Our fates are united, Joseph Patrick Kennedy III told the Fordham Class of 2024, and peace is possible when we recognize that “our pathway forward is together.”

Speaking at Fordham’s 179th Commencement on May 18, the U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs recalled that region’s painful history—and eventual peace—to illustrate that even amid longstanding war and division, there is reason for hope. 

“While we may come from different backgrounds and perspectives, the lesson Northern Ireland teaches is that our future is shared,” he said from Keating Terrace on the Rose Hill campus, just after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University.

“It is as true in Belfast as in Boston. It is true across our United States. It is true in Israel and Gaza, where terror and heartbreak, violence, and suffering must give way to a shared future. And it is true in every other corner and cranny of our planet.”

A Bostonian who told graduates he loves New York (even if he can’t quite get behind the Yankees), Kennedy is a grandson of the former New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He represented the 4th Congressional District of Massachusetts for four terms before assuming his diplomatic role in 2022.

Northern Ireland’s journey from the strife known as the Troubles, which ended in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, is proof that change is possible, he told graduates.

“It’s not perfect. Like everything human, it is really messy and really hard. But 26 years later, the region is still at peace,” he said.

As the sun shone through clouds on the crowd of more than 20,000 people, Kennedy shared anecdotes about meeting people in Derry and Belfast who once were enemies but now are working together. 

“There is a difference between being guided by the past and being held hostage by it,” he said. 

“If we are bold and brave enough, we can learn to make space for each other, even when we disagree on really big things—if not for our benefit, then for those whose futures are yet to be written.”

He told graduates that the world they inherit needs them.

“It is a world that needs your vision and your grace. Your empathy and ambition. Your courage to choose to leave the world a little better than you found it,” he said. 

“And please hurry. Your world awaits, and it needs your help.”

A Time to Celebrate

In her second Fordham commencement address, President Tania Tetlow acknowledged that this year’s ceremonies hold special resonance for many students whose high school graduations were disrupted by the COVID pandemic. 

“Today is the day to glory in what you have achieved,” she said, noting that even the Empire State Building will be shining in the graduates’ honor tonight.

In graduating, students joined the ranks of millions of Jesuit-educated people around the world who can bond with each other simply by referencing the phrase cura personalis, or care for the whole person, she said. 

“But this isn’t the kind of secret handshake that gets you insider entitlement. Instead, it’s an enormous responsibility that you carry with you forever,” she said.  

“You came to Fordham with blazing talent, each of you blessed by abundant gifts from God. But—and this may be a rare thing to say at commencement—those gifts do not make you better than anyone else,” she said.

“What makes you special is how you use your gifts to matter to the world.”

The University officially conferred roughly 3,300 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the ceremony. Including those who graduated in August 2023 and February 2024 and those who are expected to graduate in August 2024, the University will confer nearly 5,700 academic degrees in all.

In addition to Kennedy, Fordham conferred honorary doctorates upon two other notable figures: Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and a leading global activist against capital punishment, and the University’s former board chairman Robert D. Daleo.

—Photos by Chris Taggart, Bruce Gilbert, Hector Martinez, and Taylor Ha

Watch the full ceremony here.

“The youth are going to make the difference. I believe in you. That’s why I sing, and that’s why I’m motivated,” he said at the May 20 ceremony, just after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University.

‘Stand Up and Be Counted’

“Fordham has given you the tools to achieve, to excel, and to do great things in this world. But that’s not gonna happen by sitting on your hands,” he said.

“You’ve got to be activists. You have to vote. You have to serve your communities and you must enlighten the unenlightened.”

Wonder—a winner of 25 Grammys with 32 No. 1 singles— was honored for both his artistry and his leadership on social and humanitarian issues, such as making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday and expanding the availability of published works in accessible formats such as Braille, large print, and audiobooks.

He challenged the graduates assembled on Edwards Parade to use their education to respond to the realities of the world’s suffering. 

“You really do have to be woke. Now, maybe some leaders in this nation don’t understand what being woke is. Let me tell you what it is. It’s being awake. And being awake means being aware,” he said, citing issues such as health care, education, and the recent chokehold death of homeless man Jordan Neely on the subway.

“So stand up and be counted as one against oppression, hatred, and let’s keep the truth alive,” he said.

To the crowd’s delight, a keyboard was brought on stage, drawing loud cheers from graduates and families who were gathered under a light rain. 

Wonder sang a song from his new project, Through the Eyes of Wonder, before segueing into “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” drawing more cheers and applause.

‘What Makes You Special Is How You Will Use Your Gifts’

In her first Fordham Commencement address, Fordham President Tania Tetlow offered personal reflections about learning from her youngest sister, who graduated from high school despite having severe learning disabilities. She also talked about her parents and grandparents, who overcame the hardships of the Great Depression and World War II.

Like them, she said, the Class of 2023 has shown determination in the face of obstacles these past few years.

“There is so much about the pandemic we are eager to forget,” she said. “But when we look at those generations forged in the fires of suffering and crisis, we see the generations who’ve mattered most to history.”

