Reverend John Brenkle
St. Helena Catholic Church
St. Helena, CA
Sponsor: Rep. Rep. Mike Thompson, (D-CA)
Date of Prayer: 07/31/2001
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have such a truly genuine servant and good friend lead us in today's opening prayer. Father John Brenkle – Monsignor John Brenkle – has humbly and effectively served our diocese for over 30 years and has been pastor at the St. Helena Catholic Church for nearly 20 years.
He has worked tirelessly with local, State and Federal officials, housing advocates and the wine industry within the Napa Valley to improve farm worker housing in our area.
In addition to St. Helena, Father Brenkle has served the diocese by leading two other parishes and serving as a school principal. He has been both a forceful presence and silent leader and has the respect and the admiration of our entire community regardless of their religious affiliation.
I thank my colleagues for allowing him to lead us in prayer today.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Father, Your name is indeed Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. How fitting it is to begin all of our enterprises conscious of Your guiding Spirit and to give You praise when our affairs have ended well.
As we join together to begin today the work of making this Nation a land of peace and justice, may we humble ourselves before You, acknowledging that who we are and what we do is Your gift, Your grace.
Help us always to remember that You have called us to be servants and that the greatness of our life as a nation and as individuals is to be measured by how generously and wisely we serve each other.
Let Your presence and Your blessings descend upon this Chamber and upon each of its Members as they begin this new day and may they at its end experience the rewards of a day well spent in the service of others. For this we pray. Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory