(Remarks as prepared)
Class of 2025, congratulations! To all our family and friends, thank you so much for being here today to celebrate with us. We simply would not and could not be here without you. I would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Trustees, administrators, faculty and staff present, and to the many who are not able to be here, but have accompanied us in making this momentous day possible. Thank you.
It is difficult to put into words what an honor it is to stand before you in this moment and in this very place. Having grown up in South Bend, I have experienced numerous memorable events in this stadium since I was a little girl, but it is deeply humbling (and a bit surreal) to be standing here with all of you today to celebrate our graduation from this truly special University.
For now, I will spare you the speech about how much I love South Bend. Instead, let me take you back four years ago to Welcome Weekend where most of us officially stepped into our role as Notre Dame students for the first time. I imagine what comes to mind for many of you might be wearing your damp dorm shirt for three days straight in the sweltering summer heat.
Now, let’s go back even further, a hundred years ago, to when Welcome Weekend at Notre Dame was called “Hello Week,” and rather than a dorm shirt, everyone wore “little blue and yellow hello buttons.” Despite a few differences, this excerpt from the 1924 Notre Dame Scholastic magazine describes some striking similarities:
“Here (at Notre Dame) a man gets to know another man not only through the formal conventionality of introduction, but more often by bumping shoulders with him day after day in the dormitories, the (dining halls), and the study halls. Paradoxically, a university does not exist to educate by book and lecture [... The] friendships that are cultivated here at college […] are things to be cherished and treasured no less than the profound spatterings of knowledge secured in the classrooms. For the lifelong friendships formed at Notre Dame are just as important as the sheep-skin diploma which the graduate carries away with him after four years.”
Even a century ago, building community was a cornerstone of the Notre Dame experience.
Today, friends, I would like to talk to you about community — what it means to celebrate community, to challenge community and to create community.
First, at Notre Dame, we celebrate community. From the athletic fields, to the classrooms, dorms and chapels across campus, Notre Dame certainly knows how to celebrate community. Who could forget Domer Fest or Father Bob’s Inauguration Ball? Perhaps you think of the first snowball fight on South Quad, or our unforgettable runs to the national championship with our football and fencing teams this year?
Though we are often united in our celebration of others, something Notre Dame students can sometimes struggle with is celebrating themselves. Years ago, I attended a presentation by a student titled: “Why Don’t We Celebrate Ourselves?” I could cite countless examples of people and occasions worthy of celebration from our time together at Notre Dame. The truth is, each of you here today has achieved something — more likely, many things — that could easily place you in my shoes on this stage.
In what many might see as the ultra-competitive environment of higher education, a setting where we are constantly evaluated in quantitative ways, Notre Dame encourages us to take a different approach, one founded in our Catholic character. When our community is at its best, we come together — not to measure or recognize individuals, but to celebrate that we are members of a larger community — the Notre Dame family. A family which includes every student, parent, employee, spouse, child and friend, and a family built upon recognizing the intrinsic worth, dignity and potential of every person. That, alone, is worth celebrating.
Notre Dame’s community is unique. Though it is easy to celebrate good times, Notre Dame shows up for people both when they are at their highest and their lowest. When my grandfather passed away at the beginning of this school year, Notre Dame showed up, traveling 10 hours and filling several pews of the church to support my family. When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer my sophomore year of college, Notre Dame was there. I had friends hold my hand as I told them through tears that I might lose my voice, and others who sat with me during my many months of recovery. Several professors supported and cared about me as not just a student, but as a person. At some of the most difficult points of my life, Notre Dame has picked me up, and taught me what we truly celebrate in this community — being there for others both in times of joy and suffering.
And, I can assure you that Notre Dame does not only show up for me, because I have witnessed many of you support others through incredible suffering. I have seen friends light a candle at the Grotto for someone whose aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have seen students comfort a stranger who was having a panic attack in the DeBart bathroom. I have seen people sit with and support the person crying on the bench by the lake whose parents just divorced. I have seen Notre Dame show up for people when they are hurting, and accompany them in overcoming adversity and pain. This is why, I believe, we must celebrate this truly special community.
Next, at Notre Dame, we challenge community. Here, we foster a community with the courage to challenge each other. As a first-year student, I was asked by Professor Clemens Sedmak what it means to promote the “common good.” Having studied a bit of philosophy in high school, I felt confident as I raised my hand and responded that “the common good is the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.” (For those of you who study philosophy, it will quickly become clear that I did not understand philosophy as well as I thought I did.) Professor Sedmak promptly responded with a firm and energetic “NO.” The common good, he said, is defined as the flourishing of each and every member of a community. Proponents of the common good recognize the inherent dignity of all people, and strive to leave no one behind. A commitment to the common good can be seen across the Notre Dame community. From every corner of campus, to our Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, we at Notre Dame embrace the common good, and are devoted to putting this phrase into practice by being a “force for good” in a world deeply in need.
