June 2000 Print

 

Address given by Dr. Peter Chojnowski on the occasion of the graduation ceremony at Immaculate Conception Academy, Post Falls, Idaho, June 10, 2000.

 

I wish to thank Fr. Morgan for inviting me to address you on this auspicious occasion of another graduation from Immaculate Conception Academy. My experience of the priests, staff, and faculty of the Academy has been one of encountering men and women who are firm and militant in their commitment to advance the revival of Catholic education which is occurring across the world under the auspices of the Society of St. Pius X. These dedicated and proven members of the Church Militant, could not, however, do the work of reconstruction of the Catholic mind through education, unless they had minds upon which to work.

Realize, however, that you are a "sign of contradiction" to your peers in the world and to the world at large. We might say that all the powers of the world have conspired to keep you from standing here now, from knowing what you know, from experiencing what you have experienced, from being what you are and will be. You and your parents could have chosen to sacrifice principle and the teaching of the Church, when it came to the most important part of the natural life of the family, the education of youth. You have chosen, instead, to take seriously your membership in the Church Militant, and have not sought after the mirage of success and acceptability as that success and acceptability have been portrayed by the liberal consumer society. Let us hope that to all those involved in this great accomplishment will have applied to them the praise offered by the writer of the 31st chapter of Ecclesiasticus: "Blessed is the man that is found without blemish, and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him, for he hath done wonderful things in his life. Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting."

I, as a student, as a guest, and as a teacher, have been attending graduations almost every year for the past 20 years. At these events, no matter the diversity of situation and institution, the speeches given are always similar. The valedictory graduates normally place laurels on the heads of the faculty, calling it the "august and distinguished faculty," even though a few days before, during final exam week, they were the faculty which "asked questions on material never covered," the faculty which "never liked me from the beginning of the year," "always gives me the same grade," and "cannot seem to add properly, refusing to give me the 100 which I deserve."

The valedictory speaker then goes on to say, addressing his own class, that "we have come to the end of a long road," "we now leave the hallowed halls of academia and put aside the books in order to face the real world." The distinguished graduate will then promise the "august and distinguished" faculty that he "will never forget us," and that he and his class will "take what you have given us into the world." At Catholic or nominally Catholic institutions, there is a slight variation. There, the faculty is told that "we will never forget the truths which you have taught us." Normally, what the graduate neglects to say is that they will never forget the truths which the faculty has taught them, because they have never really learned them in the first place!

The addresses, at these graduations, given by a designated member of the faculty are, also, normally, similar in tone and content. The graduating class is told to "go out," "conquer the world," and "don't look back." Normally, the statement "go out," is revealingly said with a bit too much enthusiasm; the same teacher who says "conquer the world" is, often, actually thinking "I hope they can find some job, any job!" and the reason he says "don't look back," is because the last thing he wants to do is argue about your grade on the final exam!

These are the things normally said, these are the things normally thought. Our memories of such graduations are always surrounded by an amber glow of the "hallowed," the "distinguished," and the "unforgettable."

Today, however, to you graduates, I wish to say the opposite of what is normally said. I say to you that "the long road is just beginning," I say to you "do not stop your book learning," I say to you "do not relegate your teachers and your former fellow students to the 'hallowed and distinguished' halls of memory."

Most importantly, I say to you graduates, "Do not leave." In fact, I wish to say more. I say to you the precise words which a soon-to-be high school graduate does not want to hear, "You cannot leave!"

Why do I make this seemingly odd statement, that "you cannot really leave?" I do not make this statement on account of any desire to diminish your joy or feeling of accomplishment after so many test taken and passed. The athlete deserves his moment of exaltation and possession as he revels in the prize won and the race finished. Indeed, this is not the last time in your young lives when you will have the right to such revelry in a moment of accomplishment and excellence.

The reason I say that "you can never really leave," is on account of the Catholic education which you have received. Such an education, even though it can truly and, even, most truly be called a "liberal education," is actually best understood as a "bond." The Catholic education you have received has silently established invisible bonds which tie you to a universe of realities, both visible and invisible, of the past and of the future, the most sublime and the most mundane. It is for this reason that I have entitled this address, "The Fraternal Bonds of Education."

This idea of education, and Catholic education in particular, as a "bond" tying us to that which is other than ourselves is very significant and generally unappreciated. According to St. Thomas, to "know" reality, which is the ultimate and sole purpose of education, is not merely to have some extrinsic connection to it, "touching" it with the "eye" of our mind. This type of relationship would be a "bond" which is a mere "connection." With this view of knowledge, the man himself does not really change, he does not "become" something different than he was before he knew the reality which education has caused him to confront. Rather than a mere "touching" of reality, St. Thomas speaks of our minds "becoming" what we know. Reliving the very life of the thing which we know. In a certain way, we can say that "we are what we know." A man will come to resemble in his words and in his acts, that which fills his imagination and that which reveals itself to his mind.

Since knowledge of a reality is the closest "bond" we can have with a thing other than ourselves, what can we say are the realities which we encounter and become "one with" in the course of a truly Catholic education, such as you have received it here.

