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A September 11th Hijacking

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By Dennis Lynch*

Victims of the September 11th Hijackers were not just people. One victim of the September 11th hijackers was the truth about a Catholic Priest. This is the story 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. Father Mike ministered to students at Sienna College. Father Mike ministered to New York City Firefighters. And, Father Mike ministered to the homeless, the sick dying of AIDS, to homosexuals and heterosexuals and especially to anyone needing help. Father Mike saw Christ in everyone without exception and without objection.

Yet, as 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 Catholic Church. It didn't matter if what they said about Father Mike wasn't true. All that matters is that a heroic, celibate, faithful Catholic Priest could become a homosexual icon. This is how it happened.

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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.

It was in planning for one of these trips to Northern Ireland with Father Mike that 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 desired 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. That was like many people I knew.

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 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 from this trip being planned to Northern Ireland. Brendan Fay wanted trouble, not reconciliation.

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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 up to help with the planning or the trip to Northern Ireland. Brendan Fay 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, the Catholic Church was packed with mourners. Everyone I saw at the Funeral Mass 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 face 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 Father Mike was a homosexual. Brendan Fay arranged a publicity event for the media where many people spoke of Father Mike's concern for the homosexual community and claimed Father Mike was "gay". This was news to me who knew Father Mike for nearly a decade.

The Media Lies About Father Mike

After the first series of newspapers stories reported Father Mike being 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 Father Mike for as long as I knew him or longer. 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 to 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". Father Mike was a celibate Catholic Priest and nothing more.

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As time passed, Brendan Fay began to organize events claming Father Mike to be "Hero, Priest and Gay". The media began referring to Father Mike now as being not just "gay", but an "openly gay" Priest. None of this was true. I wrote a letter to the Gannett Newspaper Chain about one such reference to Father Mike. The response was to disregard the truthfulness of the article by citing law that you can't defame a dead person. I wrote back saying I wasn't bringing a defamation claim, I only wanted the truth about Father Mike to be published. No further response was received from the Gannett Chain. The New York Times also wrote an article that Father Mike was a homosexual. I wrote to the New York Times requesting evidence supporting their story since many, many people did not believe Father Mike to be "gay". No response was also received from the New York Times in my request that the truth be published.

In fact, one newspaper wrote an article about Father Mike proclaiming he was homosexual. When the newspaper was challenged about the story, the response from the Editor was shocking. The Editor wrote that it really didn't matter if Father Mike was a homosexual or not. The Editor stated that homosexuals are a disadvantaged group 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 even more their story about Father Mike. 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 the truth of this comment, the Priest admitted he only knew what he "read in the media" about Father Mike.

The Truth About Father Mike

The truth about Father Mychal F. Judge, O.F.M. is that he was a wonderful Catholic Priest. Father Mike saw Christ in everyone. Father Mike ministered to everyone with a smile, a prayer and the love of Jesus Christ in his heart. Father Mike was tirelessly in living a life as a Priest modeled after St. Francis of Assisi. Although homosexual activists have hijacked this truth about Father Mike, I know that in Heaven Father Mike would want you to know the truth about him. Father Mike 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.