[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   WELCOMING SISTER BENEDICT KESOCK, O.S.B., PRINCIPAL, ST. CHARLES 
                      SCHOOL, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, the invocation, the prayer for 
today, was delivered by Sister Benedict Kesock. Sister Benedict is a 
Benedictine Sister. She entered the Order in 1954, and for the last 29 
years she has been at St. Charles School in Arlington, Virginia, 27 of 
those years as principal. She has served under nine pastors and three 
bishops. She has trained all of them and probably outlived most of them 
all.
  Sister Benedict is an institution at St. Charles and in Arlington 
County, Virginia. She has dedicated her life to God and served God by 
teaching and inspiring and mentoring her students. It has been a labor 
of love the entire time, and it has been reciprocated.
  In 1999, we thought we were going to lose Sister. She went to 
Arlington Hospital. They would not operate; they did not think it was 
worth it. So she went to Washington Hospital Center and got a six-way 
heart bypass in 1999, a six-way bypass. And she is still ticking, as 
you can see. She believes there must have been some reason that God saw 
to keep her with us.
  This institution is terribly proud to have had Sister Benedict give 
us the invocation today. Her life is a testament to her faith.
  She gave us one little story that I think some of you who may have 
been educated in Catholic schools might relate to. A former male 
student of hers was driving by the school where there is a lot of new 
construction going on. They were building a new center. There was an 
enormous construction hole in the ground. So one of the thousands of 
boys she straightened out, after seeing it, called her on his car phone 
to tell her, ``Sister, I didn't do it.'' Those of you who are listening 
may be able to relate to that feeling.
  The fact is, Sister Benedict did do it. She has helped build a 
school, the new St. Charles Center and a community of faith in Northern 
Virginia. She has taught and inspired hundreds of students every year 
for nearly 30 years. She is what makes this country run so well.
  Sister Benedict, thank you for everything you have contributed 
throughout your life; and thank you for giving us the prayer this 
morning.

                          ____________________