[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 20 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Pages 832-834]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast

May 16, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Sientense. [Laughter]
    Audience member. [Inaudible].
    The President. Si. Muchas gracias. [Laughter]
    Thank you all for such a warm welcome. It is un honor para mi de 
estar aqui para le--the first--the first--not the last but the first--
[laughter]--National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. I want to tell you it's 
an honor to be here amongst people who dedicate their lives to the 
embetterment of our fellow human beings. I appreciate that a lot.
    I want to thank Luis. I met with Luis; one of the things that struck 
me was he is a-- he'll say sergeant; I say general--in the army of 
compassion in Philadelphia. I loved his compassion. Not only is he a man 
of God; he also understands the importance of education. We talked about 
a charter school he wanted to start in his neighborhood. He understands 
what I understand, that when you have quality education, you improve 
inner-city America. And so, Luis, I want to thank you for your focus on 
education. We must continue to work to make sure todos los ninos puedan 
leer.
    I want to thank Mel Martinez. Donde esta Mel? Anyway, he's somewhere 
here. He's a member of my Cabinet. You may remember the story about Mel. 
He's the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development now. As a young boy, 
his mother and daddy put him on an airplane to America from Cuba. He was 
a part of Operation Pedro Pan. They wanted their son to be raised in 
freedom. They longed for freedom and were willing to take the risk to 
send their loved one to the land of freedom. And now I'm proud he has 
gone from a young ninito in Pedro Pan; today, he is now the Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development. And it shows the wonderful spirit and 
strength of our country.
    I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. I see I've got 
Senators here and Members of the Congress. Thank you all for coming. 
It's important that you're here, and I appreciate you being here as 
well.

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    I want to thank all who have worked hard to set this breakfast up. 
It gives me a chance to come and remind us all that America has many 
traditions of faith, and that's important to always remember. We have 
never imposed any religion, and that's really important to remember, 
too. We welcome all religions in America--all religions. We honor 
diversity in this country. We respect people's deep convictions.
    We know that men and women can be good without faith. We know that. 
We also know that faith is an incredibly important source of goodness in 
our country. Throughout our history, Americans of faith have always 
turned to prayer--for wisdom, prayer for resolve, prayers for compassion 
and strength, prayers for commitment to justice and for a spirit of 
forgiveness.
    Since America's founding, prayer has reassured us that the hand of 
God is guiding the affairs of this Nation. We have never asserted a 
special claim on His favor, yet we've always believed in God's presence 
in our lives. This has always been true. But it has never been more true 
since September the 11th. Prayer has comforted people in grief. Prayer 
has served as a unifying factor in our Nation. Prayer gives us strength 
for the journey ahead. Millions of Americans have turned to prayer 
during these times and have been reminded of an important truth: While 
weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning.
    The last 8 months have showed the world the American character is 
incredibly strong and confident. Yet prayer reminds us that a great 
people must be humble before God, searching for wisdom--constantly 
searching for wisdom--from the almighty Dios.
    Prayer is a vital part of our national life. That's why your 
breakfast is so important. Prayer and faith are an especially vital part 
of the life of Hispanos in este pais. We see the role of faith in your 
devotion to church, to your family, and to charity. The power of faith 
is found among the young, and that's good news--really good news. 
Ministers say that a revolucion espiritual is taking place amongst los 
jovenes Hispanos aqui. That's good.
    I want to thank you all for leading that effort. It's an important 
contribution to our country. One youth leader put it this way: ``The 
revival is impacting the youth most of all, because they do not set 
limits on God. God is doing something so big with the youth of this 
Nation.'' Those are mighty powerful words for a President to hear.
    We know how important faith can be, and we know that faith without 
works, without action, is dead. True faith is never isolated from the 
rest of life. It proves itself through actions and sacrifice, through 
acts of kindness and caring for those in need.
    For some people, Jesus' admonition to care for ``the least of 
these'' is an admirable moral teaching. For many Hispanic Americans, 
it's a way of life. You understand that God has a special concern for 
the poor and that community helpers and healers are doing the most 
important work of all, repairing broken lives, bringing love into 
pockets of hopelessness and despair.
    Charities and community groups and faith-based institutions do 
incredible work in our country, really important work, providing 
shelters for battered women, helping the homeless, the important work of 
mentoring children without fathers, the work of loving a child whose 
mother or father may be in prison, reminding them that there is love and 
compassion and decency and hope, of helping people overcome drug and 
alcohol addictions by helping them first and foremost change their 
hearts.
    These groups, these platoons in the armies of compassion, 
demonstrate compassion and inspire hope in a way that Government never 
can. And they inspire life-changing faith in a way that Government never 
should.
    The Faith-Based and Community Initiative that I've been working on 
and others from Congress have been working on is really important. It's 
an important part of our strategy to combat hopelessness and despair and 
loneliness, to make America a land of opportunity and hope and promise 
por todos--por todos.
    This set of laws will provide new incentives for charitable giving, 
and that's important, really important. It will allow non-itemizers to 
be able to deduct a charitable gift. That will help raise money. It will 
help encourage the flow of people who realize it's important

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to not only give of their time but of their money as well.
    When it comes to providing Federal resources to effective programs, 
this law will make a difference, because, you see, it welcomes private 
and faith-based programs. It says that the days of discriminating--when 
it comes to the use of Federal money, the days of discriminating against 
religious institutions simply because they are religious must come to an 
end.
    I understand you'll be hearing from or have heard from Senator Joe 
Lieberman, Rick Santorum, and I know you just heard from J.C. Watts. I 
mention these gentlemen because first, they're fine leaders. They come 
from different faiths, different political parties, but are united by 
the common desire to pass important legislation that unleashes the 
strength of the country, which is the compassion of our fellow citizens. 
I appreciate their hard work. I appreciate their willingness to focus on 
the common good. I look forward to signing a bill as soon as we can get 
it out of the United States Senate.
    You know, I often tell people that if you want to respond to what 
has happened to our country, you can do so with prayer, but as 
importantly, you can do so by loving your neighbor like you'd like to be 
loved yourself. If you want to fight evil, do some good. I also--one 
person cannot do everything in our society, of course. But one person 
can do something. And by that, I mean that we can change our country one 
person at a time--one person at a time. And that's what we've got to do, 
and that's what we have to think about.
    And there's nothing more powerful in helping change the country than 
the faith--faith in Dios. I want to tell you, the greatest gift that 
people can give to a President or people in positions of 
responsibility--anybody else, for that matter--is prayer.
    I work the ropelines a lot, and people say, ``Mr. President, I pray 
for you and your family.'' I turn to them, I look them in the eye, and 
say, ``That's the greatest gift you can give--the greatest gift you can 
give.'' I mean it with all sincerity.
    And so I want to thank you for your prayer. I want to thank you for 
what you do for our Nation. I want to thank you for your good works. I 
want to thank you for helping change America one heart, one soul, one 
conscience at a time.
    I believe that it will be said, it will be said of Americans such as 
yourself, ``Bien, siervo bueno y fiel.''
    It's my honor to be with you this morning. May God bless you and 
your ministries, and may God continue to bless the United States of 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 8:07 a.m. in the Presidential Ballroom at 
the Capital Hilton. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. Luis Cortes of 
Philadelphia, founder and president of Nueva Esperanza, Inc., a Hispanic 
faith-based community development corporation. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.