And while she lauded graduates for their “blazing talent” and being “blessed by abundant gifts from God,” she cautioned that those gifts “do not make you better than anyone else.” 

“What makes you special is not that good luck. It’s what you have done with your gifts. The endless hard work, in the library and the labs, the dance studios, and moot courtrooms. What makes you special is how you will use your gifts to matter to the world—as teachers, lawyers, social workers and health care workers, as business people who will build new forms of opportunity.”

Facing a fast-changing world with enormous courage, as graduates are, is quintessentially Jesuit, she said.  

“Graduates, look around you—this is the family you have chosen. And Fordham is your forever home.”

The University conferred degrees upon 3,453 graduates today. Including those who graduated in August 2022 and February 2023, the University conferred about 5,453 academic degrees to the Class of 2023.

In addition to Wonder, Fordham conferred honorary doctorates on seven other notable figures: Norman Francis, a widely respected civil rights leader and former Xavier University president; Sharon Greenberger, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater New York; Regina Pitaro, a Fordham trustee fellow, graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill and a managing director of GAMCO Investors; Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; Jeh Johnson, an attorney and widely quoted expert on national security issues who served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017; and Jennifer Jones Austin, chief executive officer of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies in New York City.

— Photos by Bruce Gilbert, Chris Taggart, Chris Gosier, Marisol Diaz, and Matthew Septimus

“I was looking for a degree in Christian spirituality. I started with the certificate program in spiritual direction, and then I ran out of classes and I was still interested,” he said with a smile.

He pursued a master’s degree at GRE, still not planning on going for a doctorate. But the opportunity to dive deeper into areas such as practical theology and spiritual direction was appealing to him.

“I was able to explore interests I had without feeling too constrained,” he said. “The great surprise for me was all the work we did around the field of practical theology.”

A ‘Transformative’ Practical Theology Class

Suriano said that the practical theology class he took, taught by religion professor Thomas Beaudoin, Ph.D., was transformational.

“He, in his own gentle and persistent way, got all of us to think differently about our ministry,” he said. “I can’t really say enough about how that semester changed my ministry here at the church and my ideas around it.”

Beaudoin said he teaches students to use practical theology to examine and understand their own lives and spiritualities.

“The ultimate curriculum is the student’s life, and so theology matters in part because we need to learn how to reckon with our lives—our lives individually and our lives together,” he said.

Beaudoin said that as a part of the program, Suriano was able to reckon with his unique spiritual background. He came to Fordham after decades in church ministry, which started when he was ordained a Catholic priest before he joined the United Church of Christ in 1993.

“He was interested from the beginning in using the language of Christian spirituality, to hold together his Protestant and his Catholic heritage and commitments,” Beaudoin said.

A Queer Vocation

Beaudoin said that one way Suriano did this was through his study of queer theology and his eventual thesis, “A Queer Vocation: Growing into Power.”

Suriano said that studying queer theology helped him develop a sense of “how I as a queer person have a voice in the church, that I may speak to the church in a way that is powerful and meaningful,” he said.

He called his thesis a “great intersection between some personal work and also some work about the church itself, including the congregation I serve.”

“I began to explore, just briefly, in my thesis about how for queer people in the church there is this connection with Christian spirituality and how to find our place in the church that isn’t centered around the debate over whether or if we should be there,” he said, but instead centered around some of the unique gifts that queer people can bring.

Past, Present, and Future

Beaudoin said when Suriano was able to “engage wholeheartedly in queer theories and queer spirituality,” it “really opened him up to a new horizon.”

“There was something noble and challenging and nourishing about this idea of queer vocation, and he really claimed that in three ways: as a way to make sense of his heritage; and then queer vocation as a way to understand what he’s about intellectually and spiritually now; but then also as a hopeful path to and through retirement in ministry.”

Beaudoin said that it was rewarding to see Suriano, who had already accomplished so much before coming to the program, “say an even deeper yes” to his life, vocation, and intellectual project.

“He’s so thoughtful, and he’s so reflective,” he said. “Also it’s humbling—it puts me in the role of perpetual student to be in the presence of students like that. I get to learn from his example as he goes deeper.”

This year, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development—an office that promotes human development, particularly for migrants and refugees—launched a new project under Pope Francis. The goal of the project, Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries, was to interview those who are often excluded from conversations in the church and to use their feedback to improve the church and its practices. 

The dicastery recruited nearly 100 theologians, including Hinze, to speak with people across each continent. (Hinze is the sole representative from Fordham.) More than 500 people, including migrants, refugees, prisoners, and victims of abuse—people who live at “the existential peripheries,” in the words of Pope Francis—shared testimonials.

Testimonials on Some of the Most Pressing Issues

Last semester, Hinze conducted in-person interviews in New York with about 50 people, predominantly Catholics. He met members of three groups—Black Catholics in the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem, LGBTQ Catholics in St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan, and Latina Catholic migrants at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Bronx—as well as other individuals. 

