Reverend Steven E. Boes
Boys Town
Boys Town, NE
Sponsor: Rep. Don Bacon, (R-NE)
Date of Prayer: 12/07/2017
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. BACON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank and recognize Father
Steven E. Boes, who joined us today to deliver the opening prayer.
Father Boes is the fifth executive director of Boys Town, which is in
Nebraska's Second Congressional District and is celebrating its 100th birthday this month.
Father Boes was ordained as a priest in 1985 for the Archdiocese of
Omaha and assumed his post at Boys Town in July 2005. He regularly
attends sporting and school events at Boys Town High School and dines with kids in their family homes, and I have joined them.
Under his leadership, the number of children served through Boys
Town's on–campus, family–style care and programs serving children in their homes and communities has doubled. The Family Home Program, started in 1974, has served 36,000 children to date.
Boys Town Foster Family Services program has cared for nearly 9,000
youth to date, and the In–Home Family Services program has helped
approximately 102,600 youth without having to remove them from their
homes. Boys Town also has emergency services that have served over
45,000 youth.
The man who started this all 100 years ago, Father Edward Flanagan,
was truly a visionary for changing how America cared for families and
children. He worked to close reformatories and juvenile facilities
where children were abused, eventually opening Father Flanagan's Boys'
Home, which became Boys Town. He has made a lifelong impact on
thousands upon thousands who were given a rough start in life.
Boys Town now has nine locations across the country including Nevada; Louisiana; north Florida; central Florida; south Florida; Washington, D.C.; New England; Iowa; and Nebraska.
From Father Flanagan to Father Boes, many lives have been impacted.
I recognize Boys Town for 100 years of service to the community and
America.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Today we remember the lives lost at Pearl Harbor and all the young men and women who serve today.
Lord God, in these troubled times of fires, floods, hurricanes, terror attacks, and mass shootings, help us to rely on Your strength to envision and build a stronger, more secure America.
Give us more visionaries like Father Edward Flanagan, who founded Boys Town on December 12, 100 years ago. Father Flanagan was an Irish immigrant who lived the American Dream and taught us all that even the most troubled child could grow up to be a useful citizen if given half the chance. He saw the best in the kids that others rejected as useless.
Help us, but especially each of our Representatives, to see the best in those who have different political or social views so that we can, together, build an America that enables and calls forth the best in its citizens.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory