“Recently Mayor Bill White addressed a small supper crowd at Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Houston on the role of faith in his life and leadership. His remarks, characteristically spoken in a low voice, with frequent stops and starts, deserve to be amplified.”
So says the Houston Chronicle, which continued:
The mayor speculated that Episcopalians must have fallen on hard times if they had nothing better to do than to listen to a Methodist. But his observations were suited for delivery to adherents of any denomination or religion.
White said he was influenced by his religious parents, who believed that people should live their faith rather than talk about it. He said Christianity, at heart, had everything to do with helping others and little to do with taboos. Public servants should be judged, he said, on how much they helped others. [Emphasis added.]
Some of life’s greatest helpers, White said, are caring parents, and the mentors and teachers who ignite a spark in children’s lives. Anyone who regards himself as 100 percent self-made, White said, should be reminded that mental health counseling is available.
In the fall of 2005, Mayor White (along with Harris County chief executive Robert Eckels) did a superb job of orchestrating Houston’s efforts to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees. In November 2005 he was reelected as mayor with an astonishing 91% of the vote. He is term-limited to one more two-year term after this one, ending in January 2008. I hope the state and the nation will be hearing more from him after that.
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