Saint Anselm College President Fr. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B., was the keynote speaker at the May 15 commencement of Rivier College in Nashua. The following is his commencement address.
President Farrell, Sister Sue, Trustees, faculty and staff, family, friends and, most of all -- my fellow members of the Rivier College Class of 2004. It is truly an honor for me to join the ranks of Rivier Alumni, especially in the same ceremony as the truly inspiring Sister Adrienne Beauregard. Her life speaks far more eloquently than any words of mine ever could. While I believe our two colleges have always had a wonderful relationship, it is perhaps even more important these days, since we are the only two Catholic Colleges left in our state that were founded by and are still profoundly related to religious orders. We have that in common and we have our devotion to our mission Catholic higher education in common as well.
As you may know I am a Benedictine monk and priest. One thing that you may not know about Benedictines is that we are the only order in the Church whose members take a vow of stability - that is, a vow to remain in one community for life. As that fact pertains to this occasion, it means that I have been listening to Commencement Speakers at my own college for about 35 years. I must confess that now and again during those years I have found myself wishing various things about the Commencement Speaker: wishing that speaker would say something to inspire to the audience; wishing that the speaker would realize that the graduates were the real focus of the ceremony not himself or herself; and most of all -- I have found myself wishing that speaker would just stop! So, if you find yourselves wishing any of the above in the next few minutes, know that I know - and I do sympathize with you.
Wanting to reassure myself that I would not be on the "he-spoke-too-long" end of the Commencement Address list, I did an Internet search of commencement addresses - there were over 300,000 entries! That's a lot of words - and now I must add a few more!
Over the last few months as the thought of giving this address constantly surfaced in my conscious mind, I thought about what would be most important for me to say to you on this grand occasion that you, the graduates, have worked so hard to arrive at. I settled on two questions: What difference did it make to your education that you attended a Catholic College?, and, What difference should it make for the rest of your life that you are a graduate of a Catholic College?
Students enroll in a College for a variety of reasons and sometimes the real value of their choice is not evident right away. You may have come here because a particular program or major attracted you; because the College was willing to assist you in ways that you needed; or even because your boyfriend or girlfriend was here. I believe that God's Providence works in many ways, taking us along the paths we should be walking, and sometimes using very ordinary means to get us there. But - for whatever reason, you came to Rivier College and this became your College. Here you wrote your own page of this College's history; that page will begin to turn into your own chapter starting today.
What you found here when you first came was not simply a place to earn an associate or baccalaureate, or graduate degree, but you found an institution that is committed profoundly to something. It is a place, a community of people that is committed from the core of its being to a view of humanity and of the world that is inspired by God's own revelation about who we are and what the world is. Hopefully you learned the amazing story of the woman for whom this College is named, Blessed Marie Rivier who, during a time of incredible turmoil in the Church in the 18th century had the vision and courage to assemble a congregation dedicated to education. Her spiritual daughters have faithfully fulfilled her mission for over two hundred years around the world. One woman, blest by God, whose name continues to inspire us. Hopefully you also learned the story of the founder of your College, Sr. Madeleine of Jesus, an accomplished scholar and teacher, who had the faith and courage to begin this college with meager resources and a student body of only three. Why? Because, blest by God, she saw the need to provide educational opportunity for women who otherwise would only have found work in the depression-era mills and shops of New England; and she answered the need. Thanks to her we are here today.
So, what difference did it make that you came to a Catholic College? Not only in the examples I just mentioned, but in the entire universe of Catholic higher education, you are now the heirs of a tradition believes that God is present and active in human history, a tradition that believes that ordinary women and men can accomplish the extraordinary because they are made in the image and likeness of God. Our tradition is profoundly respectful of the human person and human accomplishment, because it is a tradition that asserts that God so loved the world, that his only Son became a human being like us. That fact changed all of history and all of humanity.
Pope John Paul II wrote during your years at Rivier College "the whole of human history stands in reference to the Jesus…our own time and the future of the world are illumined by his presence…. The incarnation of the Son of God and the salvation he accomplished are the true criterion for evaluating all that happens in time and every effort to make life more human." (Pope John Paul II, Incarnationis Mysterium).
You, as graduates of Rivier College, are heirs of a tradition that says that the closer your mind and your heart come to God, the more human you become. The College you came to was founded on that tradition and vision. And so, your education was not just of the mind, but of the heart as well; it involved not just reason, but faith as well; not just professional standards, but moral positions as well.