With agents of the U.S. Marshals Service posted inside and around the church property, hundreds of friends, colleagues and members of the community lined up outside the church early Saturday morning for the visitation, followed by the Requiem Eucharist at 11 a.m.  Security was heavy and obvious, with more than two dozen U.S. Marshals stationed at the church and parish hall entrances and at various points inside the 91-year-old Gothic Revival church. Agents with automatic rifles and body armor were posted on balconies and rooftops of nearby apartment houses. Several hours before the service, agents with bomb-sniffing dogs did a thorough inspection of the church.

In her homily, the Rev. Jacqueline Schmitt, chaplain at Harvard University and former assisting priest at St. Luke's, paid tribute to Lefkow's work for social justice. Comparing him to the persistent widow in the day's gospel story of the unjust judge and widow seeking justice, Schmitt, a close friend of the family, praised Lefkow as "an agent of the kingdom of God."

Said Schmitt: "When Michael stood up for the rights of workers, of women on welfare, of people who needed education, who were wrongfully dismissed from their workplaces, Michael did so as an agent of the kingdom of God. Michael advocated for those who could not stand up for themselves against the powerful institutions."

She called Lefkow and his mother-in-law martyrs, citing the Greek origin which translates as "witness."  For the early Christians, martyrs were those who witnessed to their faith "and who were killed for that witness," she said.

"Those who kill martyrs think that by this violent and banal act they are wiping out the truth by wiping out the people who witness to the truth," she said. "We know that is not possible."

One such martyr was Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was slain in the northwest transept of Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, said Schmitt, the place of his murder is also known as "the martyrdom."

Now their Edgewater home shares that same distinction with Canterbury, said Schmitt in the closing of her homily, addressing Judge Lefkow and the five daughters seated in the first row. "It will always contain the place called the martyrdom," she said.  "But know, you must know, that the depth of your grief is more than overcome by hope.  That the garden you shared as a family is not really gone. That nothing, nothing, will ever take that from you. That nothing, nothing, will separate you from the love of God that you know only because Michael and Donna loved and will always love you."

Among the dignitaries attending were Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. District Chief Judge Charles Kocoras and Illinois Chief Justice Mary Ann McMorrow. St. Luke's priest-in-charge, the Rev. Jeanette DeFriest, presided at the liturgy. Assisting clergy were the Rev. Cotton Fite, assisting priest at St. Luke's; the Rev. Thomas Scott, president of the diocese's Standing Committee; and the Rev. Brian Hastings, associate at Church of Our Savior, Chicago. St. Luke's former music director, Richard Webster, played the organ while current music director Jonathan Scarozza directed the choirs of St. Luke's.

Interment followed the service at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood.  In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for memorial contributions to go to Northwestern University School of Law, Public Service Program, to honor Michael Lefkow's work in civil rights and social justice. Please mail contributions to: Northwestern University School of Law, Public Service Program/Lefkow Memorial, 357 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-3069.