Resolution recognizing Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., for his contributions to the civil rights movement in the United States, his tireless work to reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, and his efforts to secure the peaceful resolution of international conflicts.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague who represents the University of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, I only come about 5 miles away as we circle around and share Elkhart County. It is great that we have six Domers in Congress. My colleague is actually a double Domer, which is a great honor.

Before I go into my remarks, I want to share something I remember from campus when I was there. The story on campus was: Do you know the difference between God and President Hesburgh? And the answer is: God is everywhere; President Hesburgh is everywhere but Notre Dame. And the reason was, this is what we are honoring him here for today. He went throughout the entire world, not only raising money for Notre Dame, but working to serve justice, working to serve various causes around the world.

I rise today in strong support of this resolution by Congressman Donnelly to honor Rev. Theodore Hesburgh for his contributions to the civil rights movement in America, his tireless work to reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, and for seeking peaceful resolution to international conflict.

Father Hesburgh, who served as the president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987, holds the world record for honorary degrees received at more than 150. He has been honored for his contributions to education, to athletics, to peace, as well as national and international issues.

He has earned these degrees, these honors, this praise with his thoughtful approach to many of the most daunting challenges of our time. In the late 1970s, he served on a commission appointed by President Carter to study immigration reform. His commission found that securing our borders should be the first step toward an immigration policy that is thoughtful and beneficial to us and our neighbors. How fresh that sounds for a recommendation he issued three decades ago.

His biography on the Notre Dame University Web site says: ``Justice has been the focus of many of his outside involvements.'' He was a charter member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, created in 1957; and he served as its chairman from 1969 to 1972, when he was replaced by President Nixon after criticizing the President's civil rights record.

He has argued that nuclear weapons present ``the greatest moral challenge of all time.'' He says nuclear weapons undercut the key just- war principles of discrimination, avoiding killing innocent civilians, and proportionality, using only the force necessary to achieve justifiable defense. While not everyone here may agree with these views, they are thoughtful, inspired by the will to do and represent good and representative of a man who holds peace and goodwill towards men as his central tenets.

The title of his autobiography says it all: ``God, Country, Notre Dame.'' Hopefully, those three will never be separated; but if they are, he has the order: God, country, and Notre Dame.

I would like to finish with one personal story. The only time I really got to spend with Father Hesburgh, I was head of the executive lecture series at the graduate School of Business at Notre Dame. He asked us to invite David Rockefeller in. He had served for many years on the Chase Manhattan board, and the Rockefellers had never contributed to Notre Dame. When we went to the airport, I saw one of the things my colleague mentioned, and that he was a priest first. He saw he had a few minutes, and so he went and did his prayers right on the airport runway. He made sure that every day he met his duties as a priest first and foremost.

My privilege that afternoon, after he spoke to the business school and the graduate students, was to accompany David Rockefeller, the executive vice president of Chase Manhattan, and Father Hesburgh for one simple reason: my job was when President Hesburgh gave me the signal, was to get the Vice President away so Father Hesburgh could do the close because in his heart this man will go to his grave knowing he built the university.

He took Notre Dame from a good university to a great international university, and that means you have to do many different things: one was fund-raising, making friends with leaders around the world, then making sure that they saw his dream in South Bend, actually Notre Dame, Indiana, is a separate town, but that they saw the dream of the Fathers of the Holy Cross to build the university there. While they built that university, President Hesburgh was really the transition figure that took it to the university it is today.

So we thank him in the international region and for his civil rights commitment, and for building the University of Notre Dame into the great university it is today.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this resolution honoring Father Ted Hesburgh, a man who has made significant contributions to the lives of many Americans, and a man who, as the president emeritus of my alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, has had a profound impact on my own life.

I introduced H. Res. 687 on September 27 along with 103 original cosponsors. I am pleased to stand here today with my colleagues to express Congress's strong appreciation for a selfless giant whose great work continues even to this day.

As president of Notre Dame, Father Hesburgh worked to redefine the Catholic university as a place for students to learn more about their faith, while also engaging in rigorous intellectual debate.

Under his leadership, Notre Dame opened its door to women for the first time in 1972. My wife, Jill, was proud to be a member of that first class of women to graduate from the university.

In addition to his contributions to the Catholic Church and the University of Notre Dame, Father Hesburgh has worked tirelessly in service to the American people as a champion for social justice and the peaceful resolution of conflicts across the globe.

He has been a persistent voice for change here at home. He has held 16 Presidential appointments under nine different administrations, from Eisenhower to Clinton. He served as a founding member and later the Chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights where he fought for true equality in America and opposed attempts to use force to break up protests on college campuses.

He has also served on the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy and as a member of President Ford's Presidential Clemency Board.

Madam Speaker, Father Hesburgh has also been a strong advocate for international policy reform. He has championed the responsible use of nuclear energy, represented the Vatican at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and formally represented the United States at the 1979 U.N. Conference on Science and Technology for Development.

Father Ted, as he is known around South Bend and Notre Dame, has traveled across the globe working to find peaceful resolutions to international conflicts. As recently as 1999, when Father Hesburgh was 82 years old, he conducted a fact-finding tour of refugee camps in Kosovo for the United Nations.

