[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17206]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WELCOMING THE REVEREND DR. PAUL SMITH

  (Mr. LEACH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House, it is my honor to 
welcome and extend appreciation to the Reverend Dr. Paul Smith for 
delivering the opening prayer this morning.
  Dr. Smith is the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Brooklyn and a faculty member of the New York Theological Seminary. A 
scholar, Dr. Smith has written extensively on issues of integration and 
is considered one of the world's leading authorities on multicultural 
training and arbitration. He has negotiated labor management agreements 
related to sweatshops in South America and China and conducted 
sensitivity training for the New York City Police Department, various 
churches, universities and the Federal Government, including the IRS. 
Given the tensions in the world in which we live and not incidentally 
the fractious body in which we work, Reverend Smith's presence and 
prayer is much appreciated.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank the Reverened Dr. Paul 
Smith, who led today's Opening Prayer. Reverend Smith is the senior 
minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY, in my 
district, and I am proud to have him here as a representative of our 
community.
  Reverend Smith has a long career in and out of the ministry. He began 
as an assistant pastor at the Salem United Church of Christ in Buffalo, 
New York, in 1960. He has taught at divinity schools at the New York 
and San Francisco Theological Seminaries and Emory University, in 
addition to holding administrative positions at Washington University 
and Morehouse College.
  Not content to preach from the pulpit, Reverend Smith applies his 
ministry to public life. He teaches at the Health Science Center of the 
State University of New York and provides diversity and senstivity 
training to corporations and communities alike.
  I hope you will join me today in welcoming Reverend Paul Smith here 
today.

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