Graduates Urged to Avoid Shortcuts

Broderick delivered the commencement address to 394 graduates who received their degrees May 21 during a ceremony held at the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena. He received an honorary doctorate, along with philanthropist Trustee William V. Guerin ’63, who recently retired as senior vice president of UBS Financial Services, Hannah M. McCarthy, retiring president of Daniel Webster College, and Katherin A. Rogers, Ph.D., a scholar of medieval philosophy and the philosophy of religion who teaches at the University of Delaware. Elaine Rizzo, associate professor of criminal justice, received the AAUP Faculty Award.

The chief justice encouraged students to “turn square corners in your personal and professional lives. Shortcuts should be avoided,” he said.

“Success, meaningful success, is almost always a team sport and you don’t need to be the captain to make a difference,” he said. “Mother Teresa had very little secular power, but your children will know who she  was. Rosa Parks, a diminutive African- American woman, refused to move to the back of the bus and she changed a nation.”

College President Fr. Jonathan DeFelice, O.S.B., reminded graduates that they  started their college careers shortly before “the world changed dramatically” with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“As we all tried to make sense of the senseless, I told many of you how impressed I was that you were able to reach deep into your hearts and minds and find the strength of faith to help you,” he said. “Don’t ever forget where to find the faith you found that day.”

Noting the sacrifices of the Sept. 11 heroes and members of the armed services, Fr. Jonathan noted a different kind of sacrifice made on the graduates’ behalf, by parents “who put your education before opportunities they themselves may have enjoyed.”