PEACE PRIEST WHO HELPED IN OMAGH VICTIM OF US TRAGEDY
Peace' Priest who helped in Omagh Victim of US tragedy
A Franciscan chaplain, who visited Omagh with a message of support and sympathy for local people in the wake of the Omagh bombing atrocity of August, 1998, lost his life in the New York disaster of September 11, it has emerged.
Rev. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the New York Fire Department, was giving the Last Rites to another victim when he was hit by falling debris.
In the weeks immediately following the Omagh bomb Fr. Mychal came to Omagh as a companion of Steven McDonald, one of the city's policemen who had been shot in the line of duty and was paralysed from the neck down.
Together with Johann Christiopher Arnold, of the Brudenhof Communities in the UK and USA, they came to spread a message of reconciliation.
On that occasion Fr. Mychal said: "When peace comes to this country and it will come some day, there will be memories, there will be families that were, torn apart.
"Forgiveness is a tremendously long ongoing process and it needs great grace and strength from above. I have my own problems, my own
hatred, my own harsh feelings: I am as human as anyone else. So I have to have this ongoing forgiveness in my heart too".
Omagh's Rev. Kevin Mullan said: "When I met him he was accompanied by a New York policeman and actually said very little about his own work.
"It was only when this terrible tragedy happened that I realised what a wonderful man he was and what good work he carried out.
He added: "It is a severe loss to society that Fr. Mychal Judge lost his life alongside so many others on that dreadful day.
"I will always feel greatly honoured and privileged to have been in the company of such a man. When he came to Omagh he never looked for the limelight. He allowed others to speak out about their work but never once mentioned his own.
"Fr. Mychal came to Omagh out of sympathy for us and anxious that we would not lose our way as we tried to cope with grief. We have to pray for him and for his city. In the bonds of shared tragedy may we join with his spirit and with Steven and Johann to help the world find its way to healing and peace", he concluded.
A Franciscan chaplain, who visited Omagh with a message of support and sympathy for local people in the wake of the Omagh bombing atrocity of August, 1998, lost his life in the New York disaster of September 11, it has emerged.
Rev. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the New York Fire Department, was giving the Last Rites to another victim when he was hit by falling debris.
In the weeks immediately following the Omagh bomb Fr. Mychal came to Omagh as a companion of Steven McDonald, one of the city's policemen who had been shot in the line of duty and was paralysed from the neck down.
Together with Johann Christiopher Arnold, of the Brudenhof Communities in the UK and USA, they came to spread a message of reconciliation.
On that occasion Fr. Mychal said: "When peace comes to this country and it will come some day, there will be memories, there will be families that were, torn apart.
"Forgiveness is a tremendously long ongoing process and it needs great grace and strength from above. I have my own problems, my own
hatred, my own harsh feelings: I am as human as anyone else. So I have to have this ongoing forgiveness in my heart too".
Omagh's Rev. Kevin Mullan said: "When I met him he was accompanied by a New York policeman and actually said very little about his own work.
"It was only when this terrible tragedy happened that I realised what a wonderful man he was and what good work he carried out.
He added: "It is a severe loss to society that Fr. Mychal Judge lost his life alongside so many others on that dreadful day.
"I will always feel greatly honoured and privileged to have been in the company of such a man. When he came to Omagh he never looked for the limelight. He allowed others to speak out about their work but never once mentioned his own.
"Fr. Mychal came to Omagh out of sympathy for us and anxious that we would not lose our way as we tried to cope with grief. We have to pray for him and for his city. In the bonds of shared tragedy may we join with his spirit and with Steven and Johann to help the world find its way to healing and peace", he concluded.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0944
Published Date: 15-Nov-01
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