[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    A FAREWELL TO CHAPLAIN HALVERSON

  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, as this Congress comes to a close this 
year, my colleagues and I will lose one of our most valued assets, the 
Senate Chaplain, Dr. Richard C. Halverson. Throughout his tenure in the 
office of the Chaplain, Dr. Halverson has guided my colleagues and I in 
our work here, helping us to find the spirit of the Lord within 
ourselves and to remind us continually of our mission as servants of 
the pubic. I have called him the most Christ-like man I know; this 
sentiment has not changed. As he prepares to retire from service this 
month, I wish to thank him both for myself and on behalf of my 
colleagues. He leaves here with our warmest wishes for peaceful and 
fulfilling years ahead.
  Columnist Cal Thomas took the opportunity to express his appreciation 
for the service of Chaplain Halverson in a recent column. I am pleased 
to have this chance to share his words with my colleagues.
  There being no objection, the column was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

             [From the Washington times, November 10, 1994]

                            (By Cal Thomas)

                   Chaplain's Farewell to the Senate

       Among those leaving office at the end of this Congress is a 
     man who lived and worked among senators for the past 14 
     years--but never played the power ``game.'' He didn't have 
     many of the perks of senators. He drove himself to work in an 
     unspectacular older car. His office was smaller than all the 
     others and, like the man who occupied it, lacked pretension. 
     And yet, according to some who know him best, he has been the 
     most powerful man in Washington.
       Richard Christian Halverson, a native of North Dakota, a 
     former chauffeur who went to Hollywood as a young man to 
     become an actor, is retiring as chaplain of the U.S. Senate. 
     A rare man in Washington, . . . Democrats and Republicans, 
     from Ted Kennedy to Jesse Helms. His job description required 
     nothing more of him than to open the Senate each day with 
     prayer, as the Senate has every session since Benjamin 
     Franklin offered the first prayer at the dawn of the new 
     nation. Some of Mr. Halverson's prayers were so meaningful 
     and relevant that portions of a few of them made the evening 
     network newscasts.
       Mr. Halverson's prayers were minisermons imploring not only 
     God's blessing on the Senate and its members but imparting 
     words of wisdom that could facilitate reasoned debate and 
     enlightened legislative decision-making.
       A prayer he delivered on June 23, 1993 was typical ``God of 
     our fathers, during the presidential campaign last year, 
     Jesse Jackson reminded us that what is morally wrong cannot 
     be politically right. If we separate morality from politics, 
     we imperil our nation and threaten self-destruction. Imperial 
     Rome was not defeated by an enemy from without; it was 
     destroyed by moral decay from within. Mighty God, over and 
     over again You warned Your people, Israel, that righteousness 
     is essential to national health.''
       A frequent visitor to the Senate Press Gallery, Mr. 
     Halverson prayed this prayer on Feb. 26, 1992: ``Gracious 
     Father, investigative reporting seems epidemic in an election 
     year--its primary objective to defame political candidates. 
     Seeking their own reputation, they destroy another's as they 
     search relentlessly, microscopically for some ancient 
     skeleton in a person's life. Eternal God, help these self-
     appointed ``vacuum-cleaner journalists' to discover how 
     unproductive and divisive their efforts are.''
       From the mundane to the profound, Richard Halverson could 
     speak (and pray) about things in meaningful and effective 
     ways. For several decades he has written a biweekly 
     devotional letter called ``Perspective'' that has affected 
     the thousands who have received it. I once met a man in a 
     coffee shop in Amarillo, Tex, who told me he had never met 
     Mr. Halverson but had read ``Perspective'' for years, ``and 
     it changed my life'' That is real power, they power to change 
     the life of a person you have never met.
       Dick Halverson has not been a closet chaplain, sitting in 
     his office in the Hart Senate Office Building, waiting for 
     senators to come to him. He has roamed the halls and knows 
     the names of waitresses and custodians as well as those of 
     senators. The countenances of the small and the great (a 
     distinction lost on Mr. Halverson) light up his presence.
       Like his famous predecessor, Chaplain Peter Marshall, 
     Richard Halverson has been a true servant of God in a place 
     where His influence is sorely needed. One hearing of Peter 
     Marshall's death, the late Sen. Arthur Vandenburg wrote Mr. 
     Marshall's window: ``To me he was the embodiment of Onward 
     Christian Soldiers. To me he was the personification of 
     purposeful religion . His prayers were eloquent and real. He 
     lived his faith.
       The same could be said of Dick Halverson, whose power came 
     not from the electorate, or status, or position, but from 
     God. The new Senate will fill no office of greater or more 
     profound importance.

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