[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6380-H6381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  A MESSAGE FROM CARDINAL O'CONNOR TO CONGRESS, REMEMBERING APRIL 16, 
       1995, AND CLARIFYING THE MEANING OF THE WORD ``COVENANT''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I hope an average C-SPAN audience is here 
for an exciting special order I guess to follow, but also because I 
have a message from a very important prelate of the Holy Roman Catholic 
Church.
  Mr. Speaker, when the Los Angeles Times wrote about my presidential 
announcement week in New Hampshire and New York, their traveling 
reporter left out the high point of our whole 

[[Page H 6381]]
trip. It happened on Easter, and it was absolutely the most moving 
moment for me, for my wife, and our five grown children, and for our 
nine grandchildren.
  At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, the best-known clergyman in 
all of North and probably South America, John Cardinal O'Connor, from 
the pulpit, during the homily at Easter High Mass, his Mass, gave a 
U.S. Congressman the following assignment.
  He said:

       I noted during communion time the presence of Congressman 
     Bob Dornan. Bob, you can tell the Congress, and through your 
     radio and television programs, the people of the United 
     States, that St. Patrick's Cathedral is not a tomb of dead 
     dreams but a vibrant temple of hope; that the hearts of our 
     Catholic people are by no means empty with dead faith, but 
     are filled with living faith, a faith that will not be 
     ignored, a faith that, however ridiculed, however derided by 
     cynics, will continue to blaze forth through this land to 
     radiate goodness and to bring hope to millions.

  Those are stirring words, Mr. Speaker. I will do what Cardinal 
O'Connor asked of me, I have just done it, because his Christian 
conviction is my family's conviction, all 20 of us. I truly believe the 
Cardinal expresses the sentiments of all loyal and practicing 
Christians.
  Easter Sunday, this last April 16, was my Sally's birthday and our 
40th wedding anniversary, so, after Mass, to the left of the main 
altar, the altar where my parents were married June 27, 1929, Sally and 
I stood in front of the very baptismal font where I was christened in 
May 1933, and Sally and I renewed our sacred vows of matrimony. I 
wanted to share the special memories of this day with the L.A. Times, 
but they saw fit to ignore that any of that happened. I am still 
surprised.
  April 16, Mr. Speaker, 1995, is a day the Dornan clan will remember 
with great fondness forever and ever. Amen.
  Mr. Speaker, a word about that fascinating day following the State of 
the Union message, when in 1 minute, I made four points. One of those 
points was stricken from the record, and I was removed from my speaking 
privileges for the rest of the day. I refused to apologize because I 
believe everything I said was historical, and I will revisit this well 
at some point in the future to discuss point 3 that I was suppressed 
for, but I will at this point discuss point 1.
  I said that Mr. Clinton had overstepped the bounds of decency to 
refer to his presidency as the New Covenant. At the moment of 
consecration at every Catholic Mass, when the wine is consecrated, the 
words are ``the new and everlasting covenant.'' However, a week ago 
Sunday, the scriptural reading from the Gospel hit it right on the 
head. It is St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, 11:23 to 26. Here is 
what I took exception to. ``In the same way after supper, he,'' meaning 
Jesus, ``Took the cup saying `This is the cup of the New Covenant in my 
blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.' ''
  Anybody who has seen an Indiana Jones movie knows that the Old 
Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant, was between Abraham and God. The New 
Covenant is Jesus Christ, our Savior, who redeemed us with His death on 
the cross, redeemed us with His precious blood. The New Covenant is not 
Bill or Hillary Clinton, and I am sure Mother Teresa the other day, 
when she spent the better part of the day with the First Lady, would 
have made that very clear to Miss Hillary if she had asked ``Mother 
Teresa, are we perchance the New Covenant?'' I think that settles point 
1. More about point 2, 4, and that infamous point 3, later.


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