"The image of emergency services wanting priests at the scene has finished.They don't want priests there."
— Fr. Peter Newby of St. Mary Moorfield Parish, who had hoped to help at a London bombing site.
Not knowing the whole story, I admit it's possible that the emergency-services personnel's decision to bar the priest was based on concerns for his safety. But I don't doubt for a minute that Fr. Newby knew the risk he was taking, just as Fr. Mychal Judge did when he entered the Twin Towers on 9/11—becoming the first recorded fatality of the attacks.
The British well know of Fr. Judge's sacrifice, and of how much it meant to 9/11 victims and emergency-service workers to have Judge and other clergymen on the scene (including the FDNY's Jewish chaplain). It's a shame that the 7/7 workers didn't likewise realize the value—if not, as many would say, the necessity—of having a member of the clergy present.
