[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10496]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              IN MEMORY OF REVEREND MONSIGNOR THOMAS WELLS

  (Mrs. MORELLA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, the Reverend Monsignor Thomas Wells, 56, 
of Germantown, Maryland, pastor of Mother Seton Catholic Parish in 
Germantown, died Thursday, June 8, in the parish rectory. He was the 
victim of an apparent breakin and killed after a violent and bloody 
struggle with the intruder.
  This morning, at 11 o'clock, a funeral mass will be celebrated by 
Cardinal James A. Hickey at the Sacred Heart Church, which is one of 
the churches that Monsignor Wells served.
  What can I say about a man who was in his prime, who was a shepherd 
to a community, whether they belonged to his faith or not.
  I talked to some of the congregants who made statements, such as, 
``He was only the pastor at Mother Seton for about a year and a half, 
but he touched so many people in the 2,000-member congregation, just as 
he touched those in other parishes that he served.''
  He had served in 5 parishes within the last 3 decades in the State of 
Maryland. The churches where he served over the past 30 years had been 
filled in recent years with people who loved the priest for whom they 
now pray. They are overwhelmed by grief.
  He encouraged a lot of the young people. He inspired all who knew 
him. He was warm, friendly. He had a tremendous sense of humor. He 
always gave very exciting sermons, motivating people to be the best and 
to do the most for others.
  One can see that the light of God was within him. He was a very holy 
man, not just by his position in the church as monsignor, but by the 
way he helped people.
  Articles in the paper pointed out story after story of how he reached 
out and helped the community. The community grieves for him. He 
preached a lot about love. He remembered that Thornton Wilder wrote, 
``there is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge 
is love, the only survival and the only meaning.''
  Monsignor Wells will live on in love.

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