Some personal thoughts on graduation at NotreDame

Many readers and friends have asked me to write my thoughts on the graduation at Notre Dame, and I am most happy to comply.

It rained copiously when we first arrived on campus. One could not help think of Our Lady's tears. And yet it was a joyful welcome dinner that first night, put out for graduates' families in the dining hall, all of us together with grandparents.

As parents of a graduate we were allowed to stay in our son's dorm, which was clean and comfortable. His dorm, like all dorms at ND, has a beautiful chapel (see photo collage I made), where I found myself early morning, rosary in hand. Yes, I did expect that some other parents, with equally torn hearts, would be there with me in prayer, seeking His wisdom and counsel. Alas, I found myself alone. The silence, and quiet, helped me, as I shed tears and asked my Father in heaven for guidance.

It is difficult to express in words, as many of you will agree, what prayer does: how it affects the mind, how it touches the heart, how the voice of God is heard. Most of all, how it feeds the peace of spirit. I can only give testimony to what it did for my soul, and report that the sun, just to agree with my state of mind, decided to show and dry the tearful rain for the rest of the weekend.

From then on it was a whirlwind of activities, events, photo ops. Husband, our graduate and I went to the prayer vigil at the beautiful Alumni Hall chapel which was packed, with lines streaming outside.
A statement from our son, in personal conversation, saying I was the most important person in his education and that I must go to the commencement, coupled with his being offered tickets for the entire family, crystallized my decision. I left the rest in God's hands.

After lines of security checks I sat with the kids on one of the top rows, while Husband and grandparents had our chair seats just a few feet from the floor. I met a fellow graduate's mother who had a pro-life carnation pinned to her dress and we talked for a few minutes: she was a local resident and has spoken to the bishop personally. When she told me the bishop was encouraging the parents of graduates to attend their children's commencement my heart thanked God for this further confirmation.

We saw the graduates processing in, followed by the faculty and finally the presidents of Notre Dame and of the USA entering together. We stood up in respect for our president. Fr. Jenkins spoke first, and I must say his speech was much more problematic to me than the President's, which was for the most part predictable in his let's all get along line. His introduction of Obama sounded like a campaign refrain, and his nervous delivery reflected a changed man. In fact, he was not himself during the whole weekend, agitated, tired-looking, and stumbling repeatedly on words. Well, I guess if I had more than 70 bishops speaking against a major decision of mine I wouldn't sleep very well either.

Obama's speech started and I immediately noticed that we weren't alone when we did not stand or clap at certain statements. Actually we weren't alone at all. There were people all over the audience who never clapped or stood, like us, for some of Jenkin's and Obama's words. Our son, likewise, wasn't the only student who did not clap at certain parts. I wonder if the media showed us. I also wonder if the media taped the overall warm and loud applause when the refusal of the Laetare Medal was mentioned. I must add, to be fair, that his speech was pleasant, entertaining, and that he seemed to be sincere and earnest.

Judge Noonan's speech followed, as a past recipient of the Laetare Medal, and it was excellent! Superbly written, profound, food for much reflection. I found the full text here.

One strong feeling I had all through that event was one of fear. There were "men-in-black" everywhere. Confined, sardines-style, to a filled-to-capacity indoor events center, we could barely move. There were several outbursts and several arrests through Obama's speech and I confess I was praying one of those would not happen right near us, causing guards and policemen to run over my children's heads. A man's black camera with a powerful telescope-zoom lens all of a sudden looked like a gun, and a loud, sharp noise near us had many of us turning our heads at a certain point. I was very watchful, and happy when it was over.

We are proud and happy for our son and our prayer is that God will bring much good from this ordeal. I think, for one thing, that Catholic colleges and universities may be a bit more careful when choosing commencement speakers in the future... and that's a good thing right there.