Chaplains shepherded Congress during debt fight
If you were worried that Congress didn't have a prayer of saving the country from default this week -- have a little faith. It turns out among the first acts of Congress in 1789 was the establishment of chaplains for the House and Senate.
So what were those men of the cloth up to while the fabric of politics was shredding? CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes found they were filling the Capitol with the fear of God.
Senate chaplain Barry Black first began calling out his congressional flock a week before the debt deadline
"Lord, as our nation faces the potentially catastrophic, inspire our lawmakers," he said in a recent prayer.
As gridlock reigned his daily prayers grew increasingly urgent.
"Help them comprehend the global repercussions," Black said in a prayer.
Chaplain Black told CBS News he was merely reflecting the nation's concern and he thought his congregation of 100 U.S. senators needed some divine intervention. "We were getting people faxing us prayers that they wanted us to pray," he said.
"You said, 'Save us o' God, for the waters are coming upon us," commented Cordes.
"Well, that's actually a paraphrase of the 69th Psalm," said Black, "and we only had a matter of hours to make a decision on that."
"Clearly you were getting nervous," Cordes said.
"Well, I was hoping that I could help people to get nervous," replied Black.
Chaplain Patrick Conroy, Black's counterpart over in the House of Representatives, was getting nervous too, as he watched the theatrics on the floor.
"It's kind of like a little kid listening to his parents argue," he said, "Like 'No, don't disagree, no !'"
A Jesuit priest, Father Conroy said House members came to him for counsel and for a respite from the stalemate.
"What do you tell them?" asked Cordes.
"Basically that you have to be totally honest with yourself," said Conroy.
When the two sides did strike a deal -- just hours before the deadline -- chaplain Black gave praise: "We can see the beginnings of a rainbow after the storm."
The Bible says, "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." A tough lesson to teach in a place where grace can sometimes be hard to find.
