Solid, clear principles are important, Alito tells graduates of Franciscan University of Steubenville | News, sports, jobs

SPEAKER — Samuel A. Alito Jr., associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, delivered the commencement address Saturday at Franciscan University of Steubenville’s 76th annual commencement exercises. –Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — Franciscan University of Steubenville graduated its largest class for the fourth year in a row on Saturday, this time with a speech from perhaps one of the school’s most talked-about commencement speakers.

Samuel A. Alito Jr., associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, encouraged graduates to “go out boldly and engage the world” during Franciscan’s 76th annual commencement exercise, as the university graduated a record 896 students.

The Rev. Dave Pivonka, TOR, university president, introduced Alito, a Catholic who has served on the court since 2006.

A 1975 graduate of Yale Law School, Alito has also served as a law clerk to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and as an assistant attorney general and deputy assistant -Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice.

In his introduction, Pivonka cited Alito’s writing on the majority opinion in “Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.” of 2014 on religious freedom, as well as the 2022 “Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” which overturned “Roe v. Wade” and declared that the U.S. Constitution does not grant a right to abortion, and that the power to regulate abortion rests with the states must be delegated.

STUDENTS — Franciscan University of Steubenville students participated in the university’s 76th annual commencement exercises Saturday. –Christopher Dacanay

When Pivonka called the “Dobbs” decision, applause and a standing ovation erupted from those in the Finnegan Fieldhouse.

Alito said he was honored to speak at Franciscan because he had “admired it from afar for many years” because it was modeled in a way he wished more institutions would follow.

The world is rougher than ever, Alito said, which means what they do in life is more important than ever. He then gave advice based on the Constitution, the ‘backbone’ of his career in law.

One lesson was the “need to be rigorous and disciplined in identifying the things that are really fundamental,” based on the fact that the Constitution is based on objective principles, Alito said. Likewise, he urged individuals to identify what is fundamental in their lives and hold on to it.

Another lesson emerged from this, with Alito noting that amending the Constitution is difficult. Alito said the framers of the Constitution wanted to ensure that future hardships would not tempt others to change those fundamental principles on a whim.

“For almost all of us there will be difficult times, times of temptation. When they come and we have firm and clear principles, principles written in bold letters in our hearts, we may be able to find our way through them, but if we do not, we can easily go astray.”

The waters in the outside world are troubled right now, Alito said, adding that colleges remain less and less places for “reasoned debate” and that religious freedom is under threat. Alito cited encouraging comments from Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who presided over Friday’s Franciscan Baccalaureate Mass.

The graduates will face challenges, Alito said, but their education should have prepared them to meet those challenges the way St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan religious order, would have done.

Two more lessons from Alito included having an open debate and adhering to traditions, just as courts in the US look to precedents from previous legal decisions. Although individuals today generally know more than their ancestors, that does not apply to fundamental truths understood over the centuries, he said.

In closing, Alito said, “I look forward with American optimism to what you all do when… you take the plunge into the real world.”

Alito received an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics from the university.

Pivonka noted that many students in the class of 2024 were among those who never received an actual high school diploma due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the pandemic, the university had implemented its “Step in Faith” program, which provided 100 percent tuition coverage for prospective students in the fall of 2020. That resulted in the university’s largest incoming class in its history, a class that Pivonka said. persevered despite social distancing requirements.

Despite early criticism of the program, Pivonka said, God proved himself “faithful” and multiplied the university’s efforts. He added that this year’s largest graduating class has online students.

Speaking about the decision to continue education during the pandemic, Pivonka said, “We need each other, and we, the university, thought it best that we come together. … And today we celebrate four years of coming together.”

2020 was the first “step of faith” for the class of 2024, Pivonka said, and graduation marks the beginning of many more steps.

According to the university, graduates in the class of 2024 come primarily from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, California, Texas, Michigan, New York, Florida, Illinois and West Virginia, along with 28 other states and 14 countries.

The top 10 majors represented in the class are theology, business, psychology, nursing, communication arts, philosophy, education, English, catechetics and history. This was the first graduating class of the university’s Software Engineering bachelor’s degree program.