Saint John’s Commencement Activities to be Held May 14
April 28, 2006
R. Scott Appleby, professor of history and John M. Regan Jr. director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver the commencement address at Saint John's University at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14, in the Saint John's Abbey Church, Collegeville, Minn.
Appleby will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, while Joe Dowling, artistic director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Also during the commencement ceremony, Saint John’s Abbey and University will present its Pax Christi Award to the Most Rev. Harry J. Flynn, archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Samuel Boggs, a peace studies major from Moorhead, Minn., will be the student commencement speaker, as selected by this year's SJU senior class. The 2006 Saint John’s graduating class includes 406 undergraduate men and 22 School of Theology Seminary graduates. When combined with the College of Saint Benedict’s 463 graduates, this year’s combined undergraduate graduating class is 869.
Appleby teaches courses in American religious history and comparative religious movements. From 1988 to 1993 Appleby was co-director of the Fundamentalism Project, an international public policy study conducted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1985 to 1987, he chaired the religious studies department of St. Xavier College, Chicago. Appleby is the author of “The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation” and editor of “Spokesmen for the Despised: Fundamentalist Leaders of the Middle East.” With Martin E. Marty, he co-edited the five-volume “Fundamentalism Project.” He has been a fellow of the Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame since 1996, and director since 2000.
Besides being artistic director at the Guthrie Theater, Dowling is also widely known for his association with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theater. He served as the Abbey Theatre’s artistic director (1978-85), artistic director of Peacock Theatre, the Abbey’s second stage (1973-76), and founded the Young Abbey, Ireland’s first theater-in-education group (1970). Dowling served as artistic director for the Irish Theatre Company, managing and artistic director of The Gaiety Theatre, and founded the Gaiety School of Acting, Ireland’s premiere drama school. Since coming to the Guthrie in 1995, he has directed numerous productions and initiated the Guthrie Theater’s return to touring.
Flynn was ordained to the priesthood on May 28, 1960, in Albany, N.Y. Flynn served as an associate pastor, pastor, high school teacher, retreat master and spiritual leader in several various assignments in the Diocese of Albany. He also served as the dean, vice rector and rector of Mount Saint Mary's Seminary from 1965-1979. Flynn was ordained bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, La., on June 24, 1986. He was named coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in February 1994. On October 1, 1995, Flynn succeeded Archbishop John Roach as head of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Flynn is a member of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) Committee for Black Catholics; the USCCB Committee on Sexual Abuse; and the USCCB Committee on the Charismatic Renewal.
As the highest honor awarded by Saint John’s, the Pax Christi Award recognizes those who have devoted themselves to God by working in the tradition of Benedictine monasticism to serve others and to build a heritage of faith in the world. The award has been presented to 52 individuals. Past recipients include the late Cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens of Belgium; the former representative of the Holy See in the United States, Archbishop Jean Jadot; the late former senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy; the late Archbishop John Roach of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis; Mary Jo Copeland, founder and director of Minneapolis’ Sharing and Caring Hands; Amy Grant, a contemporary Christian singer; and the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of the Chicago Archdiocese.
