[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 81 (Thursday, June 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          FATHER JAMES DEMSKE

                                 ______


                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 23, 1994

  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, Father James Demske of Buffalo died last 
week. Tributes of all sorts have been paid to him and his legacy. But 
few have been as heartfelt or as moving as the one written by my good 
friend Anthony Masiello, the mayor of Buffalo.
  At this point I insert Mayor Masiello's comments.
  Mayor Masiello's tribute to Father Demske follows:

       I guess we should begin tonight by noting that if Father 
     James Demske were alive, he wouldn't be very pleased about 
     all the fuss he was generating. For all his passion, for his 
     intellect, for all his dynamism, in serving his God, his 
     country, and his college,
       Father Demske was not someone who sought or was comfortable 
     in the spotlight, except maybe when he had a trombone in his 
     hands.
       I recall the first time I saw him, I was heading into my 
     first varsity basketball season when he came into the gym at 
     the Villa. We had heard so much about the new president and 
     his imposing academic credentials, but when I first met him, 
     I was struck by his humanity, his caring, and his concern.
       We all knew he would be at home in the classroom, but he 
     surprised us by being equally at home in the community, in 
     the locker room, and in the student union.
       Father Demske was the rarest of scholars--one of those who 
     was as secure in the gyms as he was in the ivory towers of 
     academia, a man of both intellectual brilliance and such 
     common decency that the force of his personality brought 
     Canisius off the campus and into the community where it 
     enjoys such primacy today.
       I was a little surprised when I learned he had entered the 
     priesthood after leading a combat company in Europe during 
     World War II, but those of us who knew shouldn't have been. 
     It certainly would have been just like him to take one of the 
     most destructive human experiences and turn it into a life 
     and a legacy of such dedication and devotion to God and 
     Canisius College.
       Last year, when I aspired to become the 57th mayor of 
     Buffalo, I was credited with creating a campaign of consensus 
     and inclusion--of practicing coalition politics that had not 
     been seen in Bullalo in nearly two decades.
       But truly, my campaign was little more than what Father 
     James Demske had practiced throughout his tenure as our 
     leader.
       Therefore, in a very real sense, what I have become and 
     what I able to do for this city will be a result of the 
     example I learned from this truly gifted and giving man.
       Father Demske, more than any other role model I've had, 
     typifies the advice of the sages who tell us not to seek 
     lives of comfort, but to seek, instead, lives of quality.
       Father Demske was a scholar of exceptional brilliance. He 
     was a priest of unsurpassed reverence, And he was a man 
     committed to quality; quality in himself, quality for those 
     he touched, and quality for Canisius College.
       Since his death, I have recognized in his life many of the 
     attributes that would have guaranteed him success in the 
     field of politics. But longer reflection reveals to me that 
     Father Demske wouldn't have been a very good politician 
     because, unless it was a trombone, he was never very 
     comfortable blowing his own horn.
       I'm very pleased, proud, and privileged to have a chance to 
     blow it for him a little bit tonight.
       Rest in Peace, Father.

                          ____________________