[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14956]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRATULATING BISHOP JOHN J. MYERS ON BEING NAMED ARCHBISHOP OF 
                           NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Aderholt). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my congratulations to 
a friend of many in central Illinois, a personal friend of mine, John 
J. Myers, His Eminence John J. Myers, the bishop of Peoria, who a week 
ago today was named the new archbishop of the diocese of Newark, New 
Jersey. I can tell the folks who reside in the diocese of Newark, you 
are in for a real treat.
  Bishop Myers, who has served for 11 years as the bishop of the Peoria 
diocese, was born on the prairie in Earlville, Illinois, a very small 
farming community. He comes from a very large family. He went to Loras 
College in Dubuque, Iowa, and was trained and studied in Rome. At the 
point that the hierarchy of the church made the decision to send Bishop 
Myers to Rome for his training, I think everyone realized that he was 
on a glide path to become one of the real leaders of the Catholic 
Church not only in central Illinois but in America.
  He has served with great distinction in the Peoria diocese, which is 
made up of 26 counties in central Illinois, for the last 11 years. 
Bishop Myers' most notable accomplishment during the 11 years that he 
served as bishop of Peoria is the fact that he has ordained over 100 
priests into the Peoria diocese, an extraordinary record for a bishop 
in the United States.
  He will succeed Cardinal McCarrick. Cardinal McCarrick was recently 
named the cardinal for the archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He has some 
big shoes to fill, but I know that Bishop Myers is up to the test and 
the task of succeeding Cardinal McCarrick in the archdiocese of Newark, 
New Jersey.
  Bishop Myers is a personal friend of mine. He and I became acquainted 
in the late 1960s when both he and I were teachers at Holy Family 
School in Peoria. That was his first assignment, right out of seminary 
and his first assignment as a priest. I was teaching junior high social 
studies at Holy Family School, and he and I became very, very good 
friends. Our friendship has endured for these many decades, since the 
late 1960s. He baptized two of our four children and was present at the 
wedding of our daughter Amy 2 years ago.
  Bishop Myers is a leader in the church. That is why he has ascended 
to such an important position as the archdiocese of Newark. He has made 
many, many profound proclamations and statements and written 
extensively on the teachings of the church.
  The recent articles that have appeared in the local newspapers and in 
national newspapers will point out very important information, but most 
significantly the feelings of many of the parishioners, many of the 
people who live in the Peoria diocese, about their strong feelings for 
what a holy, religious, intelligent, smart and one of the real leaders 
of our church Bishop Myers is as demonstrated by the people that he has 
served so ably during the 11 years as bishop of Peoria.
  I worked with Bishop Myers on the consolidation of two very well 
known high schools in the Peoria area, one 125 years old and one 25 
years old. It was a very controversial matter that he and I worked on. 
I was the president of the local Catholic school board there and he was 
the coadjutor bishop of Peoria. These were very, very difficult times, 
but we made the right decision with respect to consolidating those two 
schools. Like many of the decisions that Bishop Myers has made, he 
selected a campus that was perhaps not as appealing to some of the 
people of the Peoria area but it turns out that this high school, now 
known as Notre Dame High School, is one of the finest high schools in 
Illinois and certainly one of the finest Catholic high schools in 
central Illinois.
  I know that there was a significant article in the Peoria Journal 
Star, the local newspaper in Peoria, where the bishop lives, sort of 
the center and the heart of our diocese yesterday where many people 
were complimenting him and pointing out some of the significant 
decisions that he has made as the leader of our diocese.
  And so it is with great joy and great honor that I stand here in the 
House of Representatives and let all Americans know and certainly let 
Members of the House know, Mr. Speaker, that we are all proud of Bishop 
Myers, we wish him Godspeed, and look forward to his leadership of the 
archdiocese of Newark.

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