Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- June 17, 2006.  Thomas Reese, S.J. a widely recognized expert on the Catholic Church and former editor of America magazine, addressed Santa Clara University’s class of 2006 at the university’s 155th undergraduate commencement ceremony today.

Reese told the more than 1,200 graduates seated in Buck Shaw Stadium the world is far different than it was 35 years ago when he attended his first SCU commencement ceremony and heard Bob Hope deliver the commencement address.  Reese reminded students “Before you are a lawyer or a business person or a doctor, you are a citizen.” As citizens, he told the graduates, “We have the responsibility to fix it. It is your city, go fix it. It is your state, go fix it. It is your nation, go fix it. It is your world, go fix it. It is your church, go fix it.”  

Approximately 16,000 family and friends gathered for the ceremony which recognized students receiving Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees.  Graduates wore colorful leis and decorated their caps and gowns to mark the occasion.  The master of ceremonies was Provost Denise Carmody and the invocation was delivered by James Siwicki, S.J. Blair Alexander Becker was the valedictorian.

Read Reese's commencement address.

About Thomas Reese, S.J.

During the 2005-2006 academic year Reese was a visiting scholar at Santa Clara University.  A political scientist, a scholar, and a priest, Reese was editor of America magazine, a leading Jesuit weekly and Web site (www.americamagazine.org), from June 1998 to May 2005. In July Reese will return to the Woodstock Theological Center, in Washington D.C. where he served as a senior fellow before he became editor of America magazine in 1998. The Woodstock Theological Center is an independent nonprofit institute at Georgetown University.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its  8,397 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the fourth-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.

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