[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 22, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     TRIBUTE TO REV. ROBERT TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 22, 1999

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to pay 
tribute to an individual who spent his life not just preaching about 
the needs of the poor, but by doing something in meaningful ways to 
help meet the needs of the poor. Rev. Robert Taylor was a priest, a 
licensed clinical social worker and what we commonly call a community 
activist.
  Father Taylor was an Episcopal Priest for decades in Chicago, he was 
one of the 15 priests fined and sentenced to jail after they had led a 
prayer pilgrimage in Jackson, Mississippi to protest segregation in 
1961. Father Taylor spent about three weeks in jail but breach of peace 
charges were dropped.
  St. Leonard's is a halfway house located on Washington and Hoyne on 
the westside of Chicago, in the Henry Horner Housing Project area 
across the street from the Mile Square Community Health Center where I 
worked for a number of years. Father Taylor began working at St. 
Leonard's House in the 1950's with ex-convicts and also worked as a 
chaplain at Cook County Jail. by the end of the decade, he had helped 
to build St. Leonard's from a small service for only a handful of ex-
convicts to a well-regarded refuge for men looking to rebuild their 
lives. In 1963, he was appointed executive director and led St. 
Leonard's House until 1970.
  When he first got involved with St. Leonard's House, Father Taylor 
lived with his wife and children at the westside halfway house in the 
midst of what was usually called a ghetto. He opened himself up to ex-
offenders and helped them to get jobs. ``He was one of the greatest 
priests I've ever known,'' said Father Jones. ``When he gave his heart 
and soul to the ex-prisoners they learned that people were not all down 
on them.'' Father Taylor later joined the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago 
in 1980, as the director of the Office of Pastoral Care, in 1987, he 
became director of program and mission for the diocese. For years he 
worked with his wife, also a social worker, and together they helped 
scores of people overcome alcohol and drug addictions.
  When you give of yourself that is when you truly give. Robert Taylor, 
an advocate for the poor, truly gave of himself.

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