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Celebrating Christendom’s 44th Commencement

BY ZACH SMITH

Why do anniversaries matter? They serve as reminders—reminders of how far one has come, of a commitment to something greater, of the importance of tradition. The past year at Christendom College has been a constant reminder of these things and more as the entire community looked back at the past 45 years, examining the college’s humble roots and celebrating what has been accomplished since 1977. Commencement 2023

Celebrations provided fitting exclamation points throughout the year—from an academic convocation in September to the grand dedication of the college’s new Christ the King Chapel in April. Finally—and fittingly—the college’s 44th Commencement served as the capstone to a year of blessings, as the college gathered to say farewell to the class of 2023 and look forward to all they have yet to accomplish in this life.

The joy-filled weekend began on Friday, May 12, with the Baccalaureate Mass. Blessed with beautiful, summer-like weather, graduates processed with the Diocese of Arlington’s Bishop Michael Burbidge from the college’s old Christ the King Chapel, where they spent so many hours in front of Our Blessed Lord, to the college’s new Christ the King Chapel for the mass. College chaplain Fr. Marcus Pollard offered the homily, reminding the graduates that God chose and appointed them to go out into the world, to bear fruit, to grow in goodness, and to bring that goodness to others.

“God is going to enable you to be the bearer of his light, to give people hope and wisdom,” said Fr. Pollard. “God’s going to have you take charge of people and circumstances where even if you think, ‘I’m not ready, I can’t do this, I can’t handle this,’ but the Lord says, ‘Yes, you are. You can do this. You can solve this problem, you can make this project happen.’ And finally, in all sorts of ways, you’re going to be sent out to guide people, by the example that you set, by the words that you say, so that, as our Lord says, ‘It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.’ He has chosen you. He appoints you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”

Following the Mass, graduates and their families traveled to the nearby Shenandoah Valley Golf Club, which overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround Christendom, for cocktails and dinner. For the first time, parents met the faculty and staff that they had heard so much about, while soon-tobe graduates celebrated with each other on their final night as Christendom students.

During the dinner, Bishop Burbidge was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his outstanding leadership of the college’s home diocese. In his address, Bishop Burbidge thanked the college for warmly welcoming him over the past six years and called the college a “treasure.”

“This is truly a great honor and a privilege to accept this degree; I am very humbled,” said Bishop Burbidge. “This degree will serve as a reminder of my great gratitude for this college, which is a treasure to this diocese and to the Universal Church. It will also be a daily reminder that I will be praying continually for the Christendom College community, that the Lord will continue to shower His graces upon you, your great work, and your great ministry.”

Several toasts punctuated the rest of the evening, with College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Gregory Townsend, Senior Class President Makayla Paradis, and Student Body President Joshua Forbes all raising their glasses to the parents, the student body, and the college’s faculty and staff.

The next morning, the class of 2023 gathered again to make their way to St. Louis the Crusader Gymnasium. Processing from St. John the Evangelist Library, where they took so many classes together as students, they made their way into the commencement ceremonies, ready to culminate four years of learning, sacrificing, and growing in faith together.

Once inside St. Louis the Crusader Gymnasium, salutatorian Rachel Riordan welcomed the hundreds of guests present to this year’s commencement exercises, thanking the college’s faculty and staff, the parents and families, the student body, and, above all, God for making this commencement possible.

“Why did we undertake this four-year journey?” asked Riordan. “There are a number of good reasons that we did so, but ultimately the reason we learned to develop our minds and our various talents through this education was so that we could place them at the feet of Christ our King. This year, we witnessed the completion of our beautiful new chapel of Christ the King, a wonderful testimony to the glory of God. Our class has had the unique privilege of seeing the building of this chapel from start to finish. In some sense, we grew together with this chapel. This building is a concrete reminder to us of what we are called to do as graduates of Christendom College. We built up and developed our God-given talents through our education here at Christendom so that we too could be a testimony of God’s glory to other people.”

Following her address, Dr. O’Donnell awarded the college’s St. Thomas More Medal for Defense of the Faith and Holy Mother Church to this year’s commencement speaker, Dr. John Haas, president emeritus of the National Catholic Bioethics Center. To begin his commencement address, Haas praised the graduates, the parents, and the college’s faculty and staff for their hard work and sacrifices that made this day possible.

“Christendom College is truly a light to the nation,” said Haas. “It is renowned for its scholarship and for its fidelity to the Catholic faith. We congratulate all of you students today who have worked so hard for your diplomas, and we congratulate your parents and other family members for giving you support through what has certainly been a challenging, demanding, joy-filled, and, I’m sure, exhilarating journey. Today, we look forward to the future with hope.”

Haas spoke passionately about the issues graduates will face following graduation, including abortion, rampant secularism, and a culture that has turned its back on its Judeo-Christian tradition. He then challenged the graduates to go out into the world and use everything they learned at Christendom to truly “restore all things in Christ.”

“You, Christendom graduates, are equipped to confront today’s tyrants by looking to the example of St. Thomas More and invoking his prayers, and because of the unparalleled education you’ve received here in the Shenandoah Valley,” said Haas. “Your task will be to help reorder the world and bring it once more into alignment with what God created it to be. The challenges are there, but we can be of good cheer because we are Catholics…you have been formed, prepared, and educated for this moment here at Christendom. Through the rigorous and faithful program of this college, you have been truly educated, and you, the parents, should never regret the sacrifices you made for your children’s education here at Christendom. Dear graduates of Christendom, dare to be great.”

