May Wraps up with Milestones and Words of Wisdom

The University’s 2017 commencement ceremonies took place on May 27 and May 28.

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The University’s 2017 commencement ceremonies took place in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, with master’s and doctoral degree commencement on May 27 at the Byron Recreation Complex and undergraduate commencement at the Mohegan Sun Arena on May 28.

The principal speaker and honorary degree recipient at the undergraduate ceremonies was James Martin, S.J., New York Times best-selling author and editor-at-large of America Magazine.

The frequent commentator on religion and spirituality in the national and international media and recently appointed consultor to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications reminded the graduates that they are not God, and this is not heaven.

Ellen Miller Casey, Ph.D., professor emerita at the University, was another honorary-degree recipient.

The principal speaker and honorary-degree recipient at the post-baccalaureate ceremonies was Kathleen Curry Santora, Esq., ’80, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA).

The theme of gratitude permeated her address.

“You can only accept reality if you can be grateful for what you have, rather than what you want. You can only embrace life’s meaning when you embrace gratitude for the people around you and the life you have,” she said. “And you are better able to improvise when you appreciate life’s tools that are right in front of you as a means to achieve excellence.

“Stop trying to do everything, to fix everything in your life and everyone else’s, and to make everything perfect. You can’t. Why? Because you’re not God,” said Fr. Martin. Try not to expect life to be perfect. Once you realize that, you’ll be able to enjoy life more; you’ll be more grateful. — James Martin

 To read about the graduate commencement: http://bit.ly/2xDgjZR

To read about the undergraduate commencement: http://bit.ly/2epJ2Je

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