Profiles in public service

Are there still public servants in Washington? Not grasping for power, but ready to give it up? That’s at the heart of a Christian understanding of how to live. John the Baptist said that Jesus “must increase and I must decrease.” But such thinking is foreign to many in Washington, who consider it folly to be a true public servant rather than a power accumulator. Here are two exceptions, departing White House faith-based programs chief Jim Towey and Indiana congressman Mark Souder. | Marvin Olasky, Russ Pulliam

Leaving the White House

Given how few Washingtonians leave the precincts of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue voluntarily, Jim Towey's action on April 18—resigning as head of the White House faith-based office to become president of a small Catholic college in Pennsylvania—was refreshing. He told WORLD that he was "filled with gratitude" for the opportunity he had but "saddened by the stranglehold that certain entrenched interests have."

Mr. Towey did not have huge power during his four years as the president's almoner: Karl Rove and other practitioners of advanced political calculus had more. But Mr. Towey had moved from the right hand of Mother Teresa to the left hand of George W. Bush, and although he could play by Washington rules there often seemed to be a wistfulness about him: Maybe it was better back in Calcutta.