“I tried to find people who could contribute to a discussion about some of the most pressing issues, especially in the United States. Since I teach theology and in the area of the church, I know that there’s a lot of tension in the U.S. on race issues,” said Hinze. 

In videotaped interviews, he asked them to reflect on their experiences in life and with the church. What were their biggest sources of joy, pain, and sorrow? Where did they see God at work—or not? How had their faith helped or hindered them? How could the church have better helped them? 

Some questions were targeted toward specific groups. They were asked to consider their struggles as immigrants in the Bronx or in the church. Others were asked about how racism and discrimination against their sexual orientation had caused them to think differently about God and Catholicism. 

A Surprising Message of Gratitude 

Trena Yonkers-Talz, GRE ’23, who was recruited by Hinze to interview the Latina women in Spanish, said that her group spoke transparently about their painful memories in the U.S. and in their native countries, where they felt rejected by the church for different reasons, including having a family member in the LGBTQ community. In recounting their stories, many of the women wept, she said. But with the help of God, they were able to heal from their past wounds and imagine a brighter future. 

What surprised her the most, said Yonkers-Talz, was the message they would give Pope Francis if he were sitting beside them. 

“I expected them to want to tell him everything that needed to be fixed, but instead, they wanted to tell him how grateful they are—how much they’re trying to live out their faith and that their faith matters to them,” Yonkers-Talz recalled. “Their posture of gratitude really struck me because our whole conversation wasn’t one of gratitude. Yet at the end, there was still this profound sense of faith and gratitude for the church and its leadership.” 

‘That’s a Message That the Universal Church Needs to Hear’ 

Hinze, who interviewed Black and LGBTQ Catholics, said that the testimonials from both groups were moving and “brutally” honest. 

“The Black Catholics were incredibly honest about their experience of racism in the church by priests and bishops, including priests who won’t talk about violence against Black people in New York, Harlem, and elsewhere,” Hinze said. “They spoke from their heart about it—so much that I was quite moved. I choked up, just listening to them. But at the same time—and this was equally moving—they spoke about how deeply connected they are to their Catholic community and how filled and encouraged they are to be in this group. The LGBTQ group did the same thing. … I think that’s a message that the universal church needs to hear.” 

After analyzing the interview transcriptions, Hinze contributed his summary to a 120-page collective report from the North American theologians that will be made available to bishops worldwide. On Oct. 12, scholars and Vatican officials met at a conference in Rome, one of their first opportunities to discuss the project reports. They will further discuss the theologians’ findings with Pope Francis two years from now in Rome, at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality—a three-year process of listening and dialogue initiated by the Pope.

A project of this scale has never been conducted before by the Vatican, said Hinze. He said he hopes that bishops around the world will sincerely listen to the lay people’s stories and their thoughts on how the church can address where it’s fallen short—to “see what life is really like for those who live on the margins and to learn from them.” 

“It all goes back to this: The bishops need to invite and listen to people to talk about their struggles and joys in the church,” he said. These conversations should be going on, not just through the Vatican, but in dioceses and in parishes as well. You need to sit with people in your parish and ask, ‘Who’s on the margins? Who has left the church?’ And talk to them.”

New York Was Her Campus

Daniella Mignogni, FCLC’ 22, a natural science major, arrived at Commencement with her mother Rosa, her father Sam, her brother, and an aunt and uncle who traveled from Houston for the occasion. For her first two years, she commuted from her home in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and although the pandemic kept her from moving into McMahon Hall last year, she was able to live on campus this year. She’s currently working as a dental assistant and is applying to dental school.

“I know it’s so cliché when they say ‘Fordham is my school, New York is my campus,’ but it’s true. I was able to go off campus all the time—going to restaurants, and just exploring the city in general. It was really fun, and I still had all my friends from Fordham.”

Her mother admitted she was emotional and happy.

“It’s been great. She absolutely loves it. She chose the right school for her. Some of the classes were difficult. She stressed, but she always excelled,” she said.

‘I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams’

Being a resident assistant helped bring together friends Ayana Bitter and Che Puentas, both 2022 graduates of Fordham College at Rose Hill.

“I was an RA for three years, and I got to build a community everywhere I was placed,” said Bitter, who’s from the Bronx. “I’ve been placed in freshman buildings so having the ability to help freshmen transition from high school to college has been a big part of my Fordham experience.”

Puentas, who’s from Brooklyn, said that he was only able to be an RA for a year since he transferred in, but it still helped him find his community.

“Being an RA, it’s helped me not only get to make friends within the RA staff and community, but it’s helped me get to know people throughout class years as well,” he said.

Bitter, a sociology major and African and African American studies minor on the pre-law track, will be attending Howard University’s School of Law in the fall. She said she wants to put her Fordham degree to work there.

“I was interested in sociology, learning about people and different groups of people. Being from a marginalized community, it was very important to me to know about aspects of life and how this affects our community and how we can work together, change structures and institutions,” she said. “Sociology does all of that.”