Father Hesburgh has also led efforts to assist the poorest of the poor in the developing world, serving as the chairman of the Overseas Development Council where he led fund-raising efforts that helped prevent mass starvation in Cambodia as a result of the brutal policies of the Khmer Rouge.

In 2000, Father Hesburgh was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. He was the first person from higher education to ever receive the award. He has also been the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, along with numerous awards from educational institutions, including 150 honorary degrees, the most ever awarded to a single individual.

Madam Speaker, these awards serve as a testament to Father Ted's lifelong commitment to humanity and the true national significance of his work. But first and foremost, Madam Speaker, Father Ted always says, ``I am a priest.''

Father Hesburgh is a committed educator, a spiritual leader, an author, an advocate for peace, and a strong voice for equality and opportunity in America. Today, in recognition for all that Rev. Theodore Hesburgh has done for this country, I ask my colleagues to join me in support of H. Res. 687 to honor the life and contributions of a great American.

Madam Speaker, one thing of great enjoyment to me is that our colleague on the other side, my good friend Mark Souder, is also a graduate of our university.

Madam Speaker, today I rise as a proud alumnus of the University of Notre Dame law school and ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 687, recognizing Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., for his contributions to the civil rights movement in the United States, his tireless work to reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, and his efforts to secure the peaceful resolution of international conflicts.

As president of Notre Dame, Father Hesburgh worked to bring the university to the forefront of American institutions of higher education. Over the 35 years that he served as president, the university's enrollment, degrees awarded and the size of the faculty all greatly increased. Additionally, under Father Hesburgh's tenure, women were first admitted to the undergraduate program in 1972.

Father Hesburgh is known as one of the 20th century's most influential figures in higher education. He served on many commissions and study groups, including serving as chairman of the International Federation of Catholic Universities from 1963 to 1970. In this capacity, he led a movement to redefine the nature and mission of the contemporary Catholic university, drawing trom his experiences in American Catholic universities.

Father Hesburgh's accomplishments, however, are not limited to higher education. Throughout his distinguished career, Father Hesburgh has devoted himself to the cause of justice and human rights throughout the world. He has held 16 Presidential appointments for 10 presidents-- President Eisenhower through the current President Bush. In these positions, Father Hesburgh was involved in shaping policy on major social issues including civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy, campus unrest and treatment of Vietnam offenders.

Furthermore, Father Hesburgh served four Popes, three as permanent Vatican City representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1956 to 1970. He was a charter member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, created in 1957, and he chaired the Commission from 1969 to 1972. In 1971, he joined the board of the Overseas Development Council, a private organization supporting interests of the underdeveloped world, and chaired it until 1982. During the 1980s he was involved in a private initiative that sought to unite scientists and religious leaders in condemning nuclear weapons. In 1982, he helped organize a meeting in Vatican City of 58 scientists who called for the elimination of nuclear weapons and then brought together six spiritual leaders who endorsed this view.

In recognition of his many efforts in America and throughout the world, Father Hesburgh was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2000 and the Medal of Freedom in 1964, the Nation's highest civilian honor. His service to his country is an inspiration to all and it has been my honor to know him.

Father Hesburgh once said, ``My basic principle is that you don't make decisions because they are easy . . . you make them because they're right.'' He has certainly lived his life by those words and it is an honor to be recognizing today the outstanding life of this great man.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 687) celebrating the 90th birthday of Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, and honoring his contributions to higher education, the Catholic Church, and the advancement of the humanitarian mission, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H. Res. 687, a resolution amended in committee, which recognizes Rev. Ted Hesburgh for his contributions to the civil rights movement in America, his tireless work to reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, and for seeking the peaceful resolution of international conflict.

H. Res. 687, has 103 cosponsors, was introduced by Representative Joe Donnelly on September 27, 2007. H. Res. 687, was reported from the Oversight Committee on October 4, as amended, by voice vote.

Madam Speaker, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh is president emeritus of the

University of Notre Dame. He retired from active service as the 15th president of the university in 1987. During his 35 years as an educator, he oversaw the growth of the university and the admission of women to the undergraduate program. Rev. Hesburgh's public service was recognized when he received the Congressional Gold Medal in July of 2000. The leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives gathered in the rotunda of the Capitol as President William Clinton presented Rev. Hesburgh with the Congressional Gold Medal. Rev. Hesburgh has held 16 Presidential appointments pertaining to many social issues.

Living 90 miles from Notre Dame, it was as if Father Hesburgh was the pied piper for Notre Dame University. During his tenure in office, young people, especially from throughout the entire Midwest, clamored for a spot at Notre Dame. High school students, especially those at many of the top Catholic schools throughout the country, their greatest hope was to get an opportunity to go to Notre Dame. And so I am pleased to join with my colleagues in paying tribute to a man who is difficult to describe. Yes, he was an educator. Yes, he was a priest. Yes, he was Catholic; but he was so many things until there is no way that you can pigeonhole him. You can only say here is a great American who has contributed significantly to the development of the world order. And so I urge passage of this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.