Barbara LeBlanc
(603) 641-7241
bleblanc@anselm.edu

Lawrence Cunningham, a noted University of Notre Dame theologian, called upon the 392 seniors who graduated from Saint Anselm College Saturday to be grateful, continue to learn, be seekers and pray for wisdom.

Dr. Cunningham offered his advice during the college’s 116th commencement exercises, which were held on the campus quad.

“If you have grateful hearts, continue to learn, be seekers of understanding and pray for wisdom, I guarantee with whatever authority I have that you will never be far from God,” he said.

The patron saint of the college, Saint Anselm, was recalled often during the ceremony, which was held in the 900th anniversary year of the saint’s death. Dr. Cunningham, a nationally recognized theologian and devotee of Saint Anselm, recalled the saint’s definition of theology, “Faith seeking understanding.”

Dr. Cunningham urged students to strive for understanding and wisdom, and not settle for mere knowledge. “Smart people are a dime a dozen; intelligent or wise people are a precious commodity. Knowledge points to competency, but understanding points to wisdom and, wisdom, let it be stipulated, points to the One who is Wisdom - God,” he said.

Father Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B., president of Saint Anselm College, also invoked the words of Saint Anselm saying, “Reason is not the enemy of faith, nor is faith the enemy of reason.”

As Dr. Cunningham, Father Jonathan called upon students to use their education and values to fight the greed and disregard for common good that helped create the current economic crisis.

“I encourage you, as your careers develop, to ensure that our nation never suffers again from the disregard of fundamental honesty that is at the root of some of the economic dissolution,” he said.

As a Muslim, the student speaker Waqarun Rashid, of Salem, N.H., also tied her experiences at Saint Anselm, her jihad at the college, to the thinking of its namesake saint.

"I am a Muslim, god willing, and I came to a Catholic College seeking an education solely in biochemistry. Oh, was I very wrong," she said. "Humanities, theology, and philosophy all opened my eyes to thinkers I had not studied before. Thinkers like Darwin, Machiavelli, and Aristotle, made me question and reaffirm my faith in Islam. This was my struggle: to seek faith through understanding. In fact, it was my Jihad here at Saint Anselm College."

Honorary degrees were awarded to Dr. Cunningham, Donna Orsuto, a theology professor at the Gregorian University in Rome; Ronald Rioux, recently retired president and CEO of Saint Mary’s Bank, and Donna Sytek, former Speaker of the House and chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party.