Bitter said that getting to this day is not only special after the last four years, but also because of how much it means to her and her family. She decorated her graduation cap with the phrase “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

“This once wasn’t even a reality for people like us, people of color, and just having the opportunity to be all together with the community, your family’s here it’s just a big achievement,” she said.

A Postgradaute Fellowship in D.C.

For Ned O’Hanlan, GSS ’22, a native of New Canaan who carried the banner for the school at Commencement and served as the school’s Beadle, Commencement marked the first time he’d set foot on the Rose Hill campus.

He did his field work placement in Brooklyn at MJHS Health System and East New York Family Academy, and after graduation, he’s doing a postgraduate fellowship at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

“I felt a part of Fordham before, but after two years, it’s interesting to see everything in person. It’s more exciting, and I feel like it’s a great cap to everything,” he said.

O’Hanlan said that while he had an untraditional experience, taking many classes virtually, the faculty and curriculum made it worth it.

“Any sort of feelings that I felt earlier on when I was a little bit confused about how it would go with Zoom courses, that’s all been appeased,” he said.

Focusing on ‘Business for Good’

For Laira Bhurji, a 2022 graduate from the Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill, attending Fordham not only helped her earn a bachelor’s degree in applied accounting and finance, but also figure out her own identity and community.

“I think a big part of the last four years was figuring out my identity within my college and my community,” she said. “I’m originally from California, so I moved across the country. I did everything by myself, like moving in. It was a solemn experience, but I learned a lot. My parents are immigrants who came here from India. They basically came here with nothing and worked really hard for me to attend a private university. As I reflect, I’m really thankful for all the opportunities I had.”

Bhujri will be going on to work as a risk business controls associate at accounting firm PwC after graduation.

“I’m really into social innovation, entrepreneurship, and business for good,” she said. “I want to change businesses from within, instead of just making new ones. I chose Fordham because of its social innovation programs and proximity towards big businesses I want to work for, like big banks.”

Bhujri said that she plans to use her Fordham lessons in her new role.

“I think my peers and I have a really good head on us, and we think not just about money, but also stepping into the world and figuring out how to impact people on a greater level,” she said.

And she and her family aren’t quite finished with Fordham just yet—her younger brother is following in her footsteps and starting at the Gabelli School of Business this fall.

A Spiritual Director Working with Disaffiliated Children and Their Families

Don Kremer, GRE ’22, a spiritual director from Arkansas, said he was called to pursue his doctor of ministry degree at Fordham.

“I had kind of a spiritual experience in that I heard God telling me to do this. I’m a spiritual director, and I’m a teacher too, so the reason I chose this is that I just liked the social justice orientation,” he said. “I just liked the philosophy of the Jesuits and Fordham.”

During his program at Fordham, Kremer wrote and defended his thesis on the impact of the disaffliation of children on the parents, and plans to put what he learned into practice.

“I hope to take back some sort of ministry for parents of children who have left the church,” he said.

Learning to Be Adept at Adapting

Erica Messina, FCLC ’19 and now GSAS ’22, who got her master’s in English, aid that she appreciated how her Fordham professors and classmates dealt with all the challenges of the last few years.

“What I was most impressed with was that my classes worked both online and in person,” she said. “Students and faculty were all very adaptive. I think my Master’s Capstone was my most rewarding class, being in a classroom physically and talking about how we could improve our work, being supportive of (each other’s) work.”

Messina, who hopes to work in publishing, said that she was “grateful to my family for being supportive of me and putting up with me stacking books all over the house.”

Bringing Cura Personalis to Goldman Sachs

Angel Alcantara, originally from Queens, New York, graduated from the Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center with a bachelor’s degree in global business with a concentration in global finance and business economics.

Alcantara said one of the things he appreciated about his education at Fordham is that it gave him a wider perspective on how to be successful in business beyond just the profits.

“Cura personalis is embedded within every teaching, including finance classes,” he said. “It’s not always cutthroat. It’s more of thinking of the greater good.”

This July, he will begin working as a full-time investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs, and wants to bring some of those lessons with him.

“At the heart of the field is the idea of trying to help companies achieve their end goals. Usually there’s a stigma when it comes to finance that it’s sort of culling the excess employees and stuff like that, but I think it’s more of giving a company opportunities to grow, and that also means giving employees and people the opportunity to extend their living,” he said.

Staying at Fordham for a Social Work Master’s

Meg Cardi, a 2022 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill, said she decided to transfer into Fordham for its social work program, location in New York City, and the community. Cardi, a double major in social work and anthropology, said one of her favorite experiences was participating on the Graduate School of Social Work’s strategic advisory commmittee.

“I was the bachelor’s student representative,” she said. “That was really cool—being able to speak up on what the students are wanting and getting involved in behind the scenes stuff like course schedules.”

Cardi decided to continue her Fordham education at GSS, in the hopes of “advocating for children with chronic illness and disabilities.” That made her graduation feel more like a next step.

