Mychal Judge - Mourning and Honors

Mourning and Honors

3,000 people attended Judge's funeral on September 15, 2001, at St Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan. Cardinal Edward Egan presided over the funeral Mass. Former President Bill Clinton, who attended the funeral, said that Judge's death was "a special loss. We should lift his life up as an example of what has to prevail ... We have to be more like Father Mike than the people who killed him."

Judge was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey. On October 11, 2001 Brendan Fay organized A "Month's Mind Memorial" in Good Shepherd Chapel, General Theological Seminary, New York. It was an evening of prayer, stories, traditional Irish music, and personal testimonials about Mychal Judge.

There have been calls within the Roman Catholic Church to canonize Father Mychal Judge to sainthood. While there is no indication that Rome is seriously considering this, several churches independent of Rome, most notably the Orthodox Catholic Church of America, have declared him a saint.

Some Catholic leaders recognize Judge as a de facto saint. Some assert that Mychal Judge has already been declared a saint by widespread acclamation of the faithful, as was the custom of the early Church. There have been claims of miraculous healings through prayers to Judge. Evidence of miracles is required for canonization to Sainthood in the Catholic Church.

Judge's fire helmet was presented 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. In 2002, the City of New York renamed a portion of West 31st Street "Father Mychal F. Judge Street", and christened a commuter boat "The Father Mychal Judge Ferry".

In 2002, the U.S. Congress passed The Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act into law. This was the first time the federal government ever extended equal benefits for same-sex couples, allowing the domestic partners of public safety officers killed in the line of duty to collect their federal death benefit.

Soon after his death, the New York Press Club instituted "The Rev. Mychal Judge Heart of New York" journalism award, presented annually for the news story or series that is most complimentary of New York City. Entries focus on good news about people, places and deeds.

A campaign has been started in Carlstadt, New Jersey to have a statue of Judge erected in its Memorial Park. Alvernia University, a private independent college in the Franciscan tradition in Reading, Pennsylvania, named a new residence hall in honor of Judge.

The Father Mychal Judge Memorial in the village of Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim, Ireland was dedicated in 2005, on donated land which had belonged to Judge's ancestors. People from the village and surrounding area celebrate his life every year on the 9/11 anniversary.

In 2006 a documentary film, Saint of 9/11, directed by Glenn Holsten, co-produced by Brendan Fay and narrated by Sir Ian McKellen, was released, celebrating Mychal Judge's life. The film includes testimonies of work colleagues and people who met him at different stages of his life. Larry Kirwan, leader of the Irish-American band Black 47, wrote a tribute song entitled "Mychal" in honor of Judge that appeared on the band's 2004 album New York Town.

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 Street, then proceeds to the site of Ground Zero, retracing Judge's final journey and praying along the way. Every September 11, there is a Mass in memory of Mychal Judge in Boston, attended by many who lost family members on 9/11.

At the National 9/11 Memorial, Judge is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-18, where other first responders are located.