[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        ST. PETER'S MASS HOSTED BY REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kleczka) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KLECZKA. Mr. Speaker, today's mass at St. Peter's will be hosted 
by the Republican Conference. The homily will be given by the House 
Chaplain and he will speak in support of the H.R. 4199, to abolish the 
Tax Code by the year 2004. Does that sound ridiculous to my colleagues? 
It sure does to me as a Catholic Member of this House.
  But let me review for my colleagues what transpired yesterday. There 
was a mass at St. Peter's hosted by the Republican National Committee 
to honor and to introduce the new chaplain of the House followed by a 
reception in the church basement.
  We were told that all Members were invited to mass. But in reality, 
only 26 Republicans were given the invitation.
  Mr. Speaker, masses have been conducted in this world by Catholic 
clergy for centuries; and never, never in my recollection have they 
been hosted by a political party.
  I think it is wrong. I think it is misdirected. And I am told at the 
mass itself speaking to the congregation was the chairman of the 
Republican National Committee, Mr. Nicholson, and a former Member of 
this House who headed up the campaign committee.
  I think the Republicans have gone too far this time. For those of my 
colleagues who do not know the background, the chaplain of the House 
announced he was retiring. The Speaker appointed a bipartisan Search 
Committee made up of nine Republicans and nine Democrats to find a new 
chaplain. They interviewed 37 clergymen, and they came up with the top 
choice of a Catholic priest.
  But that was not to be. The Republicans would not stand still for a 
Catholic, the first in the history of this country to be chaplain of 
this House. So they bypassed him for the man who came in number three. 
Then a big uproar occurred.
  Catholics throughout the country were just totally up in arms, and 
they knew they were going to lose the Catholic vote this November. So 
what do they do? They bring a resolution to the floor praising the 
Catholic schools.
  I am a product of that Catholic education. I do not need my 
Republican colleagues telling me how good the education is. They kept 
slipping with the Catholics. Then they found Cardinal O'Connor in New 
York. So one day we had a resolution to give him a gold medal and that 
still did not help the slippage with the Catholic vote.
  So then the Speaker swallowed his pride and he himself appointed a 
Catholic priest from Chicago who was not interviewed by the committee 
but he was a Catholic, and he thought that would stop the hemorrhage of 
the loss of the Catholic vote; and everything was quiet for a couple 
weeks and we started to heal. And then, out of the blue, comes a mass 
at St. Peter's sponsored by the Republican National Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, today the only word that my colleagues could come up 
with was this is ``disgusting.'' The Catholic celebration of mass does 
not need promotion from my colleagues, guys. We go there voluntarily. 
If it was the Democratic party pulling this nonsense, I would be on 
this floor tonight.
  When is this going to stop? Are they going to ridicule my entire 
religion? Have they bought into the notion from Bob Jones University 
that we are a cult, that the Pope is anit-Christ?
  In the press reports today on this debacle, we are told by a 
spokesman for the Republican National Committee that he is sorry that 
some Democrats were finding fault with this event, with this ``event.''
  The mastermind who they dusted off, a former ambassador to the 
Vatican, stated in this article, I have been to events sponsored by 
lots of organizations, including Democrats, and there has never been 
any problem.
  Is this an event? Is this like a college football bowl game where 
there is a sponsor, the Rose Bowl is brought to us buy Microsoft, 
today's mass is brought to us by some foundation?
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans in the House have gone over the line. I 
have asked the Catholic Bishop's Conference to review this matter. I 
believe that what they have done is turn this Catholic chaplain into a 
Republican poster-priest.

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