James Foley at Aleppo Syria. July 2012.
James Foley, a journalist who had been covering the Syrian conflicts and was recently shown to be beheaded by ISIS militants, was known among his family, friends, and colleagues for his faith, generosity, and kindness.
In many articles and social media posts dedicated to him, there have been outpours of love and comments about his outstanding character. People around Foley testified that it is his faith, generosity, and kindness that drove him to be the kind of journalist he lived as—one who wanted to document injustice, even if it meant risking his own life.
Foley once also served in Teach for America (TFA), a corps through which individuals teach at low income or inner city public schools. Elisa Villanueva Beard, the co-CEO for TFA, wrote, “At Teach for America, we will remember Jim for his tenacity, his spirit, and his fierce dedication to give a voice to the voiceless.”
“He was one of a kind,” she added. “I’ll remember his courage, bravery, and commitment to justice. Jim was an incredible teacher who was a model of love and excellence, and went on to be a journalist with the same passion, care, and integrity that he’d shown in the classroom.”
A TFA Facebook post additionally described him as a journalist “committed to seeking the truth and reporting with the utmost integrity.”
His family and friends acknowledged Foley’s faith, and described that his character likely developed as a result of his faith. Max Fisher, a reporter from Vox, wrote in an article dedicated to James Foley, “My own interactions with Jim after he came home from Libya were scarce, but enough to glimpse the unfailing generosity and warmth that made him so beloved among his friends.”
“Jim’s faith was something we all agreed not to discuss publicly while he was held in Syria,” he added, “but it was the wellspring of his generosity.”
Foley himself often publicly mentioned his faith, and how the prayers that he himself prayed and that others prayed for him helped him to endure. While Foley was captured and held in Tripoli in 2011, and in the duration of his captivity, he said held on to hope through prayer. He would especially pray for his mother and his family.
“I prayed she’d know I was OK. I prayed I could communicate through some cosmic reach of the universe to her,” he wrote in an article in the Marquette Magazine, an alumni magazine from Marquette University. He wrote that as his mother expressed to James through a phone call that many have been praying for him, he wondered that “maybe it was others’ prayers strengthening me, keeping me afloat.”
Foley and his family are known to be Catholic, and in the article he wrote that he would “pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed.” He added, “I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused.”
He added that he and Clare, another journalist who had been imprisoned with him at the time, would find comfort in praying together.
“Clare and I prayed together out loud. It felt energizing to speak our weaknesses and hopes together, as if in a conversation with God, rather than silently and alone.”
He also told David McKay Wilson, a journalist with USA Today, during an interview that during his captivity in Tripoli, another man from the jail cell next to Foley would read the Bible to him and ask him to pray with him.
“In a very calm voice, he’d read me Scripture once or twice a day,” Foley said. “Then I’d pray to stay strong. I’d pray to soften the hearts of our captors. I’d pray for God to lift the burdens we couldn’t handle.”
A prayer vigil was held on Saturday night in Rochester, at which about 200 people gathered, according to Boston CBS.
“We are honored that you care and love Jim,” said John Foley, James Foley’s father. “We are honored that you recognized the sacrifices he made. He loved the Syrian people. He was devoted to telling their story and doing whatever he could to help their fight.”
