- Feb 5, 2002
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Msgr. John Delendick granted general absolution as he rushed to the scene of America's worst terrorist attack.
Anyone who lived through 9/11 has a lasting image that sticks in his mind. For Msgr. John E. Delendick, that image had to do with a fellow priest who was killed that day in 2001.
Msgr. Delendick died November 23, 2023, Thanksgiving Day, at the age of 74, after a long battle with 9/11-related cancer, due to his time at Ground Zero responding as a New York City Fire Department chaplain.
The priest first heard the news that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center after celebrating Mass at his parish, St. Michael’s in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, New York. As an FDNY chaplain for five years, he immediately called the command center to let them know of his availability. He tried to drive into lower Manhattan, but his vehicle could only get so far. He had to walk through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel the remainder of the way.
Along the way, he ran into colleagues, including a Fire Department official who would soon lose his life in the collapse of one of the twin towers.
Witnessing people jumping from high up in the towers – people who had nowhere to go to escape the flames and intense heat and probably realized that there was no way they could be rescued – Msgr. Delendick administered general absolutionto all involved. Later, a policeman approached him for confession, and the priest told him, “This is an act of war, isn’t it? I’m granting general absolution.”
At some point someone handed Msgr. Delendick the fire helmet of Fr. Mychal Judge, the Franciscan friar and fellow fire department chaplain who was the first documented casualty on 9/11. Fr. Judge had been struck by debris while anointing a fallen firefighter.
It was the image that would stick with Msgr. Delendick for the rest of his life.
Continued below.
aleteia.org
Anyone who lived through 9/11 has a lasting image that sticks in his mind. For Msgr. John E. Delendick, that image had to do with a fellow priest who was killed that day in 2001.
Msgr. Delendick died November 23, 2023, Thanksgiving Day, at the age of 74, after a long battle with 9/11-related cancer, due to his time at Ground Zero responding as a New York City Fire Department chaplain.
The priest first heard the news that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center after celebrating Mass at his parish, St. Michael’s in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, New York. As an FDNY chaplain for five years, he immediately called the command center to let them know of his availability. He tried to drive into lower Manhattan, but his vehicle could only get so far. He had to walk through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel the remainder of the way.
Along the way, he ran into colleagues, including a Fire Department official who would soon lose his life in the collapse of one of the twin towers.
Witnessing people jumping from high up in the towers – people who had nowhere to go to escape the flames and intense heat and probably realized that there was no way they could be rescued – Msgr. Delendick administered general absolutionto all involved. Later, a policeman approached him for confession, and the priest told him, “This is an act of war, isn’t it? I’m granting general absolution.”
At some point someone handed Msgr. Delendick the fire helmet of Fr. Mychal Judge, the Franciscan friar and fellow fire department chaplain who was the first documented casualty on 9/11. Fr. Judge had been struck by debris while anointing a fallen firefighter.
It was the image that would stick with Msgr. Delendick for the rest of his life.
Layer of sadness
Continued below.
Hero priest dies following battle with 9/11-related cancer
Monsignor John Delendick granted general absolution as he rushed to the scene of America's worst terrorist attack.
aleteia.org
