Reverend Joseph J. Kleinstuber
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Bryantown, MD
Sponsor: Rep. Hon. Steny Hoyer, (D-MD)
Date of Prayer: 06/13/2006
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am very, very pleased to welcome to our midst Father Joseph Kleinstuber , a constituent of mine and an extraordinarily loved leader in our area. Father Kleinstuber is pastor of St. Mary's Church located in my district in Bryantown.
Father Kleinstuber was born in Washington, D.C. He attended Gonzaga High School, as well as Georgetown and George Washington Universities before going on active duty as an officer in the Air Force. He spent 3 years in the Air Force as chief of the Aviation Physiology Department at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
Following his military service, he studied at St. Vincent Seminary and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1964.
Prior to coming to St. Mary's, Father Kleinstuber served as an assistant pastor of St. Anthony Church in the District and St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. He also worked for 25 years at St. John's College High School here in Washington as chaplain, director of counseling, a member of the science department, and, of interest to our Speaker, wrestling moderator.
[Page: H3798] GPO's PDF Since 2001, Father Kleinstuber has been at St. Mary's serving as the pastor of this more than 200–year–old parish where he is affectionately known by the students at St. Mary's Bryantown Catholic School as Father K.
I want to thank Father Kleinstuber for his dedicated service to the citizens of Bryantown and St. Charles County, and I wish to extend my gratitude and that of my colleagues to him for leading us in this morning's prayer.
Father, we wish you well and thank you for your leadership in so many different areas that have made our country a better place.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Almighty Father, we do well to join all creation in heaven and earth in praising you, our mighty God.
You made us in your own image and set us over all creation. Once you chose a people and gave them dignity, and when you brought them out of bondage to freedom, they carried with them the promise that all men and women would be blessed and that all would be free.
It happened to our forefathers who came to this land as if out of a desert into a place of promise and hope.
It happens to us still and we entrust the United States of America and this deliberative body into your loving care.
You are the rock on which this nation was founded. You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We ask that you hold us in the palm of your hand and God bless America.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory