Commencement 2000
Jeremiah Denton Addresses Graduating Seniors at 26th
Commencement
 "The
enemy wants to change this from 'One Nation Under God,'
which we affirm as we pledge our allegiance, to 'One Nation
Without God,'" said Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton
to the 54 seniors graduating from Thomas Aquinas College on
June 10. The former prisoner-of-war hero was visibly moved
as he called the graduates to arms in the cultural war over
our nation's lost religious heritage.
More than 1,200 friends, benefactors, and
guests were on hand for the Commencement Ceremonies which
began with a Latin Novus Ordo Baccalaureate Mass officiated
by Rt. Rev. Ladislas K. Parker, O. Praem., S.T.D., Abbot Emeritus
of St. Michael's Abbey in Silverado, California. Fr. Hugh
C. Barbour, O. Praem., S.T.L., Ph.D., the Prior of the Abbey,
was the homilist.
Admiral Denton had been shot down during
an aircraft mission over North Vietnam. Over the next seven
and a half years he was detained as a prisoner-of-war and,
as a senior officer in command, subjected to the worst kind
of treatment. His book, When Hell Was In Session, recounts
those horrors and manifests his strong Catholic faith which
sustained him.
On his release, Denton went on to receive
numerous military awards and decorations. In November 1980,
he became the first Roman Catholic, and the first Republican
U.S. senator ever elected from Alabama, where he left a rich
legacy of important pro-life, pro-family, and humanitarian
aid legislation. He and his wife, Jane, have seven children.
Currently, he is establishing a program to provide humanitarian
aid around the world through private sector shipping services.
Denton commended the graduates for devoting
their lives to learning and the study of truth. "Jesus
did say we should come to Him as little children, but He also
put us here to know Him. And knowledge - true knowledge
- increases the power to evangelize. If you come to Him as
educated and enlightened faithful adults, you may lead others
to Him. And that's what we need today if this country is to
continue to believe in God."
Denton told the graduates, who hail from
22 states, Canada, and Bulgaria, that he was deeply proud
of his association with the College. "It's like a little
diamond, the greatest Catholic college in America," he
said. President Thomas Dillon presented Denton with the St.
Thomas Aquinas Medallion for his extraordinary dedication
to God and the Church.
Senior Nathan Schmiedicke was chosen by his
classmates to give the Senior Address. "In our time at
Thomas Aquinas College," he said, "we found the
love of learning in an academically excellent tradition; we
found the love and friendship of each other in a peaceful
community; and my sincere hope is that we have also found
within ourselves that union of the love of learning and the
love of others which manifests itself in that holy desire
to share the truth we have learned with everyone we meet."
Schmiedicke intends to return to his home
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and to enter the diocesan seminary
to become a priest. Ten of his classmates (nearly 20%) are
considering entering the priesthood or religious life. Another
third are considering options to attend graduate school. Theodore
Christov, for example, a native of Bulgaria, will attend Harvard
Divinity School this fall, after attending a summer program
at the University of Oxford in England. The class of fifty-four
graduates is the College's largest to date.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Summer 2000
|