“It feels really rewarding—it was a very crazy four years I think especially for this class, getting here and then leaving and then being able to come back, it’s just really exciting,” she said. “I’m staying with Fordham for my master’s degree, so it also feels like I’m not fully done yet, but it’s definitely really exciting and rewarding.”

Completing a Religious Ed Degree Online

Kelly Henderschedt, GRE ’22, decided to pursue her master of arts in religious education, with a concentration in youth ministry, after learning that she would be able to do it all online.

“Since I work in Hartford, I wasn’t able to get to campus, so I’ve been able to take all these great classes but do it remotely,” she said. “I just was impressed with the academic rigor of the program, and … just the great reputation Fordham has.”

Henderschedt, who works for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said she’s going to use her degree to help support the youth ministers and the faith formation leaders there, and hopefully use her own story to inspire them.

“At 53, I didn’t know if I could do it, but I just felt like it would really inform the way I work with the people in Hartford. I just thought, ‘I can do this!’” she said.

A Real Estate Master’s Grad from Colombia

Carlos Mena, PCS ’22, moved to Astoria, Queens, from Colombia more than three years ago.

“I’m happy to be here at Fordham,” he said. “I came as an international student, and the faculty, staff, and the professors—and the whole environment—gave me the opportunity to stay here, and I’ve enjoyed it.”

Mena got his master’s in real estate this year, after already earning degrees in finance, engineering, and public administration in his home country. His goal is to find a job on the development side that connects all of his interests.

“I would like to connect the engineering, the finance, and international view of the [real estate]business,” he said.

Additional reporting by Patrick Verel, Sierra McCleary-Harris, Taylor Ha, and Adam Kaufman.

“Fordham is a very special place, and the student veterans here at Fordham are a really special group,” said guest speaker Jared Lyon, president and CEO of Student Veterans of America, or SVA. At the group’s national conferences, which draw more than 3,000 student veterans from around the country, “people ask questions about what goes on here,” he said. “They want to learn how they can replicate that at their universities.”

He spoke at the Yellow Ribbon Medallion and Bell Ringing Ceremony held by the University’s Office of Military and Veterans’ Services, or OMVS, in Keating Hall at the Rose Hill campus. At the ceremony, 23 of this year’s student veterans and military-connected students—and also Lyon, a student veteran himself—received a University medallion honoring their service. Afterward, for part two of the recognition ceremony, everyone visited the nearby Victory Bell and stepped up to it, one by one, to give it a ring, cheered on by their fellow student vets.

Pandemic Impact

It was only the second time the ceremony had taken place in this format. Inaugurated in 2019, it was modified for the past two years due to the University’s pandemic-related measures. Matt Butler, the University’s director of military and veterans’ services, began this year’s ceremony by calling for a moment of silence to remember the graduates’ friends and family members lost to the pandemic.

“Graduates, you should be proud,” Butler said in his own remarks. “You have endured many, many challenges, and overcome them all, from dealing with the demands of work, school, family, and other obligations [to]classes converted to online and virtual. You have Zoomed, Zoomed, and Zoomed some more. But you never let any obstacles stop you.”

He noted that the graduates were a diverse crowd that included 88-year-old John Lenehan, a Korean War veteran who began his studies at Fordham’s former downtown division at 302 Broadway in the 1950s and returned to the University last year to complete his degree. Last fall, Lenehan became the inaugural recipient of the OMVS’s new True Grit award, inspired by his story, that will go to student veterans who overcome significant challenges in earning their degrees, he said.

A Leading Chapter

Butler also lauded other leaders in Fordham’s SVA chapter, saying “they run one of the top SVA chapters in the country.” As examples, he noted student veterans’ volunteer efforts to help the victims of the deadly fire in the Tremont section of the Bronx in January; their collections to support Ukraine relief efforts; and their mentoring of prospective student veterans, among other efforts.

Student veterans are at the heart of the University’s “coordinated, full-community approach” to meeting the unique needs of student veterans, he said.

Student veterans at the ceremony represented several Fordham colleges and schools. The largest group was graduating from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies; others were graduating from the Gabelli School of Business, the Graduate School of Social Service, the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, Fordham Law School, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Lyon, in his address, said “thank you for your leadership, your willingness to volunteer on behalf of others.” He pointed to research showing veterans’ high college GPAs and high rates of college completion, and said “you are well equipped with your educations to go on and be the change we’d like to see in the world.”

“Your country needs you. The world is ready for you,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what you accomplish.”

That joy, along with a few heartfelt goodbyes, was on display on Saturday, May 21, as Fordham celebrated its first full University Commencement since 2019. Graduates from all nine of Fordham’s schools filled Edwards Parade, along with families, friends, alumni, and faculty.

Dr. Butts, longtime pastor of Harlem’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, told graduates that their Fordham education is transformative—a “tool” to help turn them into leaders of great character.

“And one of the great things about character is that it teaches us to nurture our love for beauty. It teaches us to endure to the end, it teaches us to have courtesy for the other,” said Butts, who received an honorary doctorate of divinity at the ceremony. “I don’t mean just opening a door and tipping your hat—I mean recognizing that all men and women are brothers and sisters in this world.”

