Santa Clara University Graduate Commencement: Peter Steinfels Tells Graduates to ''Take Care of the Kids''

Business Wire, June 17, 2006

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Peter Steinfels, former senior religion correspondent for The New York Times, gave students at Santa Clara University's graduate commencement ceremony one guiding rule to follow, "take care of the kids."

As he addressed graduates of the School of Education, Counseling Psychology, and Pastoral Ministries, the Leavey School of Business, and the School of Engineering, Steinfels urged the graduates to help the children of the world by seizing opportunities and making thoughtful decisions about when, how, and where to help. "There is not a field or profession represented by you here today...that does not have enormous resources and enormous potential for this work."

At the university's 155th commencement ceremony, Steinfels received an honorary doctor of religion and culture degree. Steinfels' wife, Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, delivered the invocation and received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

Steinfels currently directs the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture with his wife. He has served as an editor of Commonweal magazine, the independent journal published by Catholic lay people, and The Hastings Center Report, the leading journal of medical and scientific ethics. He has been a visiting professor at Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dayton.

The graduate commencement ceremony was held in SCU's Leavey Center and recognized students who received advanced degrees from the School of Education, Counseling Psychology, and Pastoral Ministries, Leavey School of Business, and School of Engineering.

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 third-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.