[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14725]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



      CONGRATULATIONS TO REVEREND VASHTI M. McKENZIE OF BALTIMORE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pitts). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise to salute and pay tribute 
to a friend, Bishop Vashti McKenzie, who was just elevated to be a 
bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cincinnati just a 
few days ago. She is the first woman to achieve this high goal, and she 
is certainly very deserving.
  Bishop Vashti McKenzie, whose church is within one block of my house 
in the 7th Congressional District of Maryland, for many, many years has 
labored in the vineyards of lifting up people, pastoring the Payne 
Memorial A.M.E. Church and being a wonderful, wonderful pastor, a 
wonderful wife, and one who has constantly been about the business of 
empowering not only her church members but her community.
  Bishop McKenzie is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and 
she has been a very active member and she has constantly done things 
within the 7th Congressional District to address the question of how to 
empower people. She recently spent a tremendous amount of time working 
with the banks in Baltimore trying to make sure that they were not 
redlining. She spent a tremendous amount of effort pulling together 
banks and making sure that their lending practices were consistent 
throughout the entire Baltimore metropolitan area.
  But more important than that, even when she was not even considering 
running for the position of bishop, she constantly worked in the 
vineyards. I have often said that when one is unknown, unseen, 
unappreciated and unapplauded, it is what they do in those moments that 
really count. So I take a moment not only to salute Bishop Vashti 
McKenzie, but I also take a moment to salute the African Methodist 
Episcopal Church. There are so many churches that do not even want 
women to be pastors, and here is a church that not only have many 
pastors throughout these United States but has decided to elevate one 
of its daughters to be a bishop.
  It is with great honor that I recognize and thank Bishop Vashti 
McKenzie for all of her work; and, Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to 
congratulate her for her accomplishments.

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