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Congressional Record—Senate S1728

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Congressional Record—Senate S1728 S1728 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 11, 2002 Lastly, I would like to address one Friar’s friar, firefighter, warrior for the Lord with aids in a small Chelsea studio apart- change to the legislation since Senate and New Yorker—I can’t help believing that ment. Or arm in arm with our missing hero passage last year. Since September 11, Erin and Dymphna, your beloved Emmet, Patty Brown, comforting the family of hero who wanted to be a priest at the age of four, firefighters like the late Captain John we have all recognized that the way our beloved Mychal—in the swirling and Drennan in a New York Hospital burn unit, the Government has done business may fiery wind tunnel of the majestic twin tow- Mychal was equally at home in the brown change due to security concerns. In the ers, helmet off in respect to our creator, lift- robe and sandals of a friar or the uniform of past, we have made efforts to expand ed his lovely tenor voice and uttered a final a New York City fire officer and always in an the amounts of information made Alleluia as he rode the winds aloft, smiling encouraging and positive way motivating us available to the public, including en- broadly as he shot one final mortal glance at to do bigger and better things. couraging electronic access to more what his model St. Francis of Assisi called He was comfortable visiting President and data and information on pipelines. ‘‘burning sun with golden beam and silver Senator Clinton or President and Mrs. Bush moon with softer gleam.’’ in the East Wing of the White House, the Today, we must balance the concerns Father Mike, it’s not that we hardly knew portico of Gracie Mansion with Mayors of national security with the needs of ya that makes you leaving this earth so Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani and the Car- law-abiding citizens who live and work hard. It’s that we all knew you so well and dinal’s Residence with the late Cardinal alongside pipelines. We have included depended on you so much that hurts so O’Connor and now Cardinal Egan. language which, in my opinion, fairly much. But he was really at home in a Times addresses the concerns of the public in Though you were neither a husband nor a Square shelter for single mothers conducting father, you became a model for husbands and obtaining pipeline safety information Midnight Mass on Christmas eve, cradling a fathers. Though you never trained on a hose small plastic doll in its role as the baby and enables the Government to safe- on a fire or experienced the pain of being a Jesus or in a firehouse kitchen helping re- guard information which could be used firefighter’s widow, you became a model for unite a couple whose marriage was strained to do harm or for terrorist activities. firefighters and the widowed. Though up by the job. This church is full of families he This bill is good legislation. It will until recently you never felt the anxiety of united. Being at Ground Zero—wherever it require greater safety and oversight of sickness, you became a guide for the sick. was—was his life, and his death. our Nation’s pipeline system. The bill You taught us that the St. Francis Prayer Mychal loved Christ and loved his family also allows for a greater degree of pub- was not merely a bookmark but a living, and yes, he loved us, the people of New York. speaking roadmap for our daily lives as New This morning we unfortunately see only his lic participation in the process of pipe- Yorkers. We saw your greatness up close and casket. But I dreamt the other night of line safety, without jeopardizing na- personal. But we respectfully ask why were Mychal, walking and walking and walking; I tional security, updates the penalties you so strong? guess the constant motion of his life: In a that would be levied for misconduct As Father Pecci pointed out last night at power walk from 31st Street and Seventh Av- and provides whistle blower protection the wake service maybe it was the countless enue to Coney Island and the Atlantic Ocean, for employees who reveal misconduct. windows and shoes you polished and shined in his crisply pressed uniform on a blustery The bill also provides for Federal in- on Dean Street in Brooklyn as a child. Or Saint Patrick’s day waving, to the crowd was it the constancy and strength of exam- vestment in research which will help us like a matinee idol, hands outstretched to ple of your mother who balanced the needs of hug our children