Copyright 2005 Lebanon Daily News
The Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania)
By RORY SCHULER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania)
Amid the falling debris of the World Trade Center, a brave priest, the beloved chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, bent down to deliver the last rites to a fallen firefighter.
It was the final act of the Rev. Mychal F. Judge’s life. He died moments later in the turmoil and tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.
Local filmmaker Malcolm Lazin, a 1961 Lebanon High School graduate and 1965 Lebanon Valley College grad, is the executive producer of “Saint of 9/11,” a film about Judge’s life and death.
On Monday, Lebanon Valley residents will have the chance to be among the first people to screen a rough cut of the film, which will premiere in the spring at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival.
“This film really isn’t being made for New Yorkers,” Lazin said last night by phone from New York. “We made it for America. Having grown up in Lebanon County, I know that the folks from central Pennsylvania really are the heart of America. I’d like to get their reaction to the film.”
Equality Forum, the company responsible for the film, has invited the public to attend and comment on a free, rough-cut premiere of the documentary “Saint of 9/11.” The screening is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday in Leedy Theater of Lebanon Valley College’s Mund College Center.
Lazin will attend the premiere at LVC with director Glenn Holsten and editor Kathleen Soulliere. All three will be gauging audience reaction to the film and leading a short question-and-answer session.
In 2003, Equality Forum also produced “JIM IN BOLD,” a documentary about a gay Lebanon County teenager who committed suicide.
“The film examined what it was like to be young and gay in America,” according to a news release from Equality Forum. “Equality Forum is a national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil-rights organization.”
A brief synopsis provided by Equality Forum describes the documentary’s wide scope in examining hurdles faced by Judge and his triumphs in life and death.
“Father Judge died when he was hit by falling debris shortly after administering the last rites to a firefighter at Ground Zero,” according to the synopsis. “‘Saint of 9/11' portrays Father Judge’s life as a spiritual adventure in which he struggled with alcoholism and admitted to friends that he was a celibate homosexual.
“For 40 years, Father Judge was also one of the most widely loved Roman Catholic priests in New York City,” the synopsis continues. “He ministered to firefighters, their families, AIDS patients, the homeless and countless others. At his funeral, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani called him a saint, and there is a movement to canonize Father Judge even as the church tries to bar most homosexuals from the priesthood.”
The late Pope John Paul II accepted Judge’s firefighting helmet as a gift, a lasting reminder of one of America’s saddest days.
Lazin recently won the National Education Association’s 2005 Creative Leadership in Human Rights Award. He is currently a member of the Lebanon Valley College board of trustees, and is also the founder and the director of Equality Forum.
“Father Judge came to my attention fairly shortly after 9/11,” Lazin said. “I saw a photo of him being carried out of the World Trade Center by emergency personnel. I heard a lot about him, and he became very interesting to me. The more I learned, the more I wanted to become involved in [the story of] this truly remarkable man.
“In and of itself, as dramatic as his death was, the reality of Mychal’s life was just that much more fascinating,” Lazin said. “This is really an American story about a hero, who also happens to be a remarkably spiritual Franciscan priest.”