Rest in peace, Father Russell Judge, 73, a friend to many

He saw Jesus in everybody, but he got to where he wanted people to see Jesus in him. And I think he carried that very well.”

Kenny Menges

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Father Russell Judge had a passion for chess.

“My father taught me to play, but Russell taught me the beauty of the game,” said Bill Judge, Fr. Judge’s oldest nephew.

Fr. Judge, 73, a retired priest of the Jefferson City diocese, died peacefully on Sept. 10 at his home in St. Charles, following a lengthy illness.

He had ministered at 18 parishes and missions in the diocese between his priestly ordination in 1978 and his retirement due to declining health in 2017.

“He taught me how to think through the moves of chess,” said Bill Judge. “He would beat you in five or six moves, four or five times in a row. And then, he would say, ‘You need to anticipate what’s coming instead of just reacting to the play.’”

That’s how Fr. Judge approached life and his ministry.

“He was ready for whenever the Lord would call him,” said Father Christopher Cordes, pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Holts Summit and former diocesan vicar for priests.

Fr. Cordes preached the homily at Fr. Judge’s Funeral Mass on Sept. 25.

“During a recent visit, he said he was ready for the coming reality that his life would probably end sometime in the near future,” Fr. Cordes recalled.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept. 24 in St. Peter Church in St. Charles, with Father James Theby, the pastor, presiding and priests of the Jefferson City diocese concelebrating.

“He will continue to be very much a part of our lives,” Fr. Cordes insisted, “in the spiritual way in which all of us are united in God’s eternity. We connect ourselves through prayer with him, lift him up to the Lord, entrusting his soul to the Lord’s presence.”

Sacred calling

Fr. Judge ministered in Marshall; Jefferson City; Brunswick and Indian Grove; Fulton; Rhineland; St. Robert; Centralia; Macon and Bevier; Vandalia and Laddonia; Montgomery City and Jonesburg; and in St. James and Rosati.

He had a special gift for ministering to the sick and to people in need.

He worked to revive struggling parishes and served as a mentor to many.

He was born on Nov. 26, 1951, in St. Louis, one of seven children (five 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.”

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.

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.

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

A few years after his ordination, he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his back.

He recovered but carried serious pain through the rest of his life.

“He hurt!” noted Monsignor Robert A. Kurwicki, administrator of the diocese. “But it didn’t break him. It deepened his faith because his love for Jesus, the eternal High Priest, whose passion he was a part of, gave him strength.”

Fr. Judge was convinced that the Priesthood is a call to serve, not to reign.

“Priesthood for me is the call from Christ to be Christ,” he stated in 2003. “It is not enough to simply reflect Christ; he has called us to BE Christ. Sadly, we always fall short, but just as Christ did on the road to Calvary, we must get up and continue.”

He often proclaimed 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 and is the heart of the Church,” he once stated. “Take care of the Eucharist, and everything else will fall into place.”

In proper order

“As a priest of God, Fr. Judge had priorities,” Msgr. Kurwicki stated near the end of the Funeral Mass. “His No. 1 priority was his spiritual life. His first priority was praying for everyone — his family, his diocese, the sick, the suffering, his friends — and relationships.”

In interviews, people from parishes where Fr. Judge served shared their reverence for his memory.

“He was such a religious, kind and gentle man,” said Connie Hesse, a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Vandalia. “He was very good about branching out and making sure that everyone felt a part of our Sacred Heart community.”

He upheld the family as the basic unit of the Church and any community, “and all of us work together in the community, in the Church and in the family to bring forth the power of God throughout,” Mrs. Hesse recalled.

“He got us to slow down when we pray,” said Terri Lenzenhuber, a member of St. Patrick Parish in Jonesburg. “Especially the ‘Our Father.’ I think we’re still doing that. We’re not anywhere near as fast as we were.”

He revered Christ fully present in the Eucharist and the holiness of the Mass.

“I remember he told us that when you make the Sign of the Cross over your head, your mouth and your heart before the Gospel reading, you should be asking God to ‘enhance my mind, open my heart and instruct my mouth.’

“We’ve never forgotten that,” she said.

Charlie Korman, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Montgomery City, was one of Fr. Judge’s seminary classmates at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

They often traveled together to the monthly reunions of the school’s alumni.

They had many deep discussions along the way, including which celebration has greater significance in the Church: Christmas or Easter.

“I think we both settled on Easter,” Mr. Korman recalled.

“There for us”

Kenny Menges was a classmate of Fr. Judge at St. Thomas Seminary and the Pontifical College Josephinum.

His classmates all knew he had a kind heart.

“He was a super guy and a great friend,” said Mr. Menges. “If someone was down and out, he’d always lift them up. He always saw the good in people.”

