[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12020]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   A TRIBUTE TO FATHER PAUL J. NOMELLINI ON THE OCCASION OF THE 25TH 
            ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ORDINATION AND HIS RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 26, 2002

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, it was in 1973 that Brother Paul Nomellini, 
a professed religious brother in the Congregation of the Holy Cross of 
Notre Dame, was flying to Washington D.C. to attend a conference here 
in Georgetown. Then a teacher in the inner city of Chicago, Brother 
Paul on that flight met and struck up a conversation with a former 
member of this body and a former member of my delegation, then-
Congressman Gerald Ford.
  They shared their flight in the innocence of travelers unaware of 
their real destination. By the end of the year, Congressman Ford, the 
politician, had become Vice President Ford and was on his way to 
becoming President Ford. Brother Nomellini, the teacher and religious 
brother, would that same year acknowledge his calling to the 
priesthood. He would in 1973 embark on the path to Holy Orders that 
would eventually lead him to be leader of the congregation of St. Mary 
Queen of Peace Church in Kingsford, Michigan.
  Because our futures are so uncertain, Mr. Speaker, it's best we 
entrust our lives to Good Hands, and I'm sure that President Ford as 
well as Father Nomellini have long acknowledge the Lord's role in 
helping to shape their lives and destinies. So I rise tonight, Mr. 
Speaker, to report that a major chapter in the life of Father Nomellini 
will close on July 1, this coming weekend, when the good pastor marks 
his 25th anniversary as a priest and goes into retirement.
  Despite his years of teaching in Illinois and Ohio, Father Nomellini 
is a true son of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is a native of 
Hancock on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and is a graduate of Hancock 
High School. He attended Hancock's Soumi College--now Finlandia 
University--before going on to the University of Notre Dame, where he 
received his bachelor's degree in English and took his vows as a 
religious brother. He later earned a master's degree in guidance and 
counseling from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a 
master's degree in theology from Pope John XXIII National Seminary in 
Weston, Massachusetts.
  An ordained priest since 1977, Father Nomellini, has served as pastor 
of the St. Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Kingsford for nine years. 
Before that, he served in parishes across the Upper Peninsula, 
including St. Peters Cathedral and St. Michael Parish in Marquette, St. 
Joseph and Nativity parishes in Sault Ste. Marie, St. Mary & St. Joseph 
Parish in Iron Mountain, St. Joseph Parish in Rudyard, Holy Family 
Mission in Barbeau, Sacred Heart Parish in Schaffer, St. Michael Parish 
in Perronville, St. Joseph Mission in Foster City, and St. George 
Parish in Bark River.
  In a recent interview with the Iron Mountain Daily News, Father 
Nomellini told reporter Linda Lobeck of his great love of teaching, but 
he spoke with the greatest pride of the many accomplishments and the 
community commitment of his Kingsford parishioners. From church 
improvements and expansions to local outreach programs, this parish 
surely reflects the spirit and love of its priest for the community.
  Mr. Speaker, my wife Laurie and I will attend Father Nomellini's 25th 
Anniversary and Retirement Party on July 1. We will join with 
parishioners in lamenting his departure from the parish, and we will 
wish him well on his planned retirement projects, which, he told the 
Daily News, include ``reading, listening to music, traveling and going 
to musicals and plays.'' Maybe, he said, he'll exercise that love of 
English and write a book or play or two. But we'll wink privately, Mr. 
Speaker, because we know that we are all travelers, innocent of the 
knowledge only God holds for our futures, and God may yet have revealed 
another plan for Father Nomellini. In the past I nominated him to be 
Chaplain of the U.S. House, and he has attended the National Prayer 
Breakfast here in Washington, D.C. One thing I know for sure--Father 
Paul will go where God and his heart command him.
  So I ask you and our House colleagues to join me in wishing Father 
Paul Nomellini our greatest thanks for his life of service as a 
teacher, a pastor, and a guiding friend, and I ask you to join me in 
wishing him all the best in his retirement. May God grant him many 
wonderful years.

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