Recognizing the Life and Contributions of Father George Clements

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLAY. Madam Speaker, in 1971 the Congressional Black Caucus was formed by the following Members of Congress:

Representative Shirley A. Chisholm (D-NY.); Representative William L. Clay, Sr. (D-MO); Representative George W. Collins (D-IL); Representative John Conyers (D-MI); Representative Ronald V. Dellums (D-CA); Representative Charles C. Diggs, Jr. (D-MI); Representative Augustus F. Hawkins (D-CA); Representative Ralph H. Metcalfe (D-IL); Representative Parren J. Mitchell (D-MD); Representative Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. (D-PA); Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-NY); Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH); and Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy (D- D.C.).

Congressman William L. Clay, Sr. invited Father George Clements, Pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church in Chicago, lllinois, to provide the Invocation for the Congressional Black Caucus' inaugural Dinner. He prayed:

``Lord, make the Congressional Black Caucus instruments of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let Augustus Hawkins and Walter Fauntroy sow love. Where there Is injury let Charles Diggs and Robert Nix bring pardon. Where there is doubt let Shirley Chisholm restore faith. Where there is despair let Ronald Dellums bring hope. Where there is darkness let Charles Diggs Bring light and where there is sadness let William Clay bring joy.

``O Divine Master grant that John Conyers may not so much seek to be consoled as to console: That George Collins may not so much seek to be understood as to understand; That Louis Stokes may not so much seek to be loved as to love.

``For it is in giving that Parren Mitchell receives. It is in dying that the Congressional Black Caucus is born to eternal life.''

While Father Clements was the first to provide an invocation to the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner, he also had many other ``firsts'' in his lifetime.

In 1945, Father Clements was the first African American graduate of Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary. He was ordained as a priest in 1957 and went on to become the first African American priest to serve at Holy Angels Parish on Chicago's South side from 1969 to 1991. He helped create programs like the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus to support African-Americans within the church.

Father Clements spearheaded the ``One Church-One Child'' program in 1980, which aimed to spur Catholic churches to find adoptive parents for orphaned black children. In fact, he was the first Catholic priest to adopt a child, and later adopted 3 more sons. He also started a program for people living with drug addiction in 1944, and another for incarcerated people and their families in 1999.

Father Clements also served at other Chicago parishes, including St. Ambrose from July 1957 to July 1962, and St. Dorothy from July 1962 to June 1969. Outside of Chicago, Clements served at the Diocese of Nassau (Bahamas) from September 1991 to October 1993, and the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., from October 1993 to March 2006.

He was a longtime civil rights advocate from Chicago's Southside. He marched with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Chicago, Alabama and Mississippi. Father Clements was one of the first voices advocating for civil rights for African Americans within the Catholic Church, according to Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church on Chicago's South Side. His career inspired a made-for-television movie in 1989, ``The Father Clements Story''.

Father Clements was born ``George Harold Clements'' in Chicago in 1932. On Monday, November 25, 2019, Father Clements passed away at the age of 87. As a devoted priest, human and civil rights activist, and trailblazer, he will surely be missed by the communities he served.

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