After the address, Director of Alumni Relations Vince Criste presented the Student Achievement Award to Michelle Kelly in recognition of her many outstanding contributions to the college community. Throughout her four years, Kelly was an inspiration on campus and exhibited unwavering care for the college’s student body, displaying “kindness and joy to all” and serving as a role model for “what it means to be a Christendom College student.”

Following the delivery of degrees, valedictorian Matteo Stocco provided the farewell address for the class of 2023. Stocco reminded his class of the many blessings they experienced as students at Christendom, from the faculty to the staff, and finally to the community of students that strove to inspire each other daily. While their time as students together had come to an end, Stocco encouraged his class to “pray, hope, and don’t worry” as they begin the next stage of their lives.

“Our work as students at Christendom has already reached completion in this joyful, yet bittersweet, ceremony,” said Stocco. “However, the work of our life is hopefully far from completion. We are about to leave this place of great grace and blessing and enter a world which, as Dr. Haas reminded us, is much less friendly to us. But saints and soon-to-be saints of modern times remind us that sons and daughters of God need not fear even in the midst of a crazy world. My fellow graduates, let us strive without hesitation…to ‘restore all things in Christ.’ Let us never lose sight of the great good to be achieved by living every moment and making every decision based on the principles we have learned here. And let us always, with great gratitude, begin, continue, and complete our work under the direction of God’s marvelous providence and with the help of His grace.”

Closing the Commencement Ceremonies on Saturday, College President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell delivered his charge to the graduates.

Only a few moments later, the class of 2023 stood together, one last time, outside Christ the King Chapel. Their graduation caps and tassels went flying into the air and came down again, mixing with a light rain that fell from the sky. Tight embrace after tight embrace followed as the weight of this moment and its significance became, finally, abundantly clear.

Commencement is a bittersweet moment—a time for immense celebration, but also one of sad farewell. Just as the college has spent the past year reminiscing over the last 45 years of Christendom, the class of 2023 spent the past year looking back on their four years in the Shenandoah Valley. As they held tightly to each other, they could be tempted to think that this was the end of the journey. But, as their classmate Stocco reminded them, their journey is far from completion—just as Christendom’s journey is far from completion as well.

The college’s 45th anniversary year marked the end of one chapter and the start of another, one filled with such promise. That promise extends to the class of 2023 as well. Together, they, like the college, can now continue the work of generations before them, seeking to “restore all things in Christ.”

One hundred fourteen Bachelor of Arts degrees were awarded to the members of the Class of 2023, including Gerard Adams, John Adams, Dylan Aiello, Anna Berg-Arnold, Maggie Black, Mary Black, Michael Blank, Kurt Bourget, Fiona Briggs, Philip Brown, Christina Buehler, Christina Burke, Abigail Butek, Erica Christie, Grace Clark, Isabel Cleary, Maria Coffey, Joseph Cole, Caroline Connell, Bridget Crnkovich, Therese Cruz, Isabel Cumbelich, Kaelan Damitz, Colin Deighan, Erin Deighan, John Paul DeJak, Thomas Donahoe, Joseph Dotson, Joseph Ellefson, Gabriel Fewkes, Joshua Forbes, Luke Foyle, Hannah Freivald, Zoe Frisch, Charles Fuller, Madigan Gannon, Sebastian Ghering, Rachel Giaccio, Chelsea Gilday, Daniel Gillio, Hannah Gjolberg, Zoe Grimm, Claire Guernsey, John Paul Gutschke, Halina Hibl, Regina Hibl, Sean Hilbert, Julia Hill, Zachary Hsu, Sofia Hudson, Marissa Hund, Thomas James, Juliana Jamieson, Rebecca Jaynes, David Johnson, Rebecca Kaminski, Donald Kelly, Michelle Kelly, Joseph Kokes, Margaret Kolesar, Teresa Lagano, Mary Lueck, Javier Madan, Joseph Madigan, Mary Maggio, Cassandra Marilley, Catherine McCaughey, Mary McCloskey, Caroline McDermott, Mary McDonough, Anna McDuffie, Helen McGuire, Claire Mense, Ryan Mumford, Aganze Nkere, Katherine Noe, Elizabeth Nussio, Sebastian O’Keefe, Finnbarr O’Reilly, Therese Ohotnicky, Elizabeth Ostrowski, Makayla Paradis, John Pascoe, John Pelczar, Emily Piorkowski, Rachel Riordan, Thomas Santschi, Gwyneth Sawicki, Sarah Scarchilli, Joseph Scarlata, Ryan Schantz, Cyril Schaper, Trevor Scott, Alice Seeley, Dominic Smith, Johnathan Stahl, Lucy Stanford, Jacob Stevens, Matteo Stocco, Katherine Summers, Patrick Switzer, Philomena Swope, Grace Tipton, Celine Townsend, Lucia Ulizko, Mary Van Alstine, Maria Vicente, Lucia Vicenzino, Sean Walker, Katherine Walz, Sarah Weichert, Matthew Westin, Noah Wollersheim, and Matthew Wright.