for a moment, flashing a be more efficient and effective in pro- a dying husband, a house and three young knowing, almost shy smile and then jogging viding a safer and more secure system. children in the Depression? back to the line of march. Walking the I urge my colleagues to support this I have not seen your sisters Erin and streets greeting on a first name basis the measure. Dymphna for some time. So I asked homeless and friendless, many of whom wore Dymphna last night, what made Mychal f the Christmas and birthday gifts that many great? She said it best: ‘‘With Michael there in this congregation wrapped so nicely for TRIBUTE TO FATHER MYCHAL F. were no narrow truths. There was only wide Mychal to wear. He loved to watch the fire- JUDGE open possibility.’’ As I stepped outside onto works, a ride on a fire boat, a thick deep 32nd Street near Penn Station last night to piece of apple pie with ice cream. Both most (At the request of Mr. DASCHLE, the get some air, I was struck by the wide world of all, he loved the call to service, the ro- following statement was ordered to be of possibilities that Mychal lived in. I no- mance of duty, the necessity of honor. He printed in the RECORD.) ticed how much more alive the street has be- was a bridge between people. Friars and fire- ∑ Mrs. CLINTON. Madam President, I come in just in twenty-four hours. A saxo- fighters, Christians and Jews, able and dis- submit the following statement of phone could be heard—‘‘Amazing Grace’’— abled. He grafted spirituality onto our Bill of Peter James Johnson, Jr., delivered at the musician played. The smell of fried food Rights. in the air. Taxis racing down the street. Men the funeral mass for Father Mychal F. You see, Mychal was proud to be an Amer- and women laughing in conversation near a ican. Not in the quaint sense of a Norman Judge in New York City on September parked delivery truck. Mychal would say Rockwell painting or in your face flag waver, 15, 2001, for printing in the RECORD to ‘‘How marvelous. What a strong and dynamic although flag waving is good too. commemorate the 6-month anniversary people we are!’’ And I looked at the faces on I recall two connected events to dem- of the many lives so tragically lost on the street behind us. In Mychal’s words: onstrate his palpable pride. I urged Mychal September 11. ‘‘Peter look at these faces. Brown and black to become the Fire Chaplain, to fill late The statement follows: and yellow and white. Such good minds, such Friar Father Julian Deeken’s large shoes. strong hands, such hard workers.’’ Shortly after he assumed his duties, there REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY BY PETER ‘‘Such a resilient city. There is nothing was a report of a ship run aground, and yes, J. JOHNSON, JR., AT THE FUNERAL MASS OF like a New Yorker. We’re back.’’ In that mo- even a landing of Chinese nationals with REV. MYCHAL JUDGE, O.F.M., FIRE DEPART- ment I had an understanding of the incessant guns, according to the Park Police, in the MENT OF NEW YORK, CHAPLAIN, SEPTEMBER activity that Mychal often heard from his Rockaways. I was an honorary firefighter 15, 2001, ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CHURCH, room on 31st Street. The same vitality that and pro bono adviser to Mayor Dinkins, and NEW YORK CITY, so energized him even when he was bone so Mychal called me, said he would be by to Your Eminence, Cardinal Egan, President tired from caring for the families of the vic- get me in a few minutes and we took off in Clinton, Senator Clinton, Mayor Dinkins, tims of Flight 800 when he would answer the the middle of the night. Mr. Controller, Mr. Public Advocate, Fam- phone or pager and respond to an emergency Just as we started to get to the Brooklyn ily, Friends, Firefighters and Friends. to support a stricken firefighter. Battery Tunnel, the radio started to crackle ‘‘Don’t worry about me. Help the thou- And that was Mychal too. He naturally saw with confirmation of a large ship aground sands.’’ Mychal says to us. the very best of himself in others. And in a with passengers in the water. Mychal gunned I see him kneeling gently, hear him speak- strange way we slowly but surely began to the Chevy, hit the lights and sirens, both ing in a firm and lilting whisper, his large see a little bit of Mychal in all of us. His dy- which reflected and reverberated off the tun- hands making reassuring contact with a namic strength, his good mind and his strong nel walls. I felt like I was in the middle of dying firefighter, his warm eyes focused and hands were always in evidence.
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