Reverend Gregory Goethals, S.J.
Loyola High School
Los Angeles, CA
Sponsor: Rep. Xavier Becerra, (D-CA)
Date of Prayer: 05/19/2015
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome Father Gregory Goethals, a member of the Society of Jesus and the president of Loyola High School in Los Angeles, to the United States House of Representatives. We thank him for delivering today's opening prayer .
Father Goethals is one of Los Angeles' finest public servants. He has dedicated his life to educating our country's next generation of leaders. Loyola High School, an all–boys school in the Pico Union area of Los Angeles, ranks as one of the finest institutions of secondary education in America.
At Loyola, under Father Goethals, young men are motivated to become ‘‘educated'' in the full sense of the word. Not only do students at Loyola go on to complete college at the finest universities in America, but they graduate Loyola having donated more than 1.5 million hours of community service to inner city schools and neighborhoods over the past 25 years.
This year, Loyola High School will celebrate its 150th anniversary, making it the oldest continually operated educational institution in southern California. Under the visionary stewardship of Father Goethals, Loyola is poised to graduate yet another era of American heroes and leaders.
For that, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me to applaud Father Gregory Goethals for his dedication to his faith and to our leaders of tomorrow. We will remember his words of prayer this morning.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Almighty God, we come today to this holy Chamber of democracy conscious of our great gifts and conscious of the great people for whom we use these gifts in service.
Come to us. Remain with us. Enlighten our hearts. Give us courage and strength to know Your will, to make it our own, and to live it in our own lives.
Enable us to uphold the rights of others, and never let us be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear and favor. Unite us in the bond of Your unconditional love, and keep us faithful to all that is true.
May we always temper justice with Your love so that our decisions are pleasing to You and earn for us the reward promised to all of Your good and faithful servants.
And we ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory