Father Russell Judge takes passion for the Passion with him into retirement

God so loved His people that the heavens could not hold Him, so He sent His Son to earth.

The earth could not contain Him, so He rose from the dead.

“And both of those activities — coming to earth and coming back to life — God calls all of us to do them, too,” said Father Russell Judge.

That’s a message he’s been preaching through 39 years of priestly ministry in the Jefferson City diocese, and he plans to continue preaching it into retirement.

“All of the prophets — every one of them — preached to put God first!” Fr. Judge noted. “Put Him first, and everything else will fall into place.”

“And when it says we’re created in the image of God, it means we’re supposed to act like Him — to be loving, to be forgiving, to be creative,” he said.

Fr. Judge, 66, retired from parish ministry in the diocese on Nov. 1, for health reasons.

Since his priestly ordination in 1978, he has served in Marshall; Jefferson City; Brunswick and Indian Grove; Fulton; Rhineland; St. Robert; Centralia; Macon and Bevier; Vandalia and Laddonia; Montgomery City and Jonesburg; and since 2015 in St. James and Rosati.

Back problems have been making it increasingly more difficult for him to offer Mass while standing, and to navigate the stairs of his rectory.

Nonetheless, he is adamant that Priesthood is for life, continuing beyond retirement.

“I’ll still be saying Mass, still saying my daily Office, still praying my daily Rosary,” he said.

While discerning his priestly calling, he originally felt drawn to the Passionist order.

“One aspect of their charism is to recognize the Passion of Christ and participate in it with our own weaknesses,” he said.

“That’s always had an appeal to me, which is why I’ve stayed in active parish ministry as long as I have, in spite of discomfort — to share in the Passion of Christ,” he said.

He decided to retire now in order to avoid having his condition become a distraction at Mass.

He will live in an accessible home he built in St. Charles in 1994.

At a recent farewell reception, parishioners at Immaculate Conception parish in St. James presented him with statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph for his new prayer room.

The people of St. Anthony of Padua parish in Rosati gave him a custom-built wooden kneeler.

A parishioner built him an altar, so Fr. Judge will be able to offer Mass every day at home.

“Take care of the Eucharist”

Fr. Judge was born and raised in Overland, near St. Louis. He is one of seven children (four boys, two girls) born to the late Fred and Rita Judge.

He found inspiration from his parents, seeing his father as “an outstanding pillar of the Church.”

Fr. Judge also looked up to Father Joseph Murphy, who was pastor of St. Jude parish in Overland for many years.

“He was a standard against which I would measure myself,” said Fr. Judge. “He was a good priest. He was always available. He would do anything for the kids in the parish.”

A Passionist priest gave a mission at St. Jude parish when Fr. Judge was in grade school. The message helped him decide he wanted to join the Passionists.

Fred Judge died suddenly before Fr. Judge, age 13, could talk to him about his priestly aspirations.

His mother agreed to allow him to attend Our Mother of Good Counsel, the Passionists’ high school seminary in Warrenton.

That school closed at the end of Fr. Judge’s junior year. He and several friends transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, which was the Jefferson City diocese’s high school seminary.

His class was the first to receive their diplomas from newly installed Bishop Michael F. McAuliffe, Jefferson City’s second bishop.

Fr. Judge continued his studies at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, where he eventually decided to transfer from the Passionists to the Jefferson City diocese.

“I wanted to be close enough to go home when my family needed me, and far away enough that they didn’t need me all the time,” he said.

On May 13, 1978, in St. Jude Church in Overland, Bishop McAuliffe ordained him to the Holy Priesthood.

The next day, Pentecost Sunday, Fr. Murphy preached the homily at Fr. Judge’s Mass of Thanksgiving.

“We must always remember that we are servants of God,” the older priest reminded the younger. “We are not called to be His advisors. We’re called to serve Him.”

Fr. Judge still has the priestly vestments his sister-in-law made for him for that occasion.

“She embroidered a chalice and a host on the chasuble,” he said. “On the overlay stole, one side is grapes, and the other side is wheat.”

“I still wear it for First Communion,” he said.

He noted that the Eucharist is the source of the strength that allows people to stand up and carry on with their journey with Christ.

“This is the center of Priesthood; it is the heart of the Church,” he said. “Take care of the Eucharist, and everything else will fall into place.”

“The genuine article”

Over the years, by observing other priests engaged in ministry, Fr. Judge came to understand that a priestly calling is less about imitating and more about becoming.

“It is not enough to simply reflect Christ,” he said. “He has called us to be Christ. We’re called to be the genuine article.

“Sadly, we always fall short,” he noted. “But just as Christ did on the road to Calvary, we must get up and continue.”

Fr. Judge believes being a pastor is like being married to a parish.

“It’s very personal; you have an obligation to be available,” he said. “Just like you can’t take a day off from being married, you’re always the pastor. This is what your responsibility is, and you do it.”

He considers it a privilege to have walked with people through some of their most noteworthy personal experiences: baptism, reconciliation, marriage preparation and the death and burial of a loved one.

“Priesthood isn’t just about saying the Mass or performing the sacraments,” he said. “You get involved in whatever the people are doing and whatever is going on in their life.”

For him, that responsibility has been “very taxing but extremely rewarding.”

“The best job”

Fr. Judge has always tried to pray the prayers of the Mass slowly and deliberately and to preach succinct homilies that place the day’s Scripture readings into their historical context.

“Knowing where you are and where you’ve been, you can tell where you’re going,” he said.

He usually closes with a question.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘What did I do last week to bring myself closer to God?’” he said. “And if the answer isn’t uplifting, then change the question: ‘What will I do this week so that next week will find me closer to God?’”

He believes that every priest should make a point of having at least one good friend who is a priest — “someone who understands what a priest does and who can give you support.”

He found such friends in Father Patrick Quinn and Monsignor Charles Patterson, who are now deceased, and Father Ignazio Medina, pastor of St. Stanislaus in Wardsville and St. Margaret of Antioch in Osage Bend.

The four of them would go on their retreats together and would gather once a month to play cards.

More recently, he became friends with Father James “J.J.” Offutt, pastor of Holy Spirit parish in Centralia, who shares his enjoyment of golf.

Fr. Judge has acquired three display cabinets for the angel figurines people have given to him over the years.

At Christmastime, he would try to place each angel in the window closest to the pew where the person who gave it to him liked to sit on Sunday.

“I do like to decorate whatever church I’m at,” he said. “I like to take the time to work out a scene and put it together so that when people come, they notice.”

He wanted it to be something families talked about.

“I think getting the family to discuss anything about Church is a plus,” he said. “If you can keep ’em asking questions — ‘Why this?’ ‘Why not this?’ — you can keep ’em coming back!”

For anyone who’s considering a possible call to the Priesthood, Fr. Judge suggested getting to know a priest and trying to find out everything the calling entails.

“It’s not always easy, but I think being a priest is the best job you could have if it’s what God wants you do to,” he said. “I don’t regret a minute of my Priesthood. It’s probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

He now asks for prayers to be content, whether he’s in pain or not.

“There are painful days, but the fact is, everybody eventually has something that causes them pain,” he said. “Mine has just caught up with me sooner than it does for many.

“And it will pass,” he said. “Or it won’t. Either way, I hope to stay close to God, and everything else will fall where it should.”