[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 11, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FATHER BILL KENNY

  Mr. REID. Madam President, one of the pleasures of working with this 
body is the opportunity to recognize the outstanding contributions that 
individuals have made in our respective States and in our country. I 
rise today to recognize such a person, Father Bill Kenny of Las Vegas.
  Frequently, people are recognized for an heroic action on a specific 
occasion, or for a moment of self-sacrifice that may have saved the 
lives of people who were put in harms way. Father Kenny's achievement 
is different; he is a man who has devoted his entire life to helping 
others, and on a continual, daily basis, he gives his energy, his time, 
and his spirit to his community, to his parishioners, and to his 
church. On June 19, Father Kenny will celebrate the 25th anniversary of 
his ordainment as a Catholic Priest, and I am delighted to take this 
occasion to congratulate him on a lifetime of self-sacrifice.
  Father Bill Kenny is truly an example of the American dream in 
action. Bill came to Las Vegas as a young boy and attended St. Joseph's 
Catholic School and Bishop Gorman High School. As a young altar boy, 
Bill often thought about becoming a priest. Inspired by his uncle John, 
a priest who also served in Las Vegas, Bill entered the seminary and 
afterwards completed his studies at the theological college of the 
Catholic University of America on a 3-year scholarship. He earned his 
B.A. in 1966 and his M.A. a year later, after which he was assigned for 
one year to the North American College in Rome, a residence for 
American students who study at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He 
resumed his studies at the theological college, and in 1971, he 
returned to Las Vegas for his ordination.
  He was first assigned to serve as associate pastor at St. Annes and 
then, in 1976, at Our Lady of Las Vegas. The diocese intuitively knew 
that, in Father Kenny, they had a man of extraordinary talent and, in 
October of 1978, Father Bill was asked to start a new parish in a 
growing section of the city; he became the founding pastor of Christ 
the King Catholic Community, a parish that, under his tutelage, has 
grown to over 5,000 members.
  I have had the good fortune to attend services at Father Kenny's 
church and to witness, first hand, the care and compassion he has 
engendered within his parish. I participated in one of the most moving 
ceremonies of my career when Father Bill invited me to take part in the 
opening of the national AIDS Quilt exhibit which he generously housed 
in the church's parish hall. We read the names of those whose lives 
were represented in the squares of the quilt, and I know there wasn't a 
dry eye in the crowd.
  This is just one example of the compassion that Father Bill 
demonstrates on a continual basis; I know that there are at least 5,000 
more stories that reflect the influence that he has had on someone's 
life. I am glad that Father Bill chose to come back to his home in Las 
Vegas to fulfill his mission with the Catholic church, I am proud to 
have him as my friend, and I congratulate him for his 25 years of 
exemplary service to the people of Nevada. We are all better because of 
him.

                          ____________________