Dr. Butts asked the students to think about what education should do.

“Education ought to improve your character, education ought to help you increase your knowledge, and education ought to help you earn a living,” he said. “What we’ve done in this great country is turn that upside down. We put earning and living on top and the development of character on the bottom. Is there any wonder why we’re having the struggles we’re having?”

But he told the graduates that they were examples of those who put character first, and that they “represent the hope for America. Dr. Butts said that despite the challenges faced by this country, their education was “the tool that will help you to press our nation forward—backward, never; forward, ever.”

“We must continue to make progress to make this country even greater than it is. … You don’t have to be sick to get better, and we are getting better every day because of the leadership of men like [Fordham president] Joe McShane, because of the leadership of men like [Fordham Board Chair] Bob Daleo, but mostly, because of the talent that is being turned out at a place like Fordham University,” he said.

“Education and faith are the Tigris and Euphrates of our redemption, twin rivers at the source of our liberation,” said Butts.

He left the graduates with an important message for them to use in the next chapters.

“We are tomorrow. You are tomorrow,” he said. “And this degree from one of the greatest universities in the world gives you what you need to fight against the forces that would try to push us back.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, acknowledged that the graduating class has already faced some of those forces Butts referenced, during their time here at Fordham—including the pandemic “that turned your lives upside down, a national reckoning with the sin of racism, political polarization and disruption, the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” and more.

“Good Lord, after going through all of that, all you wanted today was a typical Fordham Commencement, and yet, I have gone off-script by telling you that I am going to speak to you about the burden of being a Fordham graduate,” said Father McShane, who was celebrating his final Commencement as University president. “Bear with me. One last time.”

“What exactly is this burden? Nothing less than this: transforming and redeeming the world,” he said.

While this might sound like too much, Father McShane told the graduates that they are ready and specially positioned to fulfill this challenge.

“You’re smart. You sparkle with talent. Those talents allow you to shine, to dazzle, to amaze, to do good—immense good,” he told them. “You have responded to all the challenges the world, and we, put before you to expand your reach, widen your horizons, and deepen your understanding of the human enterprise. You have strong moral compasses. You have shown a deep and abiding desire to live lives of integrity and service. Therefore, I believe that you are well-suited—perhaps even uniquely suited—to take on and transform the world.”

Achieving Their Dreams

For Geraldine Romy Riveros, the Commencement ceremony was a fulfillment of the life her parents dreamed of for her.

“I’m a first-gen (student)—my parents came to this country in their 30s,” said Romy Riveros, a Fordham College of Rose Hill graduate. “They left their countries because of terrorism and lack of education so they came here so I could have a better opportunity, so I feel like this is me achieving everything that they dreamed for, taking advantage of all the opportunities I was given.”

Romy Riveros took advantage of as many opportunities as she could at Fordham, becoming a double major in international political economy and Spanish language and literature and double minor in humanitarian studies and women, gender, and sexuality studies, and currently has a job working at Amazon as a marketing specialist.

Jonathan J.M. Haynes, a graduate of the Gabelli School of Business who majored in finance, is moving to San Francisco to work at JPMorgan Chase & Co after graduation. His initial goals when he entered Fordham changed slightly.

“I came here to play football, played for a month, stopped after that, and then stayed for the business school,” he said.

Haynes said he’s grateful for his mother and family for his college experience.

“Everyone in my family has made this happen,” he said. “We always say it takes a village, and it rings true. It takes a village to make this happen.”

For Leslie Abreu, a 2022 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill who is in the five-year accelerated master’s teaching program at the Graduate School of Education, her childhood growing up in the Dominican Republic inspired her to pursue a career in education.

“I always went to the teachers in the morning session with the little kids, and I would just help them out,” she said. “I feel like I’ve carried that over here. It felt natural to me to be an educator.”

Abreu said she’s pursuing a certification in bilingual education for grades one through six.

Putting Their Education into Action

Ernesto Cordero, pastor in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, received his doctor of ministry degree from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education.

“It’s really helped me in the practice of my ministry. It helps me in the manner of my service to my people,” he said.

Caroline Sullivan, who got her master’s in education, did her student teaching during the pandemic in a preschool class at the Dwight School in Manhattan.

“​​It’s definitely been tough teaching in the pandemic, but I honestly think it’s given me the tools to be flexible and teach in any type of environment,” she said.

Sullivan said she was grateful to her professors at Fordham, particularly her adviser Marilyn Bisberg, for helping her navigate these uncertain times.

“She’s been so helpful and has taught me so much about education,” she said.

A Return to Some Normalcy

Fordham College at Lincoln Center graduates Maggie Franzeb, Sarah Hickey, and Francesca Seeman reminisced about how they became friends as they waited to walk across the stage. Franzeb, a native of Rumson, New Jersey, and Hickey, who is from Bay Shore, New York, met during the pandemic, when they both were taking on online class called the Philosophy of Kant.

“We were all on Zoom, and we were in another class the following semester,” said Hickey.

