Dean Hildreth, Provost McGreevy, family and friends, welcome and thank you for being here with us today.
Graduates, after years of hard work and perseverance, you did it, and this is your day. But, while this accomplishment is truly your own, you know you didn’t do it all on your own. You may have done the studying, but your families and loved ones did the sweating and the stressing along with you. They cheered you on at your successes and cheered you up at your setbacks. Many of them are sitting behind you today, and they have been behind you every step of the way to help you reach this milestone. So, to the mothers and fathers, siblings and spouses, friends and relatives: thank you and congratulations. This day also belongs to you as well. Graduates, let’s applaud your family members and supporters here today.
Class of 2024, you are a distinguished class, boasting many accolades and accomplishments in every field and every discipline. As I step down from the presidency, I am most proud of the progress Notre Dame has made in research and graduate school education in recent decades, as a University traditionally known for undergraduate education increasingly takes its place among the distinguished graduate programs in the world. The growth is due not only to our distinguished faculty and academic leaders, but also to the scholarly contributions you, our graduates, have made and will make. We are proud to call you our graduates.
Your degrees represent too what you, through your talent and hard work, have accomplished, and your promise for the future. They give you the right to expect much as you go out into the world; they also indicate that the world has a right to expect much from you.
What can the world expect? Certainly, the highest level of learning and skill in your chosen fields. But, because this is Notre Dame, we hope for more.
We hope you will use the advantages of the education you received here for the common good. We hope that you will use your talents and skills not simply to serve your own interests but to care for the neediest and create a more just society. We hope that what you have acquired here not only the knowledge to make a good living, but the wisdom to live a good life.
A critical part of living a good life is finding the way in which you are called to use your learning for a purpose beyond yourself. As Pope Francis has said, “We must never forget that true power, at whatever level, is service.” My hope for each of you is that you, no matter your field, will find and direct your learning and efforts to service.
Graduates, we congratulate you, we celebrate you, and we wish you every success. Thank you for your presence here with us. We look forward to hearing all about the many great things you will do with what you have learned at Notre Dame.
Let us bring today’s ceremony to a close with a brief prayer:
Let us pray: Lord God: Of all the gifts you have bestowed on us, none is greater than giving us intellects to seek truth, to learn and to understand your creation. We thank you for these graduates who have labored so hard to learn and to understand. We ask that you guide them to use what they have learned to go forth and heal, enlighten and unify a world deeply in need. We pray this in your name. Amen.