New House majority leader a graduate of Catholic schools

Published: 2006-02-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Newly elected House majority leader Rep. John Boehner, a Catholic, is graduate of Cincinnati-area Catholic schools and Jesuit-run Xavier University. Boehner, 56, has represented Ohio's 8th District since 1990. Among his efforts in Congress has been backing a school voucher plan for the District of Columbia and supporting a private effort to get businesses to help support needy Catholic schools in Washington. He was elected by House Republicans in early February to replace Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who stepped down from the leadership post last year when he was indicted in a campaign finance investigation in Texas. A profile of Boehner in the winter 2006 issue of Xavier Magazine, published by the Jesuit-run university in Cincinnati, describes Boehner's childhood as one of 12 children sharing with their parents a two-bedroom house in the suburb of Reading. One of his sisters still runs Andy's Cafe, the neighborhood tavern started by their grandfather, which supported putting the Boehner family through Catholic schools.

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