[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO FATHER EDWIN LEAHY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2007

  Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, it is with a great deal of enthusiasm that 
I ask my colleagues here in the House of Representatives to join me as 
I rise to offer heartfelt congratulations to Father Edwin Leahy--Father 
Ed--as he receives an honorary degree from Rutgers-Newark. Father Ed 
will also serve as the commencement speaker on Thursday, May 17, 2007. 
He is the headmaster of St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, 
NJ.
  Father Ed graduated from St. Benedict's Prep in 1963 and from Seton 
Hall University in 1968. He received his training in theology, 
attaining an M.Div. with distinction in 1975 from the Woodstock 
College, the Jesuit School of Technology at Union Theological Seminary. 
He was ordained as a priest in 1972 after first taking vows as a monk 
in 1966 of the Benedictine Abbey of Newark.
  Father Ed's appointment to headmaster of St. Benedict's Prep has been 
a true blessing to the young men who come through its door and to the 
community at large. Father Ed became headmaster at the age of 27 and 
took a school with an enrollment of 89 students and 14 faculty members 
to its current population of 550 and 46, respectively. In the process, 
he has touched the hearts of many of his young charges and their 
families. The students are mostly Black and Hispanic from humble 
backgrounds. Yet 95 percent of the school's graduates go to college; no 
small feat in a city where the dropout rate is very high.
  Thanks to Father Ed and his perseverance, St. Benedict's Prep now has 
a waiting list with many suburban youngsters hoping to gain admission. 
The school received national attention when its comprehensive program 
was featured in Education Week.
  Madam Speaker, Father Ed has served St. Benedict's and the greater 
community well for almost 25 years. I know my colleagues agree that 
Father Ed is a very good choice for commencement speaker and is a 
deserving recipient of an honorary degree from Rutgers-Newark. I wish 
him well as he continues his good works.

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