“I said we have to meet up, and we finally met up in person. It was so fun. I love telling the story, because everyone’s like, ‘that’s great, you made friends through Zoom University.’”

For Fordham College at Rose Hill graduates Steven Ruggiero and Alexander Di Fiore, their favorite memories of Fordham were this last year, which resembled a semblance of normalcy after two pandemic-filled school years.

“We’re roommates, and I think just getting to be with your friends and come back to being with your friends after time apart was really special because for awhile we didn’t know if we were going to come back at all,” Ruggiero said. “Everything was so uncertain, but getting to come back to some sense of normalcy was just so special that we got this time.”

Bittersweet Goodbyes

Including the students who received their diplomas today, Father McShane has bestowed approximately 75,000 diplomas during his 19-year tenure as University president, according to Board Chair Bob Daleo.

Daleo announced that the board had unanimously voted to elect Father McShane president emeritus “in recognition of his transformational leadership and exceptional stewardship of our beloved University.”

“I hope you will join me now, rise, give him applause as we send him off with deep gratitude and wish him Godspeed as he begins his next great chapter,” Daleo said, to a round of thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the thousands in attendance.

The ceremony was also the last for Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., as dean of the Gabelli School of Business. For more than 15 years, Rapaccioli has served as a dean of business education at Fordham, helping to expand both the undergraduate and graduate programs—including the addition of a doctoral program. Rapaccioli has served as the dean of the unified undergraduate and graduate Gabelli Schools since 2015.

In addition to Butts, Fordham conferred honorary doctorates on seven other notable figures: Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington; Bill Baccaglini, former CEO of the New York Foundling; Kim Bepler, philanthropist and trustee fellow; Rosamond Blanchet, R.S.H.M., MC ’62, area leader and former general superior of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary; Mandell Crawley, GABELLI ’09, managing director and chief human resources officer at Morgan Stanley; Patrick J. Foye, FCRH ’78, LAW ’81, former chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority; and Laura Taylor Swain, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Additional reporting from Patrick Verel, Adam Kaufman, and Sierra McCleary-Harris

Video by Tom Stoelker, Taylor Ha, and Lisa-Anna Maust

But when the pandemic hit, she wanted to ask different kinds of questions.

“I thought that if the world is being utterly changed, do I want to be stuck covering politics, which then was mostly Trump, or do I want to do something more intimate and expansive and meaningful? And I chose the more meaningful thing,” she said.

So she enrolled in GRE’s pastoral mental health counseling program, which prepares students to become professional mental health counselors through coursework and internships. After graduation, she will complete an internship at the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, where she has spent the last year counseling people addicted to opioids.

Lloyd said that her training as a reporter helped her listen and empathize, but with a different approach than the ones she’s learned at GRE.

“I think part of growing as a reporter is interacting with people’s stories and wishing you could grab onto them more meaningfully, yet you continually get ripped back into the churn of putting out the next story,” she said, so you’ve got to move fast and tie up a story quickly.

“So when I started the GRE program, my style of asking questions was too much like a reporter. With the training, I became more attentive, open-ended, and therapeutic.”

Her mentor, GRE Associate Professor Lisa Cataldo, Ph.D., concurred.

“I think what Alice really learned in the process was that she did not want to just listen to people’s stories of suffering, she wanted actually help them. But when she came to GRE, she had to learn a new way of listening,” said Cataldo.

“Her probing curiosity was very useful, but it had to be modified and used in a different way.”

Cataldo said that what distinguishes the GRE program from other counseling programs is its spiritual component.

“We train people to bring a spiritual perspective to the work they’re doing, and to be able to engage the spirituality of their clients with a degree of expertise in both spirituality and psychology,” she said.

It was that dimension of the program that was attractive to Lloyd.

“I was brought up in the Episcopal church and I have a love for them. But what I like about the program is its spiritual diversity. Some of my classmates are clergy, some are laypeople, and not all of them are Catholic,” she said. “During the pandemic when classes were only held on Zoom, I recruited a young woman who was in rabbinical school to join the program.”

Lloyd she has held an interest in Catholicism for years. She wrote her undergraduate capstone paper at Dartmouth College on Marian iconography and psychology—making the move to GRE a natural progression, she said.

“My first year here at GRE, we took courses on Ignatian Discernment of Spirits and read Christian mystics and the Desert Fathers right alongside the counseling theories,” she said.

The work has increased her interest in spirituality, which complemented her interest in psychology. Cataldo said she’s noticed it as well.

“We’ve talked about the intersection of psychology and religion,” said Cataldo. “Alice is so smart and so curious, now she’s channeling all that intelligence and curiosity towards helping people to really change their lives—and I can tell you that she’s become a truly solid clinician.”

For a spiritual practitioner like Lloyd, keeping one’s beliefs at bay can at times prove challenging, but she strikes a balance when working with patients, particularly because she is practicing the harm-reduction model of addiction treatment. Unlike the 12-step model, which embraces a higher power, the harm reduction model generally eschews spirituality.

