>From another list, but too important not to share -- > NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rev. Chris Keenan walked into a Manhattan > firehouse 10 months ago to find his sad premonition proven true: > His friend of 38 years, Fire Department chaplain Mychal Judge, was > killed at the World Trade Center. > > Very quickly, "Father Mike" became a Sept. 11 icon, a candidate > for canonization. And just as swiftly, Keenan emerged as a > candidate to replace the martyred Judge -- a thought that left the > would-be successor "anxious and afraid." > > How to follow a putative saint? How to handle all the grief and > loss? > > Barely two months later, the 60-year-old Keenan found that > "serenity and peace" had replaced his fears. In a ceremony at fire > headquarters, he received FDNY chaplain's shield No. 24 -- becoming > the department's Friar Tuck, as he wrote in a letter to friends. > > The Franciscan priest was soon pulling a rake through the rubble > at ground zero, working nights with a group of retired firefighters > desperately hunting their sons' remains. > > Now eight months on the job, Keenan views his change of heart as > a kind of destiny. Keenan has embraced the family of 11,000 > surviving firefighters, hundreds of fire widows, and 1,335 > fatherless children. > > "Who has it better than me, being with awesome people like > them?" he asks with a smile. "It's an honor and a gift, it truly > is." > > It's also an odd match. Keenan was never a fire buff, couldn't > tell the difference between an engine and a ladder truck. A > suburban kid, he had no knowledge of the city's firehouse culture. > > And Keenan was unsure if he was ready for the hectic job of > chaplain, handled by a seven-member team representing various > faiths. > > At the Franciscans' 31st Street friary, Keenan performed quieter > work with the dispossessed: helping homeless children in city > shelters, working the daily bread line. > > But it turned out the chaplain's job in the post-Sept. 11 world > was changed, and had little to do with fire. > > "It's the morgue, and notifications, and wakes, and funerals," > he says, reciting the sad litany of duties. "Burn units, counseling > centers, meetings with the 343 families who lost firefighters. > > "It's like fires are a footnote." > > Born at a Salvation Army hospital in Manhattan, Keenan grew up > in New Jersey. Like his Irish immigrant father, he worked as a > Teamster. But Keenan found his vocation during talks with a local > Franciscan working his first parish: Mychal Judge. > > Judge was a fastidious soul, a dandy in a brown friar's robe and > sandals, a man who loved the spotlight. > > Even in death he was at center stage: Killed by a falling > object, he was the first official victim of the terrorist attacks > on the trade center. A photo of rescue workers carrying Judge's > body away from the site was compared with the Pieta; a contingent > of New York firefighters delivered Judge's fire helmet to Pope John > Paul II in the Vatican. > > Keenan's style is more casual. His gray hair shows no glint of > hair spray, a Judge staple. On a warm July day, Keenan wears shorts > and a short-sleeved shirt, his sandals the only sign of his order. > > One of Keenan's first forays as chaplain was to ground zero, > where he labored three nights a week. He occasionally uncovered > small bits and pieces of lost lives: a worn Polaroid of a woman, an > ID card. He watched in awe as the workers toiled around the clock, > day after week after month, digging. > > "They brought meaning to absolute, confounding devastation," he > says, his eyes welling up. "I don't know how to explain it." > > When Keenan leaves ground zero, it never fully leaves him. At a > recent lunch with his niece and nephew, he and a waitress began > crying as the children studied a Fire Department patch with the > twin towers intact on the New York skyline. > > "You hit those moments," he explains in measured tones. "It's > just really tough." Keenan was not entirely unprepared for > emergency work. > > While in Boston in the early 1980s, he volunteered to counsel > terminally ill young people -- the first wave, it turned out, of > the AIDS crisis. > > "I journeyed with over 200 people from diagnosis to death," > Keenan recalls. "It's an incredible resource, to know how to deal > with that absolute devastation." > > As his early work among AIDS patients indicates, Keenan's career > is far from typical. > > He earned a doctorate. He was ordained by future Cardinal Joseph > Bernardin. He took Lamaze classes with an unwed mother, and cut the > umbilical cord after attending the birth of a friend's child. > > He traveled the country, never dreaming of returning to his > native New York. > > But when his parents became ill, he moved into the midtown > Manhattan friary in September 1997. He discovered a love for the > city -- "I'd had such a culturally deprived existence" -- and a > love for his outreach programs. > > He's feeling the same way about his new job. > > Keenan has befriended the firefighters across the street at > Engine Co. 1/Ladder Co. 24. > > Although his rank is technically deputy chief, Keenan considers > himself the FDNY's oldest "probie" -- the department's term for its > rookies, probationary firefighters. > > Recently, the firehouse guys gave Keenan the traditional probie > hazing: They dumped a bucket of water on the priest from a second > floor window. > > "There could be no better replacement for Father Mychal," says > firefighter Jimmy Hosford. > > His ascension to the chaplain's job brings Keenan full circle > from his Jersey days with Judge. "He got me in the business," > Keenan says. "I used to tell him he had to live with his mistake." > > Up the block is a sign -- literally -- of Judge's new status. At > the corner of Seventh Avenue and 31st Street, a signpost designates > the block as "Father Mychal F. Judge Street." > > Keenan is certain that his predecessor would support his > decision to become chaplain. > > "I know Mike would say to me, 'Chris, don't worry about filling > anyone's sandals, particularly my own,'" Keenan says. '"Listen to > these people in such a way that you hear what they're saying, so > you know how to respond.'" > > Keenan pauses briefly, channeling his late mentor. > > "`Enjoy them,'" he says, "`as much as I did.'" > ------- > Jay Dooling (JayDooling@IrishAires.org) > Irish Aires - 90.1FM KPFT in Houston > http://IrishAires.org > Irish Aires Email List > http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Irish_Aires/emaillis.htm > > >