[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:
  Gracious God, as we approach this Father's Day weekend, we praise You 
that You are our Heavenly Father from whom we learn what true 
fatherhood really means. You exemplify the perfect blend of admonition 
and affirmation, discipline and nurture, encouragement and inspiration.
  May this Father's Day be more than a celebration honoring fathers, 
but a day of calling fathers to their responsibility for the spiritual 
and character formation of their children. In this time of absentee 
fathers, when 21 million children in America live without a father in 
their homes, we ask You to instigate a father movement.
  Bless the families of our land. Stir fathers who have abdicated their 
responsibility. When fathers are silent about their faith, children 
miss the strength and courage of learning how to trust You with the ups 
and downs of life. O God, we need a great spiritual awakening. Thank 
You for waking up the fathers of the land and for a Father's Day 
dedicated to the recovery of the role of strong fathers to love their 
wives and their children. Through our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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