[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                WELCOMING THE REVEREND M. SUSAN PETERSON

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor our guest chaplain, 
Reverend Susan Peterson of St. Paul, Minnesota. I often tell students 
when they come to the Capitol that the first official act of the 
Continental Congress was to appoint a chaplain. The second thing they 
did was they prayed. They prayed for an hour and a half. We have long 
understood the importance of faith in our society.
  Reverend Peterson is the senior pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church 
in St. Paul. She was the first woman in the ELCA to be called as a 
senior pastor to a large Lutheran congregation. A proud Minnesota 
native, she attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota; 
Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois; the Lutheran Theological 
Seminary in Philadelphia; and in 1985, she and her family moved to St. 
Paul where she was called to the position of associate pastor at Gloria 
Dei.
  Susan has served in a variety of leadership positions for the St. 
Paul Area Synod, as well as a number of other church-related 
institutions.
  I thank the Reverend Peterson for her service as guest Chaplain for 
the United States House of Representatives.

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