At Moment of Increasing Homophobia in Catholicism, Remembering Fr. Mychal Judge

9/11: Franciscan Fr. Mychal Judge, chaplain to the firefighters, was an early casualty. The image of his fellow firemen carrying his body to a nearby church became an icon of the day--an image of loving service and sacrifice, a contrast to messages born of fanaticism and fear. pic.twitter.com/XBfaZZZgJ3

— Robert Ellsberg (@RobertEllsberg) September 11, 2018

Fr Mychal Judge gave his life serving others. Before 9/11, he served the marginalized, including people with AIDS, people with addiction, those experiencing homelessness. He was also gay. Thinking of his sacrifice today in light of the call from some quarters to ban gay priests. pic.twitter.com/TONNyuWzwa

— Michael J. O'Loughlin (@MikeOLoughlin) September 11, 2018

I like to remind everyone that Mychal Judge was gay and had a robust ministry to people with AIDS. In a time of increasing homophobia in Catholicism and efforts to blame child sex abuse on homosexuality, it is important to highlight this crucial aspect of his character https://t.co/6xK84u918E

— Minerva McGonagall (@Expelliarmoire) September 11, 2018

They erased his gayness too, because somehow being gay was supposed to lessen his heroism. He was gay AND heroic.

— Xopher 🍞 🌹#Resist Halftongue (@Halftongue) September 11, 2018

It's important stop the erasure of the gay context of the lives and ministry of people like Mychal Judge — especially as reporters for major Catholic news outlets and mainstream media outlets show their hand right now in their willingness to collude in the homophobia of the attack of the Viganò cabal on Pope Francis.

It's time for this to stop in the Catholic and secular media, this willingness to collude with homophobia, this willingness to wallow in homophobic bias.