Thomas Griffin 7/14/24
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Corey Comperatore lost his life during the Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13th. Corey was a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. He leaves behind his wife and two daughters. His life and final actions speak to Americans beyond any aisle divide of this world.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke to Comperatore’s wife on Sunday who said simply, “Corey was a girl dad. Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family.” Both his wife and daughter described a very chaotic scene that took place when gunshots rang out at the rally. They feared for their lives and everything has been turned upside down.
On Sunday, July 14th, Mr. Comperatore’s daughter posted a tribute to her father on Facebook. Allyson Comperatore began her remarks on Facebook stating, “Yesterday time stopped. And when it started again my family and I started living a real-life nightmare.”
She acknowledged that there will be a massive media following of this story revolving around her dad but she wanted to make several things clear about him that others might not speak about. Allyson continued, saying “He was the best dad a girl could ever ask for. My sister and I never needed for anything. You call, and he would answer, and he would do whatever it is you needed.”
Corey Comperatore appeared to be a man worth emulating when it comes to being a father who is present to his children. His daughters knew that they were not alone and that they could count on him, two things that our faith tells us is true of our Father who is always pursuing us and is forever at our side. We all deserve to be seen and be taken care of. Corey lived this trait in profound but simply ways with his children.
His daughter also desired to highlight his faith. My dad “was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely, and also looked after our church and our members as family.”
Corey Comperatore was a man of deep and strong faith. These two adjectives are critical for all disciples. To know Jesus as a real person is to be serious about following him and passionate about living for him and for others. Too often, religious Americans are characterized as old-fashioned or even bigoted for their beliefs about unchanging truth and the traditional family. However, it is the witness of Comperatore that shows what it means to a serious Christian: to be willing to sacrifice it all for others and for God – to love without counting the cost.
Allyson went on to describe the final moments of her dad’s life. “He died a real-life super hero” and “he quickly threw my mom and I to the ground…he shielded my body from the bullet that came for us.”
For Corey, it must have been like running into a fire. He must have been, in some ways, used to throwing himself into the flames. He saw those in need. He saw those who were in harm’s way and he risked his own safety in order to protect them and save them. Except this time, it was his own family that he was saving. His willingness to do so shows the love of a husband and father but also the character of our first responders whose jobs are not careers but ways of living.
Countless Americans know the famous words of Jesus that echo the sacrificial love of Corey Comperatore: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). While every human being was loved this way when Christ died for them on the cross, Comperatore’s sacrifice showcases the depth of God’s love for us in a concrete way. That is why reading his daughter’s post has brought so many to tears and so many to look at their loved ones differently, more sincerely.
Comperatore’s daughter ended her heartfelt message with the following words to summarize his life and her love for her dad: “He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a real bullet for us. And I want nothing more than to cry on him and tell him thank you.” She also referenced his “selfless” nature and that “God was proud of the man that came to His gates” on that day.
The goal of life is for God to be proud of us when our time on this earth is done as well. If we want to ensure that we are living a life of true meaning, we should ask ourselves how we are doing with loving those closest to us. Do we pick up the phone and call mom and dad enough? Are we willing to forgive the things that separate us from our siblings? Can we be more attentive to our children and less consumed with our phones and our own desires? Day in and day out, how selfless are we willing to be?
Today, let us be willing to ask these tough questions and let us be motivated to live more sacrificially. Let us focus more on the important aspects of life by witnessing the sacrificial love of a father whose love cost him his life. Even more so, let us never take for granted that we have a God who did that for us. A Father that loved us, to the end.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World.
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