[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 39 (Thursday, March 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2681-S2682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FATHER JAMES NADEAU

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am delighted that our opening prayer 
this morning was so eloquently delivered by my good friend, Father 
James L. Nadeau, the rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate 
Conception in Portland, ME, and a native of my hometown of Caribou, ME.
  Father Jim is an inspiring testament to the power of faith and 
education. My family takes special pride in Father Jim because of our 
close connections growing up in Northern Maine. Both our families 
attended the same church in Caribou, Holy Rosary, where my mother was 
the director of religious education. Father Jim and his brother have 
both become priests. So we take special pride.
  Father Jim has a truly inspiring story. He was the first member of 
his family to graduate from college, and he credits this accomplishment 
to the academic preparation and support he received from the Upward 
Bound program at Bowdoin College.
  I wish to quote from Father Jim's own words, which describe his 
family background:

       Growing up in a rural Franco-American background, I was 
     expected to follow my ancestors who for over 250 years were 
     farmers and woodsmen. . . . I recall my parents not even 
     wanting me to think about college. They could not afford it; 
     plus, no one had gone to college in my family. In fact, my 
     mother and father only studied to 8th grade. My mother, the 
     oldest girl of 15 children, had to stay home and take care of 
     her brothers and sisters. My father, when just a teenager, 
     began working on the farms and at a french fry processing 
     plant.

  For young Jim Nadeau, everything changed in his life when he first 
met the director of the Bowdoin College Upward Bound program in 1977. 
She encouraged him to go to college, and, indeed, after graduating from 
Caribou High School as valedictorian, he enrolled at Dartmouth College 
in the fall of 1979. With Pell grants and other financial aid making 
his education possible, he excelled in his studies.
  After graduating from college, Father Jim studied at Gregorian 
University in Rome for 5 years where he received two graduate degrees 
in theology. Father Jim also worked with Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 
her Roman missions and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1988. 
Father says that he truly can credit the Upward Bound program with 
changing his life.
  We are, indeed, fortunate that the power of God and education 
transformed the life of young Jim Nadeau. He is an inspiration to us 
all and continues his important work today as rector of the Cathedral 
of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, ME. There he has guided many 
financially disadvantaged students and encouraged them to go to 
college.
  I am delighted to have him with us today. It is a great honor and 
privilege

[[Page S2682]]

to have this outstanding priest join us and offer to us his inspiring 
opening prayer.
  I thank the Chair, and I thank my colleague.
  Mr. DODD. If my colleague will yield for a minute, I had the pleasure 
of briefly meeting Father Jim Nadeau this morning downstairs. I welcome 
him to the Senate. I thank him for his beautiful prayer this morning. 
It is good to have a New Englander opening the Senate with us this 
morning.
  I thank our distinguished colleague from Maine for extending the 
invitation and sharing with us an inspiring story about Father Nadeau's 
family and his contributions to the State of Maine and this country. We 
thank him immensely for all the wonderful work he has done. I thank my 
colleague from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his kind words.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I associate myself with the 
observations of the Senator from Connecticut and congratulate the 
Senator from Maine for bringing this outstanding citizen of her State 
here this morning to open the Senate with a prayer. I wish him well in 
his endeavors.

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