Seconds after American Airlines Flight 11 passed overhead, another Franciscan brother ran to Father Mychal Judge\u2019s room in the friary to let him know the World Trade Center was on fire.<\/p>\n\n
The veteran chaplain quickly changed out of his simple brown habit and into his fire-department uniform \u2014 pausing only to comb and spray his hair. Judge was heading into danger, but he was also ready to face the cameras. Soon, a photographer captured unforgettable images of firefighters carrying the priest\u2019s body out of the rubble and his name was on the first Ground Zero death certificate.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhile he was ministering to dying firemen, administering the Sacrament of the Sick and Last Rites, Mychal Judge died,\u201d said Father Michael Duffy, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in New York City.<\/p>\n\n
\u201c\u2026 Look how that man died. He was right where the action was, where he always wanted to be. He was praying, because in the ritual for anointing we\u2019re always saying, \u2018Jesus come,\u2019 \u2018Jesus forgive,\u2019 \u2018Jesus save.\u2019 He was talking to God and he was helping someone. Can you honestly think of a better way to die? I think it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Anyone who wants to know how to deliver a eulogy should study this poignant section of Duffy\u2019s remarks at the funeral of his close friend, said Cyrus Copeland, a former advertising executive who edited \u201cFarewell, Godspeed\u201d and the recent \u201cA Wonderful Life,\u201d two collections of famous eulogies. The new book includes a chapter focusing on Judge and three other men who died on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n\n
This one anecdote reveals two sides of the same man, mixing humor \u2014 the final ritual of comb and hairspray \u2014 with a vision of a faithful priest\u2019s willingness to risk his own life to provide comfort to his unique flock.<\/p>\n\n
These days, said Copeland, the loved ones who gather at a funeral want to hear a celebratory toast to a life well lived, just as much or more than they want to face spiritual issues involved in their loss.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cPeople want honesty,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to hear about the saint that nobody knew. They want to hear about the real Father Mychal, a man who loved the human soul, but also knew a good photo opportunity when he saw one. ? They want to hear about life, more than they want to hear about eternal life. Eulogies today are more human and they are becoming less religious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Copeland is convinced there are several reasons that the art of the eulogy has changed so radically in recent decades.<\/p>\n\n
For starters, most people alive today have grown up in a video age, surrounded by celebrity news and, more recently, the tightly edited rush of \u201creality television.\u201d They have seen their share of high-profile funerals. Millions wept as Lord Edward John Spencer spoke at the funeral of his sister, Lady Diana. Many watched as superstar Cher laughed and cried her way through a eulogy for her former husband, Sonny Bono.<\/p>\n\n
Clergy rarely command the spotlight during these rites.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that the celebrity memorial service was the first kind to be secularized,\u201d said Copeland. \u201cSo you expect to hear about heaven in a eulogy for Father Mychal Judge, with a priest in the pulpit. But eulogies for celebrities like Marilyn Monroe may not mention heaven at all. That\u2019s just the age we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
There\u2019s another practical reason that eulogies have changed so much. Friends and relatives are taking control of the microphone.<\/p>\n\n
In the past, loved ones asked the family\u2019s pastor, rabbi or priest to deliver the eulogy. Today, it would be hard for most people to name such a person. Most modern families are scattered across the nation, divided by career choices and, far too often, broken relationships. Family members may not even share a common faith and they certainly have not spent most of their lives in the same neighborhood in the same city.<\/p>\n\n
Clergy used to deliver about 90 percent of all eulogies. Today, \u201cthat number is about 50 percent and it\u2019s falling,\u201d said Copeland.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo for many people a memorial service simply isn\u2019t a religious event anymore. It offers us a chance to say our good-byes to the dearly departed, but many people no longer think of this event as a bridge between this life and the next.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seconds after American Airlines Flight 11 passed overhead, another Franciscan brother ran to Father Mychal Judge\u2019s room in the friary to let him know the World Trade Center was on fire. The veteran chaplain quickly changed out of his simple brown habit and into his fire-department uniform \u2014 pausing only to comb and spray his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[88,235,291,377,507,590,893],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-baby-boomers","tag-clergy","tag-death","tag-funerals","tag-liberalism","tag-new-age","tag-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n