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Remarks
of Sister Mary Ann Cook, SND
Accepting Her Honorary
Degree At The Trinity College Commencement
May 19, 2002
President McGuire has asked me to speak as a Sister
of Notre Dame, about the hopes and expectations our
congregation might have for Trinity in this 3rd millennium.
That's like inviting a child to draw up a list for Santa
Claus!
Let me say a word first about the origin of the Sisters
of Notre Dame, The circumstances of our congregation's
founding have a particular relevance for this community
we call Trinity.
We were founded in 1804 by two women from very different
backgrounds -
One, Julie Billiart, grew up a "small-town"
girl with little formal education. When her family experienced
financial reverses, she went into the fields as a laborer.
The other, Francoise Blin de Bourdon, was an aristocrat
raised on a family estate and sent to the best convent
schools available. She had made her debut at the court
of the King and Queen of France.
Both women had been targets of the Revolution -
Julie, because of her love for the Church, and her
faithful witness to its teaching; Francoise, because
of her social class.
Each had narrowly escaped death. Their rendez-vous
with danger had deepened their profound trust that,
in the words of the Trinity prayer, the power of the
Father, whom Julie loved to call "the good God,"
would ultimately govern their chaotic world and protect
them.
They were women of hope - a vital, energizing hope
that drove them to spend themselves unremittingly in
the service of others, however formidable the obstacles
they faced..
Item #1 on my wish list: To be true to its Notre Dame
heritage, Trinity must engender precisely that kind
of hope: A hope that can stare any Ground Zero straight
in the eye, any disappointment, any failure, any scandal,
any seemingly insuperable challenge, and without denying
the scale of the damage, the risk, or the suffering,
find seeds of opportunity, healing and promise - seeds
to plant and nurture for a better tomorrow.
Item #2 on my SND wish list: The SNDs who set about
founding Trinity in 1897 wanted it to be a college as
good as the best secular women's colleges of their day
and also a college where young women could grow in an
adult faith grounded in the teaching and prayer of the
Church.
To be true to the founding vision of those SNDs, Trinity
must continue to offer its students an education of
the highest calibre and an environment that nurtures
faith as well as knowledge.
The Second Vatican Council's document on the lay vocation
and mission speaks of faith as a kind of searchlight
that enables us to find God everywhere - even in our
Ground Zeroes. Faith, it says, helps us ferret out and
understand God's own kind purposes in everything - even
the most unlikely circumstances. In the light of faith
we come to recognize God's presence in every human being,
however different, weak, unattractive, threatening.
In faith, we are able to make "sound judgments
on the true meaning and value" of things (Decree
on the Apostolate of Lay People, Chapter I, Section.
4).
It's for just such faith that we pray when we say,
in the Trinity prayer, "May the wisdom of the Son
teach and enlighten us." .
Item #3 on my SND wish list. Today is Pentecost. The
Church celebrates the outpouring of the Spirit of God
on the first Christian community. Catholics recite these
words at the beginning of today's Mass: "The Spirit
of the Lord fills the whole world. It holds all things
together ...."
Notice how the image moves from the seemingly limitless,
expansive breadth of "the whole world" to
focus on "holding all things together."
Julie Billiart urged her first Sisters to have hearts
be as wide as the world. She would want the same for
Trinity:
a vision (a heart) as wide as the world;
a range of disciplines capable of matching the challenges
Trinity graduates will face in this new millennium,
a service outreach inspired by the hungers and needs
of those who must make their way, as she would say,
"in the most abandoned places;"
a commitment to exerting positive influence on society
at large.
At the same time, Julie would want Trinity's vision
(its heart) to be anchored in that Spirit of God who
"holds all things together."
We find the key in the second reading of today's Mass:
There are different gifts, but the same Spirit;
there are different ministries, but the same Lord;
there are different works but the same God who accomplishes
all of them in everyone.
To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given
for the common good. (I Cor. 12)
Indeed, there are different gifts at Trinity today
Three schools: the College of Liberal Arts, the School
of Professional Studies, the School of Education.
Graduate and undergraduate degrees
Liberal arts disciplines and professional fields
Women and men students, faculty and staff, reflecting
a rich variety of racial, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Child daycare and Elderhostel
The new Center for Women and Girls in Sports will serve
the neighborhood community as well as our own and, we
hope, Olympic athletes from around the globe in 2012.
Trinity's vision, its heart, is as wide as the world!
May it always be so. And may it always be the Spirit
of God who "hold all things together."
To be true to its heritage, Trinity must be guided
by a vision, a sense of mission, anchored in God. As
we say in the Trinity prayer: "May the love of
the Holy Spirit renew and quicken us," again and
again, as it did Julie and Francoise - women of very
different backgrounds, temperaments and talents, who
shared a common commitment.
And that's the end of my Christmas wish list, spoken,
I hope, as a true SND.
Trinity graduates in this year 2002, one memory you
will probably take away with you is the sight of the
college's magnificent, tall tree in Social Hall each
Christmas. I hope you'll think of it as you trim your
own trees next year. May you find under them, handsomely
wrapped to give you the joy of opening them up, a fresh
supply of the gifts we SNDs wish for you most:
The gift of hope, whatever the challenges you face;
The searchlight of faith, especially in times of uncertainty
or darkness,
Hearts anchored in the love of God,
Hearts as wide as the world!
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