[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 181 (Thursday, December 19, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING HIS EMINENCE FRANCIS EUGENE CARDINAL GEORGE, O.M.I., ON THE 
                   50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ORDINATION

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                          HON. DANIEL LIPINSKI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 19, 2013

  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Francis Cardinal 
George on the 50th anniversary of his Ordination to the Priesthood. 
Yesterday I joined more than 100 bishops from around the world and 
hundreds of members of the Chicago Archdiocese in congratulating 
Cardinal George as he celebrated this milestone with a Mass at Holy 
Name Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois where he has served as leader of 
the Archdiocese for almost 17 years. Francis Eugene George was born in 
1937 to Francis and Julia George on Chicago's Northwest side. He grew 
up there with his older sister Margaret and attended St. Pascal School. 
At the age of 13 he was diagnosed with polio, and to this day wears a 
leg brace to support the muscles that were damaged by his battle with 
the illness.
  But George persevered and kept his faith, enrolling at St. Henry 
Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, Illinois, an affiliated high school 
with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He would eventually 
join the Missionary Oblates and would make his solemn vow as a member 
of the order. George was ordained a priest in 1963 at St. Pascal Church 
where his Catholic education had started as a boy. The following year 
he received a degree in theology from the University of Ottawa, his 
first of many degrees including a doctorate in Philosophy from Tulane 
University and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical 
Urbaniana University.
  After spending time as a professor, George continued to serve his 
order when he became the Vicar General for the Oblates of Mary 
Immaculate. For 12 years, he traveled to missions in some of the 
poorest regions of Africa, Latin America and Asia. In 1990 Pope John 
Paul II appointed George as the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Yakima, 
Washington. In 1996 he was appointed the ninth Archbishop of Portland 
in Oregon when he was installed by Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral 
of the Immaculate Conception. George would serve there for less than a 
year before he was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the vacant See of 
Chicago. He was the first native Chicagoan to be appointed as the 
Archbishop of Chicago, which serves 2.2 million Catholics in 356 
different parishes. Within the first year of his service in Chicago, 
George was elevated to the honor of Cardinal.
  For almost 17 years Cardinal George has led his people in the Chicago 
Archdiocese with his unmatched intellect and warmth. At Mass yesterday, 
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic 
Bishops, very aptly described George as ``intelligent and articulate, 
courageous and curious, humble, zealous.'' Kurtz continued, ``Like Pope 
Francis, we see in you a generous heart and zealous missionary spirit . 
. . a humble man of vision.''
  Today I express my admiration for Cardinal George's devotion to the 
Archdiocese of Chicago and the entire community, and honor his lifetime 
of achievements. I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Francis 
Cardinal George well as he celebrates the 50th anniversary of his 
ordination, and to thank him for his inspiring service.

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