“It’s a practice and a way of looking with a closer focus on behaviors, consequences, risk,” she said. She admitted that she sometimes gets frustrated withholding her spirituality in check.

“But it can be rewarding in group therapy when patients get talking to each other and their spirituality comes out. But, later, when I’m writing a treatment plan and notes, there’s not much room for that,” she said.

On further reflection, she said the very act of listening to her patients is spiritual.

“At GRE, I’ve come to an understanding of mental health that is a working relationship with the unknown, be it the unknown outcome that makes one anxious, or an unknown like ‘What happens when we die? What is the nature of reality?’” she said.

“Those are questions that take you into spiritual territory right away, with the big mystery, the cosmic blur. That’s the definition of mental health that I kind of move through the world with.”

In the end, she tipped her hand on where she lies on the question of a higher power being helpful to those living with addiction.

“How could it not have a healing influence on the psyche to say that a seemingly impossible thing happened? Right? You know, what other impossible things are possible? If Mary can be assumed body and soul into heaven, who knows, maybe I can get through the day without a drink.”

In a qualitative research project with two other scholars, Rachelle Green, Ph.D., assistant professor of practical theology and education at the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, searched for the answer to that question by educating and interviewing inmates at a Georgia prison. Green directed the teaching program from 2017 to 2019 and taught inmates for seven years. Her research team interviewed about 60 women from different faiths, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, and atheists. Through this experience, they learned how these students embraced and engaged in education in prison and how they understand God and their relationship to the world, said Green. 

“Our goal was to focus and be intricately and intimately paying attention to human life so that we can present these stories as true for these women, in hopes that we might learn something about truth beyond them,” Green said.

“His mother’s love opened him up again … and gave his life meaning, purpose, and hope, which I think is probably the best task that churches can do for anybody who lives with a highly stigmatized condition—to offer love and friendship,” said Swinton, in an online lecture on April 8. 

Swinton, the chair of divinity and religious studies and professor of practical theology and pastoral care at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, was the keynote speaker at Fordham’s Spirituality & Disability Symposium, which took place on April 8 and 9. The forum featured scholars who discussed how spirituality and disability intersect in our daily lives. 

Swinton’s research and teaching are largely inspired by his eclectic background in health care and religion. For 16 years, he worked as a nurse for people with mental health challenges and learning disabilities; he also worked as a hospital chaplain. He currently serves as an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland. 

In his presentation “Spirituality and Disability: What Do We Mean and Why Does It Matter?” Swinton explained how society can use spirituality as a lens for a better life, especially people who live with disabilities. 

A Reimagined Jesus With Down Syndrome

Everyone has their own idea of what God looks like. Our imagination is deeply influenced by the culture in which we live, Swinton said, citing the work of theologian Karl Barth. He showed the audience a modern version of the Last Supper painting, where Jesus and his disciples all have Down syndrome. It’s a powerful image because it reminds us that both God and our society are diverse, he said.  

“Paul talks about the body of Christ … the place where we see, feel, live out that image. And the thing that marks the body of Christ is not homogeneity, but diversity … And so when we recognize all the different aspects of the image of God as it’s revealed in all of the different bodily and psychological conditions that we go through, we begin to understand what it means to be in God’s image,” said Swinton. “It’s together that we live in the image of God.”

Finding Strength in Meaning and Connection

Another important aspect of spirituality is our need for connection, Swinton said. Humans evolved to become spiritual beings because of their deep desire to relate to something beyond themselves, he said, citing a theory from David Hay, a zoologist who wrote a book about spirituality. 

“The one thread that runs through all definitions of spirituality is this idea of relationality—that somehow we need to be in a relationship,” Swinton said. “Spirituality has to do with being in a relationship. Maybe with God … with others … with your community, but it’s always there.” 

However, people with disabilities are often shunned by society, he said. 

“The problem is that we have a pathogenic culture—an individual culture that tends to stigmatize and alienate people who are different,” Swinton said. “Stigma is a deeply spiritual problem. It shrinks your world, takes away the possibilities. And unless somebody can rescue you, that can be your life—stuck in that meaningless place, where your diagnosis takes away everything.”

Swinton said that excluding people with disabilities is the opposite of what God calls us to do—“to respect diversity, to recognize the image of God in each one of us, and to come together.” 

“We need to shift and change and take spirituality seriously if we’re going to have the kind of community where each one of us has a space, place, and voice,” Swinton said.  

A Q&A session following Swinton’s presentation was moderated by Francis X. McAloon, S.J., Ph.D., associate professor of Christian spirituality and Ignatian studies at the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. The symposium was co-sponsored by GRE and Fordham’s Research Consortium on Disability. 

He received a grant of $200,000 this past September from the Templeton Religion Trust for the Pantheon Research Project. The funding allowed him to return to Rome this past November to prepare a visitor survey that seeks to gauge the variety of experiences. The Pantheon will help promote the survey when it rolls out online next summer. He said his research has implications right here in New York City, where there are several sites that share the same qualities.