just felt so dark and so sad and so empty."

<http://ads.northjersey.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.northjersey...>

Time passed, until the darkness gave way to a bright idea. Lynch -- whose
father once served as an altar boy for Judge -- became consumed with turning
the priest's life into a children's book, keeping his message of love alive
for future generations.

"He Said Yes: The Story of Father Mychal Judge," a biography timed to arrive
with the sixth anniversary of 9/11, is an illustrated 32-page walk in the
Franciscan priest's sandals. M. Scott Oatman did the artwork.

"He left behind a legacy for all of us," Lynch said recently over breakfast
at a Secaucus hotel, a short hop from the East Rutherford parish where her
family first met Judge. "I took the most important parts of his story and
tried to simplify it. His story was meant to be shared."

The biography starts with Judge's birth in Brooklyn, where he had a job
shining shoes to help his widowed mother make ends meet. It follows him into
the seminary, through his ordination, to parishes in Massachusetts, New
Jersey (East Rutherford, Rochelle Park and West Milford) and finally
Manhattan.

First official victim

Lynch, in a simple, straightforward style, details how Judge picked up
congregants for his far-flung flock at every stop: suburban families and the
homeless; AIDS patients and alcoholics; firefighters and a paralyzed police
officer; the loved ones of those killed aboard TWA Flight 800.

The tale ends on Sept. 11, 2001, when Judge became the first official victim
of the terrorist attack that killed 2,750 people in the Twin Towers. His
dying soon gave life to Lynch's remembrance.

Those touched by the peripatetic priest during his 68 years greeted word of
the Paulist Press publication with warm reviews.

"It sounds sweet -- a lovely idea," said actor and author Malachy McCourt.
"Anything that perpetuates the goodness of this man is fine with me."

Brendan Fay, a gay activist and Judge friend, recalled how easily "Father
Mike" bonded with children.

"He wrote notes and letters to children at their baptism," Fay recalled. "A
few who saved them now treasure them with the affection of relics. ... Kids
who never knew Father Judge can now read his story."

Longtime family friendship

Lynch's ties with Judge predate her birth. He counseled her family in good
times and in crisis -- the sudden death of her grandfather, the death of a
2-month-old sibling, her own daughter's lifesaving liver transplant.

"He made you feel that you were the one special person in his life," said
the 39-year-old Lynch. "What we've come to realize, six years later, is that
he did that for everybody. He was a constant presence."

Besides her book, Lynch runs the non-profit Mychal's Message, which provides
aid to the dispossessed. Proceeds from "He Said Yes" will also benefit the
homeless.

Lynch said getting the book in print was a long process. Plans fell through
with one publisher, and talks with an agent moved slowly. She was on the
verge of self-publishing, just to get the book out, when one of Father
Mike's fellow Franciscans steered her to Paulist Press.

Everything clicked. And, as Lynch hoped, the book, which came out Sept. 3,
was released in time for the anniversary of the attacks.

Judge, possessor of a dry Irish wit, would have enjoyed the book's title,
Fay said. The Franciscan father's instinctive "yes" made him indispensable
to many, but it was also wearing him out -- much like his phone answering
machines, which routinely broke down from overuse every six months.

"It was his gift, and it connected him to thousands," Fay said of the late
yes-man. "But it also wore him out. The title would make Mychal laugh."

On the Web:

paulistpress.com

mychalsmessage.org
More:
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky...



 
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--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy --
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.