The most obvious "bond" that is established for us by a Catholic education is the bond with other minds. When we partake of Catholic learning, we come to occupy the same "world" which saints, knights, monks, popes, kings, simple hearty peasants, scholars, theologians, and philosophers have "inhabited" throughout 20 centuries of history. You understand realities which they understood, picture what they pictured, offer the same prayers as they offered, hope for the same good things which they hoped for, are consoled by that which consoled them. Along with Faith, Hope, and Charity, it is Catholic learning which creates the merry fellowship of men who through the epics of time have seen the same things as good, true, and beautiful. The secular historian can only look at the millions of men and women of the Catholic Ages as an outsider would. We who base our lives on the same truths as did this galaxy of human personalities, are their true companions. In every way, we share with them their daily bread.

The greatest bond established between minds by a truly Catholic education is not a bond between human minds; the bond which is the very essence and purpose of Catholic education is the bond established between the mind of man and the Eternal Law in the mind of God. The Eternal Law is the Divine Plan by which God disposes and directs all things to their proper ends or goals. Through an education which is in accord with the mind of the Catholic Church, a student is shown how all the things which he will encounter in his life are related to the Divine Plan. To fail to understand this relationship is to fail to understand the true meaning of things. We truly know "what" a thing is only when we understand the state of perfection to which it is ordained. Once a young mind is given, by his teachers, the apparatus of Catholic thought, it will order all the knowledge which it grasps hold of according to its relation to the First Truth, which is God Himself. Ultimately, it is only by gaining insight into the Divine Plan, as this plan is presented to us by the Catholic Church, that we can understand the "why" and the purpose of anything which we encounter. Once you "think" within the context of this Catholic system, you can "never leave" no matter the intensity of your will's rebellion against the demands made upon it by the truths of that system.

There is another bond which Catholic education creates, which we, especially now and in our present circumstances, must be very appreciative of. It is the bond which unites us to the brotherhood of the Faith. It is on account of this brotherhood that I told you at the beginning of this address "not to leave." Why did I say this? Why do I advise you not to relegate your school, your teachers, and, especially, your younger fellow students to the "hallowed halls of memory." How can this be avoided?

The simple formula for such a program is this: if you take two steps forward, turn back in order to help your younger brother in the Faith take one step forward. This can be done individually by refusing to cut the ties with your younger friends who are still in school, or who will leave in a short time. Turn back to them, give them advice based upon your experience. Help them to enter into the world as a full-blooded, unabashed Catholic as you have done yourself.

I advise you graduates to do this on a personal, one-to-one basis. I also, however, would make a proposal to the traditional Catholic community at large. We must contemplate the formation, among the traditional Catholic faithful, of vocational organizations, brotherhoods of Catholic workers, true corporate bodies which seek to implement the Social Teachings of the Church in their own specific fields of labor, trying to ensure that the men who form these vocational brotherhoods always understand their labor from the perspective of the Faith. Such organizations, advocated by Archbishop Lefebvre, will inevitably lead to a greater integration of faith and labor which will make for a more integrated Catholicism for those who constitute the guilds. With the revival of guilds among the Catholic faithful, we can hope for the re-establishment of the apprentice system. Such a "big brother" network would provide the young traditional Catholic the skills, opportunities, and contacts which he needs within a profession or trade. These "big brothers" or "mentors" would be those who already work in the profession that the youth is trying to enter. He would act as advisor, confidant, patron, and contact provider for the youth as he maneuvers his way through the educational and professional maze that is part of the initiation into any profession. In this way, may we learn not to treat brothers as if they were strangers.

It is by doing this, turning back to those going through what we once went through, turning back with charity, fraternal aid, and counsel that we heal, in the most complete way possible, the wounds which were inflicted upon us during our own trials of youth. Such true fraternity is a principle aspect of the chivalric personality which the Church has always held up as an ideal for the masculine soul. It is the ideal of the chivalric man which I propose to you graduates on your graduation day. Be a man who respects the divinely ordained order of the world, tell the truth fearlessly, take responsibility for your actions, be gentlemen of restraint, simplicity of character, and straightforwardness. Most of all, strive for the virtue which St. Thomas referred to as largitas, a "freeness" and "open-handedness" which is the original concept behind the term "liberality"; it is a characteristic of the gentleman as compared to the petty meanness of one who augments himself alone by placing walls around all that which is "his." Give of yourselves freely, throw yourselves unreservedly into the Crusade to establish footholds of Christendom amidst the apostate world.

The advice I give you is truly prudent. It is a prudence which recognizes one of the secrets of human life; happiness and joy only truly come to those who do not seek them.

Look at the work which your priests, your teachers, and your parents have done to get you to this moment of graduation. Repay them with gratitude. The most fruitful act of gratitude, though, is to do for others what has been done for you.

 

---

Dr. Peter E. Chojnowski has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and another in Philosophy from Christendom College. He also received his Master's Degree and doctorate in Philosophy from Fordham University. After spending six years teaching at various universities of the Jesuits and the Christian Brothers, he currently teaches for the Society of Saint Pius X in St. Marys, Kansas where he lives with his wife and four children.