Children's Book On Heroic Gay Priest

SECAUCUS, NJ -- Openly gay priest Mychal Judge died heroically in the September 11 terrorist attacks and now a member of his congregation is publishing a children's book about the martyred priest's life in order to keep his message of love alive for future generations.

Kelly Ann Lynch, a Pennsylvania mother of four, was devastated by word of the fire chaplain's death in the shadows of the World Trade Center, AP reports.

"Those first few weeks, it was hard to see anything good," said Lynch. "It just felt so dark and so sad and so empty."

Lynch - whose father once served as an altar boy for Judge - eventually became consumed with the idea of turning Father Judge's life into a children's book.

"He Said Yes: The Story of Father Mychal Judge," is an illustrated 32-page biography about the Franciscan priest, timed to arrive with the sixth anniversary of 9/11.

"He left behind a legacy for all of us," Lynch said. "I took the most important parts of his story, and tried to simplify it. His story was meant to be shared."

The biography starts with Judge's birth in Brooklyn, where he had a job shining shoes to help his widowed mother make ends meet. It follows him into the seminary, through his ordination, to parishes in Massachusetts, New Jersey and finally Manhattan.

Lynch writes about how Judge picked up congregants for his far-flung flock at every stop: suburban families and the homeless; AIDS patients and alcoholics; firefighters and a paralyzed police officer; the loved ones of those killed aboard TWA Flight 800.

The tale ends on Sept. 11, 2001, when the beloved priest became the first official victim of the terrorist attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.