[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1641-1642]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       A TRIBUTE TO KAREN S. LORD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the Commission on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe lost one of its most noble, most gifted, 
dedicated, effective, and kind members of our staff, Karen Lord, to the 
ravages of cancer on January 29 of this year. Karen was only 33--a 
heartwrenching tragedy for her family, and all of us who knew and loved 
her.
  Since 1995, Karen has faithfully served as counsel for Freedom of 
Religion on the staff of the commission of which I serve as the 
cochairman. In this capacity, she diligently defended the principle of 
``religious liberty for all'' and became one of the commission's most 
trusted advisors on the subject. We will miss her wise counsel, her 
demonstrable passion, her wealth of knowledge, and her energetic 
advocacy on behalf of the persecuted church.
  As counsel for Freedom of Religion, Karen meticulously monitored the 
fundamental ``freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief'' and 
always would take the initiative when violations arose. She was 
recognized and respected in this city, within the U.S.

[[Page 1642]]

Government, in Europe and in Central Asia as a knowledgeable, 
passionate, and hard-working expert on the right to freely profess and 
practice one's faith. She was intolerant of religious intolerance and 
was a champion to all those who were disenfranchised and dispossessed. 
She lived the gospel, especially our Lord's admonition in Matthew, 25, 
when our Lord said, ``When I was in prison, did you visit me.'' 
``Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren you do to me.'' Time 
and time again Karen interceded on behalf of those who were unjustly 
imprisoned by dictators and despotic governments. Karen always took the 
time and had the energy to pursue the truth, and to chronicle in a 
meticulous way the information about someone who was persecuted or 
harassed by their government, in some way put at risk because of their 
faith.
  Karen played an active role as a member of numerous U.S. delegations 
to meetings of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 
and she was selected and served on a panel of religious liberty experts 
for the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. 
Whether the interaction was with nongovernmental organizations, 
religious believers and clergy, academics or government authorities, 
Karen was an active listener, an informed interlocutor, and a vigorous 
and respectful advocate. She was a force with whom others had to 
reckon, because she was so strong and she would always stand up, on 
behalf of those who were persecuted for their faith.
  Karen surely distinguished herself as the expert on laws affecting 
religious communities in various countries of the OSCE region, whether 
the issues were in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Western Europe, or 
Eastern Europe. Just 3 months ago, even while she was suffering the 
devastation and the terrible pain of cancer, she participated in 
conferences in Sofia, Bulgaria and Baku and Azerbaijan, which were 
focused on religious liberty, rule of law and international standards 
for protection of the freedom of conscience. She often served as an 
expert at various venues in other countries with the U.S. Department of 
State and for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Members of 
the commission knew that they could depend on her and her thorough 
knowledge and vigorous advocacy of this precious freedom of religion.
  Time and again as I sat in the chair holding hearings on religious 
freedom, I would turn to Karen, get her advice and her informed expert 
opinion.
  Karen was a great woman, Mr. Speaker. She was smart, she was 
articulate, she was a quick study, she was tenacious, and she was 
breathtakingly courageous. She never uttered a word of complaint. While 
she was suffering, while she was going through her frightening ordeal, 
knowing full well what that cancer was doing to her body, she would 
have a quiet smile on her face and a very, very deep faith in Jesus 
Christ. She spent much time in prayer. She suffered her agonies of 
cancer with courage, working on behalf of religious freedom of all 
people: Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Christians, Pentecostals. Believers 
of every stripe will miss her. Karen possessed within herself an 
abiding tranquility--the peace that surpasses all understanding that 
our Lord spoke of in the Gospel.
  Mr. Speaker, we will greatly miss Karen Lord. She was a dear friend, 
and I ask all of the Members of the House to keep her in your prayers. 
Because hers was a life so faithfully lived, she is no doubt looking 
down from heaven. She was a wonderful person, she will be missed 
dearly. Our loss is surely Heaven's gain.

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