This past fall, I had the privilege of performing “Hope’s Song” — a musical composition co-written by members of the Notre Dame Folk Choir and a 15-year-old girl named Hope Kern — at the Annual Rare and Neglected Disease Patient Advocacy Summit. At age 4, Hope was diagnosed with Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome, a rare disease, diagnosed in fewer than 50 people worldwide. Notre Dame has accompanied Hope and her family, providing support and care. Hope’s story exemplifies Notre Dame’s capacity to love and be a force for the common good.
Our community strives to leave no one behind. And yet, Notre Dame, like all communities, is imperfect. At times, we fail to live up to this mission, and I know there are some of you who feel as though you have been forgotten or abandoned by the Notre Dame family. It is precisely in these instances that we must challenge our community. In striving to make Notre Dame a place where all people can flourish, we must continue to cultivate a sense of belonging. Let me clarify that belonging does not necessarily mean that we all must agree. Rather, it means we must create conditions in which all people feel as though their dignity and flourishing is encouraged.
When challenging our community, we need to have dialogue and discourse about complex and controversial topics, and work to truly listen to one another. Notre Dame combines a rare commitment to excellence with an equal commitment to humility. Our community holds us accountable, does not stand for arrogance and calls us to be good stewards of our neighbors and all creation. It also urges us to challenge others, and to stand up for what is right. Notre Dame teaches us to treat each other with dignity, and to enter every conversation from a place of love. And when, because we are human, we fail to do this, we need to admit our mistakes and ask for forgiveness.
When challenging our community, we must reaffirm our commitment to those on the margins. Particularly during times of transition and change, it is more important than ever to challenge our community to support all of its students, especially those who may feel alone or afraid. We must stretch ourselves to look beyond political divides and polarization, and seek what unites, rather than what divides. Given our Catholic mission, we must have the courage to challenge our community to be collaborative, compassionate and firmly committed to caring for every member, for without this, we cannot claim to be achieving the common good.
Finally, at Notre Dame, we create community. As a member of the first undergraduate class of the Keough 91ĘÓƵ of Global Affairs, I have seen firsthand what it takes to create a community. The Keough 91ĘÓƵ was founded in 2014 — the first new college at Notre Dame in nearly a century — no small feat! The task of combining nine distinct, yet interconnected global institutes to form one cohesive school required great collaboration and courage. I have witnessed the hard work of our deans, professors and staff members who are great leaders, wonderful mentors and builders of community. Thank you for hosting countless students in your homes for meals and holidays, creating and teaching new courses and capstone projects for the first time, and for valuing and responding to our input as integral members of the community. Most of all, thank you to my fellow Global Affairs classmates for all that you did to build this community from the ground up. It has been a privilege to learn from and with you, and I cannot wait to see how our work will continue to grow in the coming years.
This is just one example of how Notre Dame creates community in incredibly special ways, and the thought of leaving it behind is difficult. A classmate of mine was recently struggling with the idea that the world is not very welcoming and that people, in general, are very selfish. However, our professor, Steve Reifenberg, reminded us that each of us has the ability to cultivate welcoming and compassionate communities beyond campus.
After all, Steve certainly did this for us. He invites every student he teaches to a class dinner at his house. I recall initially feeling nervous and out-of-place, but I was immediately greeted with a warm, home-cooked meal, and some of the best company I have shared during my time at ND. I walked away with a joyful and hopeful heart, feeling as though I belonged there. I have now attended countless group meals in his home, and each time I have walked away with this same sense of belonging, as well as freshly cut flowers from his garden wrapped in newspaper, food packed in to-go containers, and a renewed sense of spirit and purpose. Steve, and so many others, have shown us what it truly looks like to cultivate community.
During our time at Notre Dame, each of us has been given the gift of being valued for our own God-given worth, while simultaneously being part of something larger than ourselves. With this gift comes not only the ability, but also the responsibility to create communities which embody the spirit of Notre Dame wherever we may go. We might not always be surrounded by Notre Dame, but we can carry Her with us as we strive to create and strengthen new communities beyond Our Lady’s campus.
In his inauguration speech, Father Bob Dowd spoke to us about being “seekers of truth, sustainers of hope and builders of bridges,” and he asked us to reflect on the question: “What do we owe each other?” To this, I would respond: We owe it to each other to celebrate, challenge and create community.
How do we do this? Well, this work will look different for each of us, but a guiding phrase for me is: “Lead, Kindly Light,” the title of one of my favorite songs. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sing these words at Westville Correctional Facility with my choir for a group of about a hundred incarcerated men. It was such an incredibly moving experience that reinforced how important it is that we share the light of the Notre Dame community with others beyond the borders of our campus.
Class of 2025, though we are living in times of great division and discord, Notre Dame has given us the gifts, sense of responsibility, and capability to heed God’s call to be the light of Christ in what can be a dark world. When we challenge ourselves to share this light of the Notre Dame community with all we encounter, we create something truly worth celebrating.
Congratulations to each and every one of you, and know of my hope, love and prayers for you as you go forth to bring light to the communities that lie ahead. Thank you.
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