3834 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS March 6, 1996 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE DEATH OF ms EMINENCE, A year later, he was named vice chancellor Poland was always an important cause in JOHN CARDINAL KROL, D.D., of the Cleveland diocese and, in 1951, he be­ Cardinal Krol's life. He made radio broadcasts J.D.C. , ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS came chancellor. In 1953, he was named aux­ in Polish to his ancestral land for more than OF PIDLADELPIDA, 1910-96 iliary bishop of Cleveland and, later that year, 25 years and headed relief efforts during the vicar general of the diocese. economic crises of the 1980's when his friend HON. JON D. FOX It was from this position he was named Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement OF PENNSYLVANIA archbishop of Philadelphia in 1961. were challenging Communist rule. As a public figure in Philadelphia, Cardinal IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In this country, he offered advice and direc­ Krol often moved among the wealthy and pow­ tion to several American Presidents including Wednesday , March 6, 1996 erful in public life. Still, those who know him Richard Nixon who asked him to deliver ser­ Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, well described the cardinal as shy, compas­ mons in the White House during his Presi­ rise today to share my thoughts about a great sionate, caring, and most at ease with children dency. He offered prayers at two Republican spiritual leader who led the archdiocese of and the disabled. national conventions and traveled extensively Philadelphia for nearly 30 years. It was at the Second Vatican Council in1962 to Israel, Egypt, India, Ireland, Jordan, Leb­ that Bishop Krol became friendly with Karol This week, the city of Philadelphia, the en­ anon, and Poland. He called for Catholics and Jozef Wojtyla, the Polish priest who would tire Delaware Valley region, the United States, Protestants to lay down their arms in Northern and people throughout the world are mourning later become Pope John Paul II. The future Ireland and urged both sides to share the lan­ pope had been born in a town less than 50 the death of one of the great spiritual leaders guage of peace in the Middle East. of our time, John Cardinal Krol, archbishop miles from where Bishop Krol's parents hailed, In 1972, he concelebrated Mass with Pope emeritus of the archdiocese of Philadelphia. and the two could lapse easily into a local Pol­ John Paul II, then a cardinal, in a field at He was 85. He came to Philadelphia an un­ ish dialect that no one around them could un­ Auschwitz honoring the Polish priest and mar­ derstand. known bishop from Cleveland. He leaves with tyr St. Maximilian Kolbe, who volunteered to Bishop Krol had been the only American friends in the city, the Nation, and around the die in place of a Polish Army sergeant. world. named the year before to serve on a commis­ When the Vatican was faced with staggering sion preparing for the Vatican Council. His Ho­ In my capacity of public service, I have had deficits in the early 1980's, Cardinal Krol was liness, Pope John XXlll, called the meeting of the great opportunity to know His Eminence. appointed to a council of 15 cardinals and all the world's Catholic bishops in an ~ffort to Through my contacts with members of his helped rescue the Holy See's finances. In renew the church for life in modern times. It flock, I have come to appreciate the spirit, 1985, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal was to be only the 21st such council in the dedication, and integrity of a man who was Krol one of three copresidents over the Ex­ unwavering in his faith in God, his commit­ church's history and the first in a century. It was amid these preparations that Pope traordinary Synod of Bishops, a special con­ ment to his church and its people, and his ference summoned by the Pope to evaluate dedication to the Greater Philadelphia area he John named Bishop Krol to be archbishop of Philadelphia. He succeeded John Cardinal the condition of the church 20 years after the served. He was a prince of the church who close of Vatiean II . never lost touch with the common man and O'Hara, who had died the previous summer. Then the youngest Catholic archbishop in the Cardinal Krol submitted his resignation to woman. He was a doctrinal conservative who the Pope on his 75th birthday as required by had compassion for workers and the poor. He United States, Krol approached his new job with trepidation. Still, he later recalled that he church law. But its acceptance was delayed was, at once, a man who moved in powerful was given a warm welcome by the priest, reli­ out of a reluctance to see him step down. Fi­ worldwide circles which dictated the course of gious, and the people of Philadelphia. nally, 2 years later, after the cardinal had be­ Roman Catholicism and international politics A talented administrator, he kept the arch­ come seriously ill, the Pope named Cardinal and a shepherd whose humble service to God diocese financially secure at a time when even Anthony Bevilacqua, then bishop of Pittsburgh, and His people made him a role model for the Vatican was experiencing monetary prob­ to succeed him. those of all faiths. He served his people and lems. He ran the five-county archdiocese like On the occasion of his ?5th birthday, the his church with strong, steady, and effective a business and responsibly provided for the cardinal listed among the high points of his leadership and with great distinction. 1.5 million Catholics who live there. He main­ tenure in Philadelphia the canonization in The cardinal was born in Cleveland in 1910, tained the Catholic school system, one of the 1977 of his 19th-century predecessor, St. the fourth of eight children of John and Anne best in the Nation, despite severe economic John Neumann, the fourth bishop of Philadel­ Krol, Polish immigrants. One day, the cardinal pressures and a decline in teaching nuns. phia; the meeting in Philadelphia in 1976 of liked to remember, a coworker asked him four At the same time he was administering the the 41 st International Eucharistic Congress, a questions about Catholicism that he couldn't archdiocese with great skill, his stature rose in major gathering of Catholics from around the answer. Annoyed, he began poking around in Rome. During the Vatican Council, Pope John world; Pope John Paul ll's visit to Philadelphia theology books. Instead of answers, he found made him one of the five under secretaries. In in 1979 during His Holiness' first trip to the more questions. That search for answers led 1967, Pope Paul VI named Archbishop Krol a United States; and the development of the him, at age 21, to the door of St. Mary's Semi­ cardinal, a prince of the church. new parishes and the construction of new nary in Cleveland where he enrolled in 1931 In 1971, the cardinal's fellow bishops elect­ churches. as a candidate for the priesthood. There he ed him to a 3-year term as president of the When many Catholics fled the city of Phila­ developed a reputation for scholastic brilliance National Cont erence of Catholic Bishops, so­ delphia for the suburbs, Cardinal Krol adopted and was ordained a priest in 1937. lidifying his position as a premier prelate of the a policy of keeping as many churches and His obvious intelligence and his devotion to Catholic Church in America. schools open as possible in innercity neigh­ God led him to Rome where he studied canon It is widely believed that Cardinal Krol borhoods despite the fact that the majority of law. He arrived in a Europe restless under the played a key role in the 1978 conclave that the people served by the churches and shadow of Adolph Hitler. He visited Poland in elected Wojtyla, then the archbishop of schools there were not Catholic. 1939 to seek out the birthplace of his parents Krakow, Poland, to the papacy. The two re­ Cardinal Krol also took satisfaction in the and managed to flee just before Nazi troops mained close friends and Cardinal Krol was establishment in 1981 of Business Leaders overran the country. Father Krol returned to one of the few people in the world who could Organized for Catholic Schools [BLOCS], an this country and began further law studies at get through to His Holiness on the telephone, organization of local corporate executives, Catholic University here in Washington. He giving him unique input to the decisionmaking Catholic and non-Catholic, that raised millions obtained his doctorate in canon law in 1942. process of the Roman Catholic Church. of dollars for Catholic schools. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. March 6, 1996 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 3835 Cardinal Krol stayed on the job longer after the Second Vatican Council and with me per­ weather, cell phones, et al, played a signifi­ reaching retirement age than any other Amer­ sonally throughout my pontificate, I am certain cant part. However, a modernized National ican bishop. that his memory will live on in the community Guard played a huge role in that "golden" 24 hours when everyone must get it right or The Cardinal, whose name in Polish means he so faithfully served." fail.