[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 69 (Monday, May 23, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1055]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING REVEREND DOCTOR EARL ABEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 23, 2005

  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Reverend 
Doctor Earl Abel, a remarkable and compassionate leader whose legacy 
has touched so many Kansas Citians. After an extended illness, Reverend 
Abel passed on May 17, 2005. His is a deep loss felt by his family, his 
church congregation, the greater Kansas City community, the State of 
Missouri, and most assuredly, our nation. Reverend Abel will long be 
remembered for his social activism and advocacy on behalf of those 
individuals suffering from poverty, homelessness, and injustice. He 
fought for the common person and his influence was far reaching, both 
inside and outside the African American community.
  His calling brought him to organize and pastor the Palestine 
Missionary Baptist Church of Jesus Christ in January, 1959. His initial 
congregation consisted of 11 members. His present church membership is 
in excess of 2,000 members.
  In this era where the term ``faith based initiative'' is a buzzword 
on Capitol Hill, Reverend Abel was one who took this phrase to heart, 
and applied it in the Kansas City community long before it was a 
politically popular phrase. It has been said that economic development 
is the last frontier of the civil rights movement. Reverend Abel was 
quoted in the Kansas City Star, our local newspaper, as saying, ``The 
black churches put ourselves in this role, because we felt the 
community needed development, and there was nobody to develop it. We're 
a church, and part of our mission is to try to provide what the 
community needs.'' In providing the community's needs, he championed 
the building of Palestine Camp, a $5 million youth summer camp. He also 
built two housing complexes which house 118 senior citizens called 
Palestine Gardens, and a $2.5 million activity center.
  Rev. Abel attended the University of Kansas and received his 
Doctorate of Divinity from Western Baptist Bible College. He was 
appointed by Governor Mel Carnahan to the Appellate Judicial Commission 
at a time when there were few minority or women representatives amongst 
the 39 judges on the Missouri Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. 
There are now nine female judges and five African American judges on 
those benches, including the Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme 
Court, Justice Ronnie L. White.
  In 2002, he was vice chairman of a successful public safety sales tax 
campaign, which provided for new and renovated police facilities, 
replacement of aging ambulances, new tornado sirens, and other public 
safety capital improvements. In May 2003, Reverend Abel was appointed 
to the advisory board for U. S. Senator Christopher Bond's ``Kansas 
City Engine for Economic Development Fund.'' He most recently served as 
Chaplain for the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department and has served 
as past President of the Baptist Ministers Union of Kansas City, the 
Kansas City Council on Crime Prevention, and was twice appointed to the 
Kansas City Human Relations Commission.
  He served on Boards of the Heart of America United Way, the Local 
Investment Commission (LINC), Douglass National Bank, and was an Early 
Childhood Commission member for the Missouri Department of Social 
Services.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in expressing our heartfelt sympathy to 
his wife, Hazel Lair Abel, his children, Carol and Rick, his five 
grandchildren, and his many relatives and friends. I urge my colleagues 
to please join me in conveying our gratitude to his family for sharing 
this great man with us, and to accept our condolences for their 
tremendous loss. He was an inspiration to us all.

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