Denis McDonough Quotations

The bottom line is this. When it comes to preventing violent extremism and terrorism in the United States, Muslim Americans are not part of the problem, you're part of the solution.

President Obama understands that, as a nation founded by those who fled religious persecution, freedom of religion is central to who we are as Americans. Our rights are not given to us by government, they are endowed by our Creator.

I'm indebted to the teachers who shaped me - from the Sisters of St. Joseph at St. Croix Catholic elementary to the monks of St. John's in Minnesota to my professors at Georgetown.

Sunday afternoons at a parish center - or a community center - is familiar territory for me.

Preventing radicalization that leads to violence here in America is part of our larger strategy to decisively defeat al Qaeda.

I grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota in a proud Catholic family.

Being religious is quintessentially American.

As a husband, father and public servant, I'm thankful for the counsel and wisdom of my older brothers - Bill, who was a priest, and Kevin, who is a priest.