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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page E223]]
REMARKS OF FATHER ROBERT J. DRINAN, S.J.
______
HON. NANCY PELOSI
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I request that the remarks of a former
Member of this body, Father Robert Drinan, at a Mass at Trinity
University prior to my swearing-in as Speaker, be included in the
Congressional Record.
Remarks of Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Professor, Georgetown University Law
Center, at a Mass Honoring Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi at the Chapel of
Trinity University in Washington, DC--Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Today is a new epiphany for all us, for our country and for
the world.
Epiphany brought the three Magi to worship the new born
child. We are here to venerate that child and to pledge that
the message of this infant Jesus will be followed in our
country and throughout the universe.
This is a new and wonderful moment for all of us.
The new Congress has 16 percent women and for the first
time the Speaker is a mother.
We re-pledge our lives to the love of children. In this
regard the Holy See has shown us the way. In 1981 the Vatican
was the fifth nation of the Earth to ratify the United
Nations Covenant on the Rights of the Child. That magnificent
treaty has now been ratified by all of the 192 nations in the
world--except Somalia and, we say it with shame, the United
States.
The children protected by the U.N. Covenant now number some
three billion--almost one-half of the 6.4 billion in the
world. Today we re-pledge ours elves to pray and work for
those children. We must continue to be shocked that 31,000 of
those children will die today and every day--from diseases
and malnutrition that are clearly preventable.
Imagine what the world would think of the United States if
the health and welfare of children everywhere became the top
objective of America's foreign policy! It could happen--and
it could happen soon--if enough people cared.
Today at this moving and unforgettable Mass we gather to
pray, to reflect and once again to commit our lives to
carrying out the faith we have that the needs of every child
are the needs of Jesus Christ himself. The tragedies of the
children of Darfur and the victims of Katrina have made us
feel guilty for the neglect of the young people in these
nations. That guilt has to be developed so that the United
States and other developed countries will use their resources
to help the 800 million people in the world who are
chronically malnourished. We must also remember the 100
million children who are not enrolled in any school--and that
70 percent of these children are girls. In addition, children
are still being injured by land mines placed by the United
States in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Vietnam, Kuwait and
elsewhere.
We have come to this beautiful place to pray for our new
leaders and for ourselves. We are ashamed that we have been
so careless and thoughtless about the rights of children. We
cannot forget Christ's personal love of children and his
affirmation that ``whatsoever you do for the least of my
brethren you do for me''
We are increasingly aware that the world--especially the 48
Islamic nations--have the deepest doubts about the intentions
and activities of the United States. They know that the
United States has less than five percent of the world's total
population but consumes 40 percent of its resources.
We pledge again before the Blessed Sacrament that we will
deepen our love for all children. It is depressing to realize
that only 18 percent of America's children are registered in
Head Start and that an appalling number do not graduate from
high school. We are aware at this holy place of the weakness
of our faith and the fragility of our love.
Let us reexamine our convictions, our commitments and our
courage. Our convictions and our commitments are clear and
certain to us. But do we have the courage to carry them out?
God has great hopes for what this nation will do in the
near future. We are here to ask for the courage to carry out
God's hopes and aspirations.
Let us not disappoint our Redeemer.
We learn things in prayer that we otherwise would never
know. Let us pray now and always.
If a plane crashed this afternoon at Dulles with 310
children aboard the whole world would cry and cry and cry.
But a tragedy like that happens 100 times each day--3l,000
children every day--needlessly--die because the heedlessness
of all of us. President Kennedy once said that those who
``make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution
inevitable.'' We pray here today and ask God's help in our
ardent desires to ``make peaceful revolution possible.''
____________________
