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School mourns soldier killed in Afghanistan

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published September 14, 2007

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Everest Academy fourth-grader Luke Allen (left) and fifth-grader Joshua Ferguson hold a photo of the late Joe Miracle, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford Township, during a military flag raising at the school Sept. 7. Miracle was killed in combat in the U.S. Army in July.

Clarkston — It was three days into the school year and, in front of Everest Academy, 420 children gathered under a sunny sky. In front of them, a photo of a soldier was displayed, and four uniformed men from the United States Army in solemn ceremony raised the nation's flag in honor of one who had died for his country.

At a school that teaches that all should be done for the glory of God, the students at Everest were there to honor the son of one of their teachers, Judy Miracle. Her son, Joe, had been killed at war in Afghanistan July 5, trying to protect his fellow soldiers from an enemy.

"The world is a place where you need strong values and support systems," Judy had said before the Sept. 7 military flag raising, while talking about her son. "That's one of the things that Joe learned first-hand."

Last week, the school community showed that they valued Joe Miracle's life, his example as a faithful Catholic, his family, and especially his mother. And with a Christian spirit, the staff and students at Everest became the Miracle family's support system.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Glenn and Judy Miracle look on during the military flag-raising Sept. 7 to honor their son.

Joe's story

In April, 22-year-old Pfc. Joe Miracle, dressed in his Army uniform, stood before the students at Everest Academy, where Judy was teaching history and geography. He was on leave from active duty, and he agreed to teach them about the Army — he'd been in it about a year.

A question came from one of the students: "How did you decide to become a soldier?"

"I prayed about it," Joe said.

Judy describes her son as a young man who didn't stray from faith in Christ. When Judy started teaching at Everest nine years ago, a much-younger Joe Miracle — though he didn't attend the school himself — came to know the Legion of Christ, the religious community who sponsors the school.

And though Joe was the youngest child out of seven born to Judy and her husband, Glenn, his parents noticed the deep foundation of faith upon which he built a high school life as a superb athlete with many friends.

In fact, Judy recalls the impact Joe's faith had on her own life.

She noticed the reverence Joe had for the Eucharist. She admired him when he would be determined to attend Mass — sometimes even in uniform before a football game. She recalls him during the World Youth Day celebration in Toronto, standing in a rainstorm in the middle of a field, having his confession heard by a priest.

She was glad that, as a teenager, Joe took a mission trip to Mexico with the Legion of Christ. The young man came back from the trip with nothing more than the clothes he had worn — he gave all he'd brought to the poor families he was with.

And she saw him searching for a deeper bond with Christ, recalling that Joe would even open the Bible with friends of his from the Baptist faith.

For the most part, Joe was quiet in his faith, yet not afraid to share it, Judy said. And his relationship with God came to the surface the day he decided to join the Army.

"He realized," Judy said, "that protecting his country and protecting innocent people was a vocation. He took it as a mission that you have to value life — but you have to value the freedom that you have, and support it any way that you can."

Joe served in the 173rd Army Airborne Infantry. After eight months being stationed in Vincenza Italy, he was assigned to fight in the War on Terror in Afghanistan. His unit was designated as a Medvac unit. Their responsibility was to protect those who would recover wounded soldiers.

They were stationed near a stronghold of the enemy, Al Qaeda. Joe was shot and killed by a sniper.

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Members of the U.S. Army hold the flag as it’s being raised at the Sept. 7 ceremony at Everest Academy. The flag-raising was in honor of Joe Miracle, whose mother teaches at the school.

A community mourns

The days that followed were hard ones for the Miracle family.

Letters came from Joe's combat unit. Joe's actions saved the lives of others, they said.

They called him "one of the elite," "100-percent warrior," and "humble."

And they said that, no matter where he was, Joe found a way to pray. He always got to Mass.

Word spread quickly about Joe's death. The Miracle family wasn't overly active at their parish, Our Lady of the Lakes in Waterford Township — but Judy's bond with the pastor grew from that point.

"With Joe, we reached out. His family was in the larger parish community," said Fr. Lawrence Delonnay, pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, who also presided at the funeral Mass for a soldier from the parish in 2003. "That is the most loving thing you can possibly do when somebody is in extremes like that, to hold them to yourself."

The community at Everest rallied around the Miracle family, too. Even though it was well into summer vacation, children from Judy's class came forward.

"As soon as the families found out, the girls in the middle school wanted to come and do something that would help them," said Maura Plante, a friend of Judy's who works in admissions for the school.

Two dozen girls from Everest wrapped silverware for the funeral luncheon. Students from both Everest girls and boys schools served at the luncheon.

"What they wanted people to see was, 'This is what we can do for the Miracle family right now,'" Plante said.

Even the families of students who no longer attended Everest came back to console the Miracle family. More than 1,000 people came to the funeral Mass. And last week — two months after the funeral — many of the school parents stood behind their children to witness the flag raising in honor of Joe.

"That support there was just unbelievable, and it still is," said Judy Miracle. "There is like a mission now to show support to one of the staff that's lost a child in war, and also just to show all the young people how much we value that kind of sacrifice."

An example of faith

As the school year gets underway, the Miracle family still questions how death could claim a prayerful and healthy 22-year-old, willing to sacrifice for his friends.

And any spiritual director is hard pressed to explain exactly why it happened.

Still, Christ is making Himself present through the community that mourns with the Miracles.

And Joe's example stands as a Gospel lesson, added Fr. Juan Guerra, the Legion of Christ priest who took Joe and his peers on the mission trip to Mexico.

"What we can learn from him is that we need to live ready to go at any moment, so that our Lord can find us ready — as he told us in His Gospel, in the book of His life," Fr. Guerra said. "Soldiers have to be ready at any time. As we know, in our lives we have to be ready to go whenever our Lord calls us."

Memories of Joe, too, have had an impact on the Miracle family and friends, Judy Miracle said. Joe's death has put before his brothers and sisters the seriousness of God's promise of eternal life, causing them to examine their relationship with Christ and the Church.

Joe's father, Glenn Miracle, though not Catholic himself, can always look back on a call from Italy last Christmas he received from his youngest son. It was a testament to Joe's deep faith, he said.

"Dad," Joe had said over the phone, "will you go to midnight Mass with mom? I'm not there, and I always go with her."

"So," Glenn said, "this non-Catholic went to midnight Mass. And it was beautiful."

To begin the flag-raising ceremony last Friday, Everest principal Fr. Daniel Pajerski, LC, led the congregation in prayer. As is tradition at the school, Fr. Pajerski started by saying "Christ, our King." The students replied, "Thy kingdom come."

Staff members say it's a reminder that everything done is done for Christ.

At Everest, the staff and students think of Joe Miracle, his prayer and his sacrifice, and appreciate his life as one lived in Christ. And even in the first days of class, they live their own Christian duty of loving their neighbors, the Miracle family, and comforting those who mourn.

"As a Catholic community, that's what we do," Plante says. "When something is really hard, we have to go to our knees, we have to pray, we have to support each other — and we want people to know that our faith is what is going to get us through this."