"Saint Of 9/11"

[NATO AIR]

a documentary I look forward to seeing one day, the buzz has been immense on it in a great way.

(via the 7th Fleet News Monitor)

New York Daily News
April 23, 2006

'Saint' & the man of 9/11
BY LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Mychal Judge, the beloved FDNY chaplain killed on Sept. 11, 2001, has become a mythic figure.

He was the Franciscan friar blessed with a tireless energy who comforted widows and widowers, tended to AIDS patients and took care of the poor.

But he was also a recovering alcoholic and a gay man, who struggled so his sexuality would not get in the way of his ministry, according to a new documentary that promises to explore the man in full.

"Saint of 9/11," which opens Thursday at the Tribeca Film Festival, shows how Judge successfully brought together people from the sometime disparate Catholic, Irish and gay communities.

"I saw him acting as the bridge," said film director Glenn Holsten. "He walked fearlessly, pretty much to his own piper."

Even though Judge was widely loved and respected, not everyone embraced the project.

Filmmakers had a tough time getting footage from the Fire Department because many members were upset the film described Judge as a gay man instead of a chaste priest.

"This is the total story of Mychal Judge and a small part of that is his sexual orientation," said executive producer Malcolm Lazin, founder of the gay civil rights group the Equality Forum, which funded the documentary. "Mychal was first and foremost a servant of God."

Lazin credits former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who is interviewed in the film, for helping open some doors at the Fire Department and helping them gain access to some footage.

Particularly moving is a scene of Judge speaking to firefighters at a ceremony held Sept. 10, 2001.

"You do what God has called you to do," Judge told the city's Bravest. "No matter how big the call or how small, you have no idea what God is calling you to. But he needs you. He needs me. He needs all of us."

Von Essen said he had some early reservations about the film and was worried the producers would use Judge's story to push an agenda. But he is happy with the final result.

"I feel they are trying to do justice to Father Judge, the phenomenal priest and wonderful man who happened to be gay," Von Essen said.

The film shows viewers Judge's boyhood Brooklyn, families he soothed in the weeks after TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island and his peace mission with NYPD Officer Steven McDonald to Northern Ireland.

But Judge really found his calling during the 1980s AIDS crisis, when he sat, prayed and anointed seriously ill people others were afraid to touch.

"He was one of the few priests the gay community could call on in the middle of the AIDS crisis," said Brendan Fay, a gay activist and friend of Judge who helped produce the film.

Much of Judge's story is narrated by the scores of letters and cards he sent to friends and former congregants.

"The gift of Mychal Judge," said Fay, "is that he left so much of his humanity in stories and letters and the people he touched."