Commencement speakers urge graduates to work with others

Published: 2005-05-25

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In commencement ceremonies at Catholic colleges and universities across the country, graduates were urged to aspire to lofty goals while remaining true to their calling of faith and dedicated to working with others. Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, urged graduates at The Catholic University of America May 14 "not to flee from this culture but to engage it and transform it." "If you, the graduates of The Catholic University of America, do not transform Main Street and Wall Street and Hollywood Boulevard and Biotech Park, then who will?" he asked. At St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., graduates were urged May 15 to develop conversation skills. "The solutions to today's biggest problems will not come from big organizations or big government," said Kathryn Sullivan, a former astronaut and the first American woman to walk in space. Instead, she said, they will come from "individuals talking to one another about things that matter."

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