2024 Speeches and Media

Greetings Dr. Favazza and Honorary Degree recipients. I would like to thank our Saint Anselm Abbey Monks, faculty, staff, coaches, family and friends. And to the Class of 2024, congratulations! 

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." Martin Luther King Junior invites us this morning to reflect on these words. How did you get here? Did you run? Did you walk? Or at times, did you need to crawl? One way or another, here we are now. Most of you began college during a global pandemic when restrictions were high, when making friends was difficult, and when isolation was a burdensome reality. For many of you this is your first graduation in a very long time. But here we are today. And one thing is for sure, today, we are all walking!

In the fall of 2022, I was a leader on the well-known Anselmian 130-mile walk from Lewiston, Maine back to Manchester, New Hampshire with the mission of connecting with and supporting different communities along the way. We walked together through vulnerability, experiencing struggle, joy and comradery. Then, one week after leading my peers onto campus in a journey we call “Road for Hope,” I somehow found myself without hope. In fact, I found myself in the midst of a mental health crisis, which led to my taking a year off for treatment. A wide-eyed senior ready for my last year of college, I suddenly had to re-evaluate everything. But isn’t re-evaluating everything why we came to college in the first place? Today, a year and a half later, I am still walking. And I am so honored to be walking alongside all of you! 

There is no way of getting around the fact that today is a day of overwhelmingly mixed emotions. We are gathered here to celebrate everything we’ve accomplished, but no one can forget the fact that we lost a beloved member of our community in these recent weeks. As Anselmians, we pride ourselves on holding each other close. Right now, is one of those times. As we navigate the heartache and joy of the present moment, even as we leave this campus today, it is important for us to walk together. 

As I look back on our years here, I think about the times we struggled; when the weight got heavy, and when it seemed we just could not go on. Each one of our stories is different, but as Dr. Alicia Finn assured us in her Orientation address my freshman year: “I see you. You matter.” 

No one of us got here alone. The people who walked with us in our journeys are crucial to where we are sitting today. Whether it's Fr. Mathias who walked beside you in navigating grief, Terry at C-shop who walked next to you in laughter and in joy, or a certain Professor, friend, coach, Monk, or staff member who supported you in your walk to graduation today. It’s the people here who make this place feel like home. 

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux once said, “Let us love, since that is what our hearts were made for.” The love we long for as human beings ripples through this community, bringing us a sense of belonging and a hope. Many of us have the assurance that the people who have walked beside us will continue to walk with us for the rest of our lives. Our freshman year, we all read Bha-ga-vad Gita, and we heard the words “‘Free from all thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘mine’,” we can “find absolute peace.’” 

The Saint A’s community brings many of us both strength and peace, because we lose the idea of walking alone, and choose to walk together. 

Saint Anselm College has turned some of the darkest parts of my life into a passion for walking alongside others with similar struggles to the ones I had. Someday, I hope to work with individuals experiencing serious mental illness. Saint Anselm brought me to this calling. This community of people changes us. This place has changed us.

For that change, we can thank the unique experiences that lie in the identity of Saint Anselm College. In these four (or five) years many of us stepped outside our comfort zones through different leadership and service opportunities. We leaned on each other during what may have been the hardest and greatest years of our lives. Many of us explored walking in our faith in ways we could have never imagined. Some of you walked to classes, and found what you were passionate about. Some of you walked into clinicals, building your skills as a future nurse or teacher. Many of you walked to the athletic fields, experiencing the struggle and joy that comes with the comradery of pursuing victory. A lot of you walked into the Manchester community through work at the Meelia Center. Others walked in far away lands to spend their “breaks” participating in service immersion and advocacy. And yes, some of you walked often into the Abbey Church, with the intention of feeling close to Christ, as He is our strength and our hope. 

We walk every day, and sometimes we stumble, and we need to crawl, but these experiences make us who we are, and they make Saint Anselm College what it is. As you step out into the world and move on to the plans and surprises that will fill the rest of your lives, remember the ways this place has changed you for the better. It is truly a beautiful gift to be able to call this hilltop home. 

If I can leave anything with my fellow classmates of the class of 2024, it's that sometimes two steps forward can feel a lot like ten steps back–but we persevere, and know in our hearts that we are always moving forward, one step at a time. And yes, we are—every one of us—on the road for hope! Congratulations, again, to the Class of 2024 and God bless you! Thank you.

The Saint Anselm College Chapter of the AAUP

Presents

The Distinguished Faculty Award

to

Deborah McCarter PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, IBCLC

Each year the Saint Anselm College Chapter of the American Association of University Professors presents the Distinguished Faculty Award. The award reads: "For excellence in teaching and scholarship, contributions to the academic community through active and positive relations with colleagues and students, and an involved concern for humanity." 

This year we honor a faculty member who has made an indelible imprint not only on Saint Anselm College, but in our community broadly. At the College, they have worked tirelessly to produce thoughtful graduates and a collaborative culture among the faculty. This person’s colleagues and students are impressed with their enthusiasm for teaching, mentorship, and research. Speaking about their mentorship, one colleague had the following to say about the recipient: “I am the educator I am today, due to this person’s guidance.” Students and faculty noted the energy and joy that the recipient brings to the classroom and the broader campus. The recipient’s colleagues noted that this energy was infectious and increased the intellectual curiosity of their students. This sentiment is echoed by one of the recipient’s students who said: “This person is an amazing role model and very attentive to students. I always enjoy seeing them on campus because they would always have a smile on their face and be laughing.”

In addition to their excellence in teaching and mentorship, this year’s recipient is widely published, with over 46 peer-reviewed publications and presentations. They have collaborated on research projects with colleagues in different departments on campus and with students. They are also acknowledged by their peers as a community leader, as evidenced by their election to the Faculty Senate among other leadership roles.

This year’s recipient grew up in Millis, MA in the house that her parents built. As her son describes it, the reason that she is so tough is because she “grew up as the only girl with three brothers.” Before joining the Saint Anselm community in 2007, she lived with her two children, Dan and Becca, in Mendon MA and began her 45-year career in nursing. During that time, she completed her Masters’ degree at Boston College and her Ph.D. at UMass Lowell, specializing in postpartum nursing. Perhaps most impressively, she started each of these programs when one of her children was 4-years-old.

In communication with the recipient’s children, their love and admiration for their mother was palpable. Her daughter, a recent graduate of Saint Anselm, noted that the recipient was well-loved by the students who knew her. She added what might be the highest praise a faculty member can receive, saying: “I never had to worry about what other students would think when they realized we were related.” Her son was also impressed with the strong bond that she forged with her students, as well as her tireless work ethic. He notes, “My mother is the hardest working person I know, and in my 34 years of life, I’ve never been able to find the ‘off’ switch.” When I told her son to enjoy spending her new-found free time with her, he replied: “What free time? Have you ever known my mother to just be still and content with the world around her? I certainly haven’t.” 

This seems like an appropriate quote to summarize this recipient’s career at Saint Anselm College. She has devoted herself to helping others, directly and indirectly. As a colleague notes: “Her career-long passion has been to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for childbearing women.” This passion was extended to her colleagues, as she worked hard to improve the lives of new parents at the College by helping to create a new parental leave policy that extended eligibility to non-birthing parents. I am personally indebted to her for these efforts, because they allowed me to spend invaluable time with my two children during the first years of their lives.

It is my honor to present the 2024 American Association of University Professors Distinguished Faculty Award to Professor of Nursing, Dr. Deborah McCarter.  

Listen carefully: learning is simply not enough.

On the surface, why would a president of an institution of higher learning make such a statement?

Perhaps because higher learning, learning beyond high school, is simply not enough.

Think of this way. You may learn about the molecular structure of glucose, or the sociological impact of poverty on disability, or how to accurately test chemicals to determine if arson was the cause of a fire (all of these examples I learned about at the recent soar poster session a couple of weeks ago.)

But do these learnings make you honest?

Do they make you a person of integrity?

Do they make you courageous in the face of injustice or adversity?

The simple response to all of these questions: learning is simply not enough. 

This conclusion, this surprising and audacious conclusion, gets at the heart of our approach to education at Saint Anselm College. 

If all we were concerned about is whether these graduates learned enough of the right stuff in their chosen majors, we wouldn’t need to live and learn on this beautiful and inspiring campus, we wouldn’t need the vibrant services of the Meelia Center, Campus Ministry, or the Jonathan Defelice Intercultural Center (btw, we are pleased to welcome Fr. Jonathan Defelice today, the 9^th president of the college!). We wouldn’t need the many traditions that provide a sense of identity to all Anselmians, and we certainly wouldn’t need our Catholic and Benedictine mission nor our friends the monks of Saint Anselm Abbey. For that matter, we wouldn’t even need the engaging classroom discussions nor the excellent and accessible faculty mentors.

All we would really need is a book, a computer, assignments and assessments. Oh wait, we tried this during your senior year in high school during covid. How did that work out?

Graduates, as you know, this is not the learning environment at St. A’s. We educate the whole person. Yes, the mind but also the heart. So while learning is a critical part of our mission, we are even more concerned about the transformation of the learner.

What is the secret sauce that leads to this transformation? Well, I may not get the recipe exactly right and I certainly don’t want to give away the recipe to our competitors (in case we have any spies from UNH or Stonehill here today), but here are some ingredients. (and of course I will use a food metaphor: I’m Italian!)

Start with a small bit of yeast that is the persistent curiosity about what is true. So many colleges and universities have truth – veritas – as part of their seal or motto. Why? Because searching for truth is an essential beginning to learning. Saint Anselm himself spoke of “faith seeking understanding” as the pathway towards truth. And just when you think you have it, a whole new universe opens up to be explored. The search is ongoing, but never futile. 

Take that bit of curiosity and mix it with bowls and bowls of community. Most of what we learn comes from others: family, friends, teachers, professors, classmates, supervisors, and colleagues. Seeking truth demands that we submit our insights and conclusions to others who provide needed feedback and criticism. Otherwise, we cannot know truth from our own biases and limited perspectives. And by the way, this community could be authors that you encounter. Never stop reading no matter what. 

Next we stir in cups of humility and respect. Like Socrates, humbly knowing that we do not know everything and perhaps know less than others if the first step towards wisdom. As hard as it is sometimes, we have to accept the viewpoints of others even if it challenges our strongly held beliefs. Be humble in the face of disagreement rather than defensive. You might actually learn something new. In fact, you might actually change your mind. This is not a bad thing.

Finally, top off your creation with acts of courage that takes risks to create new knowledge, new friendships, new environments, and new action. “We’ve always done it this way” should be the scariest statement you ever hear. Be willing to challenge established ways of thinking as part of your humble quest for truth. But never do it in a way that is demeaning or disrespectful of the dignity of others.

Graduates, this is the recipe that we have cooked up for you over these past four years. Not just so you could successfully walk across this platform today but also to navigate your next steps and the thousands of steps you will take after today. It is the meal that will guide your big decisions (who will be your life partner? What career will you pursue? Who will remain your lifelong friends?) And small decisions (what causes will I join? Will I ever give up Tik Tok? Will I stop posting indulgent selfies? Will I focus on friendships rather than followers?)

Learning is simply not enough. But after your years on this hilltop, you know this. You have eaten of this meal and have been transformed. Now go forward, ever forward, with a desire to pursue truth no matter where it leads, to create community no matter where you land, to lead with humility and respect no matter whom you encounter, and to act with courage to create a new heaven and a new earth no matter how familiar your surroundings. 

And remember that no matter how far you journey, you will always find respite and refuge on this beautiful hilltop. And one last thing; never lose hope because no matter how bad it seems, it is better than you think. 

Congratulations class of 2024!

Hi everyone! I couldn’t be happier to be here if I tried. 

I’m honored to be invited to celebrate the class of 2024 - a group of people beyond deserving of a celebration. FINALLY. You all look fabulous and brilliant and full of the great fortune of never having to take another final exam at Saint Anselm College ever again. (You should clap for that!)

Thanks to Dr. Favazza for asking me to be here today. He and I actually hadn’t met until the very surprising Zoom call when he asked if I would speak to you all. To which I’m pretty sure I responded, ‘Are you sure?’ We’ll find out in about 8-10 minutes if he regrets that choice. 

I’m here today to kick off your move from your current identity as Saint Anselm student - to the next phase - graduate. Alum. I’m honored to be here to watch you walk across this stage. There are few times in your life when transformation happens over such a short, clear path. You’ll walk from one side, to the other, and you’ll be different. 

On one side of the stage, is the you that is able to eat a buffalo chicken calzone with no consequences. But once you take that diploma, I’m sorry to tell you but there’s some biological change that happens and your body will now reject buffalo chicken calzones. Sorry it’s not my fault, this is backed by scientific evidence. 

It’s an honor to bear witness to this transformation. 

When I sat there - where you are - actually I was right there I believe. In the front row. Yes, I just outed myself as an honors student. I was a touch overachiever. But I worried so much while sitting in that seat. Small things, surely, like is my hair exploding out of this cap. Yes, then, and yes, now. But I also worried about big things. Will I find a job I love? Will I find a job, at all? This was 2010 remember, not the best of economic times. And I was about to make a real expensive next step: Graduate school. For Journalism. Not known to be a lucrative field. 

I am not ashamed in the least to say I was also worried about missing my friends. Perhaps equally as much as how I would make it financially in this world. My college roommate for three years - Megan - is one of the biggest gifts Saint Anselm gave to me. What would life be like when she wasn’t there, all the time? 

Maybe you’re worried about these things now. If it helps at all - or let’s be honest, if it helps your fan club back there - I not only got a job, I went from being undeclared at Saint Anselm until the absolute last minute it was allowed, to firmly believing that as a reporter, I have the best job in the world. It was a journey, but I'm here now.

The real best part though is Megan is here today - with her husband Justin, also a 2010 grad. They were married in the Abbey church. Some of you will do the same. Others of you may play my role, sobbing bridesmaid. And get ready for this: Megan and I are both moms now. And our daughters were born just a few months apart. Some of you are like wow chill Lauren with the kid stuff I have not even graduated yet. I get it - some of you don’t know how you’ll feed yourselves without access to a meal plan... 

All this to say, I just want you to know - your worries are real. Your sadness about leaving this gorgeous bubble, it’s legit. But there is also so much beauty ahead. I’m thrilled for you to experience it.

And yet, I would be a terrible Saint Anselm graduate if I didn’t also grapple with the complexity and challenges that life will inevitably drop on you.

I love this quote by Audre Lorde. “I have a duty” she said, “to speak the truth as I see it and to share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigating pain.” 

I know you all know a thing or two about pain and the grief that emerges from losing milestone experiences. I promise not to go on and on about how COVID upended your last year of high school. And your first year here. I mostly just want to validate - how awful and unfair that was for you all specifically. There is no good timing for a pandemic, for anyone, but I recognize it was especially unfortunate for you all. 

I want to honor how difficult it was, because I know that pain is now in your bones. You were forced to push forward. To choose resilience. Those lonely days of masks and dorm meals and Zoom classes, you are all now uniquely built to endure. And that, in my opinion, will only serve you. Now, when pain, grief, tragedy come your way - you will feel it, obviously, but you’ll also be able to dig deep and remember. You’ve been here before. And you got yourself out of it. 

This is probably why Dr. Favazza asked me to come here today. Not just because I sat in that chair like you are, mulled over Plato like you did. But because I too know unmitigating pain - and was forced to push forward. 

In January 2021 - while you were all in your freshman dorms - I was on the phone with a woman named Elizabeth. She was nervous - but determined. Elizabeth told me if telling me her story - as hard, and awful as it was, would help even one addiction treatment center be better, she was happy to do it. 

Elizabeth would become one of many brave women I spoke to over the past few years, that helped me uncover multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving the founder and CEO of New Hampshire’s biggest addiction treatment provider. 

I had to work really hard to gain people’s trust. So many of them were terrified. This guy - they’d say - he knows the governor. He’s super rich. He flies a helicopter to work sometimes. He’s friends with dangerous people - you don’t want to mess with him. 

I could have stopped reporting right then. But I just couldn’t. Elizabeth and other women - they did such a big brave thing, telling their truth to a stranger. Hoping that journalism could help them in a way that it seemed nothing else could. For so long, they worried - who would believe women with substance use disorder over a powerful business owner?

My sources were right to warn me. 

Not long after I published this story - four homes connected to me were vandalized. Bricks and rocks thrown through windows. The c-word spray painted on my parents garage - and my boss’ front door. I have this gorgeous, big picture window at the front of my house. Someone chucked a brick right through it - and then spray painted “Just the Beginning” exclamation point underneath it. 

Soon after that, the guy I had investigated - he sued me, some of my sources and my newsroom for defamation. 

Unmitigating pain. Audre gets it. 

These attacks were so much bigger than just me and this one story. This was an attack on the first amendment. On democracy. On all of our ability to speak freely. There was no question. I had to keep going. And I did. About a year later, I put out a podcast called The 13th Step. It’s about the pervasiveness of sexual misconduct in recovery spaces all over - but it's also about how hard it can be to tell the truth.

I tried to find a section from one of my old Humanities textbooks that might be able to underscore why, despite all that violence and pressure, I kept going. (Yes, I still have those textbooks moved with them around the country and its finally paying off)

But as I flipped through - I realized my experience on this campus has always been so much more than just the texts we read, the lectures we attended. It’s more like an energy that evolved. A moral compass that was developed. An understanding that every day we have the opportunity to try and balance inequities. To question authority. To tell the truth. 

Here’s Audre Lorde again. This is a quote from a commencement address she gave at Oberlin in 1989. Which I highly suggest you look up as it eerily reads like she could have given it today. She says quote:

“And when they ask you, what did she say, tell them I asked you the most fundamental question of your life who are you, and how are you using the powers of that self in the service of what you believe?”

Covid robbing you of normalcy - forcing you into isolation. That could have defeated you. And honestly, who could have judged you if it had. If NHPR had been like, hey so Lauren, I think that’s enough, that would have been completely reasonable. 

But we pushed through. And now, we are sitting on the other side, four years later having leveled up. And for the record, we ended up winning that lawsuit. You are sitting here today, smarter and tougher than ever before.

So the question is: How will we use these new powers? 

I don’t have to tell you - the problems that need solving in this world - that list is long. Inequality, racism, polarization, misinformation, climate change, entrenched, international conflicts, attacks on democracy. Clearly you have your pick. 

I plan to use my powers to unearth more hidden truths. To give voice to people who are too often ignored or dismissed.

But what will YOU do? Over the next few weeks as the shock and champagne of this glorious day wear off...I hope you reflect on what it is that YOU believe in. How are you going to use your new powers for good?

In the event that you’re feeling motivated - I want to offer you some unsolicited advice. Tips on how you’ll pull off this great, human work you’re about to do. 

Writer Angela Garbes once said that “CARE is really the backbone of our society. That work is what makes all other work possible.” Angela was talking specifically here about domestic work, caring for children. And I couldn’t agree more. 

But I think Angela would allow me to take it a step further to say that caring for ourselves and for each other is what makes everything else possible. Apparently Angela has a note taped on her fridge that says “One day at a time. Loving ourselves and each other.” How great is that.

Promise me that you will all take care of yourselves. You’ll drink lots of water, you’ll find therapists when you need them, you’ll listen when your body tells you it needs a break. You’ll stop mindlessly scrolling, and call the people who understand you, you’ll read the news.

(Sorry I originally was going to tell you to floss but I hardly remember to do that so, pay for journalism, will you!)

I hope you take time to reflect on the things that make you feel the most you. And do them. 

And when your community needs you - you’ll be there, standing at the Saint Anselm statue with flowers.

And when this community steps up for you, you’ll always remember to write a thank you note.

Because our world doesn’t need any old tired, checked out version of you. We need the rested, compassionate version. 

Class of 2024 - you deserve to celebrate loudly. Look around at all the people who believe in you. How lucky you are. 

Congratulations!

My dear friends, I am pleased to be with you this afternoon as the Celebrant and Homilist for this Baccalaureate Mass. Tomorrow, Lauren Chooljian Baer will deliver the commencement address. I met Lauren nearly twenty years ago. She is a wonderful person and a very accomplished journalist. If you ask anyone who knows her, myself included, they will tell you they are not at all surprised by the many things she has accomplished. However, just for a moment, allow me to make a few comparisons between Lauren and me.

Lauren is a member of the Saint Anselm College Class of 2010.

I am also a member of the Saint Anselm College Class of 2010.

When she was a student here at Saint Anselm, Lauren was a history major.

When I was a student here at Saint Anselm, I was a history major.

Lauren will deliver your Commencement address.

I am delivering this Homily for your Baccalaureate Mass.

At Commencement tomorrow, Lauren will receive an Honorary Doctorate…

At Commencement tomorrow, I will stand and applaud when that happens.

As you’ve probably surmised, our common class year and major is where the comparison between Lauren and me ends.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is very fitting that this Commencement weekend falls at the very end of the Easter season. This Sunday, we celebrate the great Solemnity of Pentecost, commemorating that day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, and the Great Commission from Jesus to bring the Gospel to the whole world was propelled forward. This weekend, we celebrate the conclusion of the Class of 2024’s time here at Saint Anselm as students, and we charge you with the mission of using the gifts and talents you have cultivated during your time here to go and illumine your corner of the world with the divine light that is within each of you.

Our Gospel reading this afternoon comes from the end of the Gospel of Saint John and is fitting for reflecting on the end of one journey and the start of the next. We find ourselves after Jesus’ resurrection in one of his many encounters with the Apostles. He speaks with Peter, who, though quite flawed, was chosen as the rock upon which Jesus’ Church is founded. Recall for a moment the events of Good Friday. Peter kept his distance from the Lord and ended up denying that he even knew Jesus, not once, but three times! After hearing Peter’s denial, it is very easy to write him off. How could he do that? Isn’t Jesus his friend? Doesn’t he believe that Jesus is the Son of God? But this encounter teaches us a fundamental lesson, and it is this:

Our faith in God cannot be defined only by a set of ideas, convictions, or rules. Our faith as Christians is an act of being in a relationship with a person, Jesus Christ. In our story today, we encounter the risen Christ who, before ascending into heaven, practices what he preached and forgives Peter for his betrayal. Not only that, but he also heals Peter, who is wounded and broken due to his actions. After all, Peter denied Jesus three times; thus, Jesus asked him this question three times. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” In Peter’s affirmation of love for the Lord, his sin is forgiven.

But the encounter doesn’t end there; Jesus tells Peter, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.” Essentially, Jesus is telling Peter, “OK, friend. I believe you. Now prove it.” That’s because it is easy to tell someone you love them, but showing them is vastly more daunting. But Jesus knows Peter; in fact, he knows Peter better than Peter knows himself. Peter believes he has done the unforgivable. He betrayed his friend, the one he believes is the Son of God. But Jesus sees in Peter his great potential for love, and in this encounter, he helps Peter realize that for himself. These are the parting words of Jesus to his friend Peter.

And so, dear friends, as you get ready to depart this Hilltop, I hope that you have had experiences and interactions during your time on this Hilltop that have shown you the tremendous potential you have for loving God and loving your neighbor because we believe that you are all capable of doing great things with great love. However, if you’re still not convinced of your potential for greatness, let me share a story from my experience as a Saint Anselm College student I hope you can relate to.

As a student here at Saint Anselm, I was a retreat leader in the Campus Ministry Office. During my junior year, I was asked to lead a weekend retreat in the fall semester called “Being Benedictine.” I had never led a retreat before and was very nervous about doing so. However, one of my mentors, Sister Pauline Lucier, who was a Campus Minister at the time and to whom the College’s annual Relay for Life is dedicated, insisted that this be the retreat I led. So, I asked her, “Why me? Why this retreat?” And all 5 feet of this sister of Holy Cross looked me dead in the eye very matter of factly and said, “Because you’re going to be a Benedictine monk one day.” I remember laughing back at her because, at the time, it was one of the most ridiculous things I had ever heard. Me? A Benedictine monk? There’s no way. We agreed to disagree on this subject, and I agreed to lead the retreat anyway.

When we arrived at the retreat house, there was a large box with my name on it on the table as we walked in. Inside the box was everything we could have possibly needed for the weekend retreat, including a folder for each of the 40 participants with their names and the retreat materials already inside. When I opened my folder, there was a handwritten note from Sister Pauline that, in part, read, “I know you're nervous, but you’re going to do just fine. The retreat materials are inside the box, but what you really need you already brought with you. Look inside your head and your heart because they contain what God has already given you to do great things.”

Sister Pauline passed away after a long battle with cancer at the end of my junior year. At the time, I had no idea that that letter was her parting words to me. Now, 16 years after she said those words to me, I stand before you as a Benedictine monk and priest because that is how God has called me to love him and my neighbor. Not so ridiculous after all.

Dear members of the Class of 2024, you have spent these last years at Saint Anselm discovering for yourself the great potential for love that is inside each of you. Through your class work, extracurricular activities, and interactions with other community members, you have cultivated the love God has put inside each of you. Never stop cultivating that love, allowing it to grow and flourish because our world needs as much of it as possible. As the now-famous saying goes, “The world needs more Anselmians.”

In many ways, as Saint Anselm College students, you have learned how to do things; you’ve learned the theoretical and the conceptual. However, one of the unique marks of a Saint Anselm education is that you’ve learned how to put theoretical and conceptual knowledge into practice. So, your final assignment as a Saint Anselm College student is this: Go forth from this place and bring that same love to whichever community you find yourself in next. Like Jesus did for Saint Peter, we are given the same charge; we must put our love into practice. One of the things Saint Anselm College says to you by giving you a diploma is, “OK, friend. We’ve given you the education and opportunity to learn about many things, especially loving God and loving your neighbor. You know what you have to do. Now go do it!” God Bless You