At prayer breakfast Bush cites efforts of Pennsylvania Catholic teen

Published: 2007-02-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 1, President George W. Bush cited a Pennsylvania Catholic teenager who started an outreach to poor and homeless people in memory of her favorite priest, the late Franciscan Father Mychal Judge. In remarks Bush said that prayer "makes us a more compassionate and giving people" willing to listen to God's call "to love our neighbors as we would like to be loved." "We answer that call by reaching out to feed the hungry and clothe the poor and aid the widow and the orphan," he said, and by helping people in need "we find our own faith strengthened and we receive the grace to lead lives of dignity and purpose." That grace, he said, can be seen in the life of Shannon Hickey, a 16-year-old junior at Lancaster (Pa.) Catholic High School who founded a nonprofit organization called Mychal's Message in 2002. She named it in honor of a longtime family friend, Father Judge, the New York fire chaplain who died ministering to victims in the rubble of the World Trade Center's twin towers Sept. 11, 2001.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .