Reverend Eamon Kelly
Magdala Center
Migdal, Israel,
Sponsor: Rep. Tom Emmer & Rep Pete Aguilar, (-)
Date of Prayer: 11/20/2025
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an exceptional leader and someone who I can now call a good friend, Father Eamon Kelly.
This past August, my colleague from California, Pete Aguilar, and I had the privilege of leading a bipartisan delegation of freshmen Members to Israel, where Father Kelly baptized several of our Members in the Sea of Galilee.
It was a transformational experience that we will keep with us for the rest of our lives, and it was, in large part, thanks to Father Kelly's leadership, faith, and commitment to helping others experience the power and the history of the Holy Land.
When I first met Father Kelly, I asked him where he is from because he has an interesting accent, or brogue. He told me: ‘‘I am from the Holy Land, and I live in the Promised Land.''
Having served at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center for more than a decade and now serving as the vice director of the Magdala Center, Father Kelly's work in the Holy Land has impacted people from all walks of life from all over the globe. The fruits of his labor will undoubtedly have a lasting impact for generations to come.
As we honor him on the House floor today, we also pray that many more people will encounter God and grow in their relationship with Christ as a result of his ministry.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Lord, loving creator and redeemer, bless the Members of this House with Your peace.
Give these elected Representatives of Your people true fidelity to their duties in their service of the common welfare.
Protect them from the temptations of self–seeking, corrupting influence and destructive divisiveness.
Grant them resilience in the face of brutal scrutiny and unfair and even vicious criticism.
Accompany their proceedings today as they advance the good of this vast country while contributing to the oneness of the entire human family, over 8 billion people, each one made in Your image and likeness.
For this great enterprise, we ask Your guidance to follow the wisdom imprinted on our currency. To You, God, we entrust this day's proceedings.
As blessings have flowed from the Sea of Galilee to every corner of the globe, so may blessings also flow from America to every people on Earth. Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory