[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 118 (Friday, July 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H6192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF CATHOLIC BISHOP RICHARD GARCIA

  (Mr. PANETTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PANETTA. Madam Speaker, I recognize today the life of Catholic 
Bishop Richard Garcia who recently passed at the age of 71. Although 
his loss was after a very short battle with Alzheimer's, Bishop Garcia 
lived a long life filled with God and God's children.
  His parents were immigrants from Mexico who wanted to give their 
children a better life. That American Dream was fulfilled when Bishop 
Garcia became a priest in 1973, and, fortunately for me and my 
constituents, in 2006 he was then named the bishop for the Monterey 
Diocese.
  When Bishop Garcia would see you, he would grab you, he would hug 
you, and he wouldn't look through you, but he would look at you. It was 
at that point that you would feel his love and his divine spirit for 
every man.
  Bishop Garcia welcomed everyone who entered his church, but also 
those who entered this country. He didn't care just about people, but 
also the future of this planet.
  A quote by another eminent priest from the central coast of 
California, Saint Junipero Serra, was: ``Always to go forward and never 
to turn back.''
  As we look back on the life of Richard Garcia, we know that his 
spirit, his love, and his guidance provides us with the divinity to 
always go forward.

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