Anna Eshoo: “this morning the House of Representatives welcomes Father Samer Youssef, who has come here from California, from my…”

“this morning the House of Representatives welcomes Father Samer Youssef, who has come here from California, from my congressional district in Northern California in the heart of the Silicon Valley. On April 7, a tragedy befell our community and the Parish of the Church of the Redeemer in Los Altos Hills, the Antiochian Church. An arsonist set fire to that magnificent church, and it burned to the ground. But Father Youssef and the entire Parish, together with our entire community, firefighters, the sheriff's department, churches, the temple, the Catholic Church came together to heal and his leadership is healing. His leadership has spoken to the magnificence of the great principles of America, that we believe in justice but more importantly or just as importantly we believe in one another. And so we have come past this tragedy in our community. Together people from throughout our congressional district have placed contributions at the table to not only rebuild the church through their good faith and their contributions but to send a signal to people across our country and across the world that no arsonist, that no one who tries to terrorize our community will win. We are stronger, we are better, we are faith filled because of Who and what we believe in. So I thank Father Youssef for coming to Washington.”