Mr. Menges said many people start out trying to recognize Jesus in other people.

“As you get older, you tend to also focus on whether people can see Jesus in you,” he said. “And I think that’s where Russell was. He saw Jesus in everybody, but he got to where he wanted people to see Jesus in him. And I think he carried that very well.”

Aiden Lowrence, a young member of Sacred Heart Parish in Vandalia, proclaimed the second reading at Fr. Judge’s Funeral Mass.

“He was the priest who baptized me, gave me my First Communion and buried my brother,” said Aiden.

“Spiritually and mentally, he was there for us,” Aiden continued. “Through a lot of hard time, through a lot of good things, he was always a father. He took that literally and metaphorically.”

Aiden said that in large part due to Fr. Judge’s daily witness, he’s giving serious thought to becoming a priest.

“He was so friendly — ultimately a friend to everyone,” said Aiden. “He taught you how to treat others and how to be a person they can come to and seek guidance from, someone to trust.”

Big influence

The last wedding Fr. Judge presided at before retiring was for Aiden Piazza and his wife, members of St. Anthony Parish in Rosati.

“He was a dear friend of mine and helped me with so many things,” said Mr. Piazza.

“My whole family and I, we just loved him,” he said. “I was in a bad spot when I first met him, and he brought me back to the Church and did a lot of things for me through the years.”

Deacon Joseph Horton, a retired permanent deacon in Rhineland, was newly ordained when Fr. Judge was assigned to Church of the Risen Savior Parish.

“He was a good mentor,” said Deacon Horton. “I always appreciated him for encouraging me and encouraging the deacons.”

Brad McAlister served at Mass when Fr. Judge was pastor at Immaculate Conception Parish in Macon.

“I used to go to Mass because my parents wanted me to go,” he said. “Having a priest who explained why we do what we do made all the difference. He left a big influence on me.”

“He gave great homilies on reverence for the Blessed Sacrament,” Mr. McAlister recalled. “Good, practical things: ‘Hey, we’re in Christ’s house. Let’s dress like it. There’s a confessional in the back of church that we should make good use of.’”

A good influence

Deacon Harvey Million got to know Fr. Judge as his pastor at Holy Spirit Parish in Centralia.

“He’s where he lived his life to be,” Deacon Million stated. “I’ve been reflecting on him. I hope that I’ve become a little bit more like him.”

Deacon Million said Fr. Judge gave what were likely the best homilies he’s ever heard.

He also held people up in prayer.

“I know he prayed for my five daughters, their children, my wife, myself, by name every day,” said Mr. Million. “That meant a lot to me. I knew I was being prayed for and that he was being heard.”

Longtime friend David Ritter said a good way to honor the priest’s memory would be “to try to find the goodness in our own heart, in terms of how we treat others and how we look at ourselves.”

He suggested offering prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of Fr. Judge.

“You know, Fr. Russell was a person with much wisdom, much maturity,” he said. “He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, but he’d be cautious about how he went about that, in order not to offend the other person. Those are wonderful qualities.”

He also suggested praying: “God, you’re someone very fortunate to be able to have more time with him at the moment.”

“Kind soul”

Fr. Judge was pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in St. Robert when Father Nicholas Reid’s family moved there from Virginia.

“I remember him as a kind soul and very good witness of the Priesthood to me in those first formative years of my time in elementary and early middle school,” said Fr. Reid.

Cindy Collier got to know Fr. Judge when he was pastor of St. Boniface Parish in Brunswick.

There, he oversaw a renovation of the church that preserved its natural and ethereal beauty while keeping the focus on the Eucharist.

“He had a profound impact on my Catholicism,” Ms. Collier stated. “I was baptized as a newborn but I didn’t understand the impact of that until I met Fr. Judge.”

Her husband and children got to know him many years later.

“They knew they were meeting a special human being, with his kindness and his wisdom and his words,” she recalled.

“I’m very grateful,” said Mrs. Collier. “He improved every person that he interacted with. There’s no question in my mind.”

No regrets

Fr. Judge once said that being a priest is not always easy, but it is the best job anyone could have if it’s what God wants them to do.

“I don’t regret a minute of my Priesthood,” he stated. “It’s probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”

He noted that everyone endures pain as some time in their life.

“Mine has just caught up with me sooner than it does for many,” he said. “And it will pass. Or it won’t. Either way, I hope to stay close to God, and everything else will fall where it should.”

Deacon Horton suggested praying for more priestly vocations and giving thanks to God for Fr. Judge.

In order to honor Fr. Judge’s memory, Mr. Piazza suggests speaking honestly and straightforwardly with other people.

“He was never malicious, but you always knew what he was thinking,” said Mr. Piazza. “He was very humorous and kind, but he saw no need to sugarcoat things.”