[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 132 (Tuesday, August 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11944-S11945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS OF AMBASSADOR JEAN KENNEDY 
                                 SMITH

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, at a time when deep budget cuts have 
forced us to focus more on the private sector's role in maintaining and 
improving society, volunteerism has become ever more important. The 
contributions made by volunteers, whether in the President's National 
Service Corps, charity groups, or religious institutions, every day 
serve to brighten the lives of people who need help.
  That is why I was so heartened to hear of the remarks of Jean Kennedy 
Smith, my dear friend and our Ambassador to Ireland, to the graduating 
class of Fairfield University. In her commencement address, Ambassador 
Smith lauded the graduates for their deep faith and brilliant spirit of 
volunteerism. Indeed, she knows service to others when she sees it. 
Jean Kennedy Smith not only comes from a family whose faith underlies a 
deep commitment to community and public service, but is herself 
actively involved in both public service and in improving the lives of 
those who are less fortunate. Her exemplary work with the ``very 
special arts'' organization brings the joy of the arts to people with 
disabilities.
  In this day and age, when most of the news about youth is gloom and 
doom it was refreshing to know that Fairfield University has cultivated 
such an outstanding group of young men and women. A group of young 
adults, as Jean Kennedy Smith explained, whose faith and commitment to 
service will not only bring personal fulfillment, but also ultimately 
advance goals such as peace in Ireland and the world over.
  Mr. President, I wish to share Jean Kennedy Smith's uplifting remarks 
with my colleagues and with the American people, and ask that they be 
printed, as published June 17, 1995, in America Press, in the Record.
  The remarks follow:
                            Faith Above All

                        (By Jean Kennedy Smith)

       Since this is a day of celebration, it is a time to talk of 
     those who love us and those whom we love--your parents, 
     grandparents, your brothers and sisters, your friends--all 
     those who have given so much for you and whose sacrifices 
     have brought you to this threshold of the future. Although I 
     never had the good fortune to attend a Jesuit school, I am 
     certainly familiar with the value of a Jesuit education. My 
     late husband, Steve, graduated from Georgetown, and my son 
     attended medical school there. In my family, a Jesuit 
     education has always been synonymous with excellence.
       A noted college president once said that the reason that 
     universities are such storehouses of knowledge is that every 
     entering student brings a little knowledge in and no 
     graduating student takes knowledge out. I'm sure that is not 
     true at Fairfield. A good education is respected and 
     cherished throughout the world, particularly in the United 
     States and in Ireland. Ireland, in fact, boasts one of the 
     most educated societies in the world. The Irish youth are the 
     best educated in all of Europe.
       But this should come as no surprise. When Europe descended 
     into the Dark Ages, Ireland earned its reputation as a land 
     of scholars and saints by preserving the traditions of 
     learning and faith. Men and women of religious orders in 
     those years committed themselves to the world of ideas and 
     knowledge, and passed on this heritage in both written and 
     oral form. Western civilization has benefitted from their 
     wisdom ever since.
       St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus in 
     1540, also extolled the importance of education. But he 
     realized that it must be more than the mere accumulation of 
     knowledge. Ignatius understood that a true education is one 
     that is inspired by spiritual values. The motto of Fairfield 
     University, ``Through Faith Toward the Fullness of Truth,'' 
     reflects the spirit of St. Ignatius and the work of the 
     Jesuits and lay men and women who teach at Fairfield.
       My mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, shared this same high 
     vision--that faith, above all things, brings fulfillment. She 
     often said: ``The most important element in human life is 
     faith. If God were to take away all his blessings, health, 
     physical fitness, wealth, intelligence, and leave me but one 
     gift, I would ask for faith.''
       Our family was blessed with two wonderful parents. And 
     while we were growing up, they always impressed upon us the 
     responsibility to give something back to our country, which 
     had been so good to us. As President Kennedy said on 
     Inauguration Day in 1961, ``Ask not what your country can do 
     for you, ask what you can do for your country.'' But too 
     often in recent years, our country seems to have lost sight 
     of that ideal. We ignore it at our peril.
       Service to others takes many forms. It can be an act of 
     kindness to a friend or neighbor, volunteering at a soup 
     kitchen or local hospital, standing up for civil rights and 
     against poverty and discrimination or working with others on 
     the countless challenges that face society. Each of these 
     acts is important--essential--to our well being. Each act 
     expresses our morality, our commitment to the enduring values 
     of peace, justice and truth. My brother Robert Kennedy told 
     by students of Capetown in South Africa in the 1960's: ``Each 
     time a man stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot 
     of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a 
     tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from a million 
     different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a 
     mighty current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of 
     oppression and resistance.''
       I know that the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well as 
     Fairfield. You have staffed the Head Start program in 
     Bridgeport, teaching basic skills to disadvantaged children. 
     Nursing students staff a health promotion center that also 
     assists the poor. Some of you are active in Project Children, 
     which has made a tremendous impact on the children of 
     Northern Ireland, by giving them opportunities to visit the 
     United States. Other have worked in third world countries 
     like Belize, Ecuador, Mexico and Jamaica. And I am 
     particularly delighted that Fairfield will host 520 athletes 
     next month for the Special Olympics International World 
     Games. I commend you for the example you have set, and I hope 
     you will continue to find such opportunities for service 
     throughout your lives.
       Much of my own work has been with an organization called 
     Very Special Arts, which tries to bring experience with the 
     arts to people with disabilities. It is amazing, what men and 
     women and children can achieve no matter how great their 
     difficulties. Patients who can barely communicate can learn 
     to write beautiful poetry. A deaf child can learn to dance, a 
     paraplegic to play music by using 

[[Page S 11945]]
     his toes or to paint with his mouth. The joy they discover in their 
     achievements is indescribable. Every one, in a unique way, is 
     a miracle of our common humanity and our care for one 
     another.
       In its own way, a miracle on a large scale is happening 
     today in Northern Ireland. Peace, which had eluded the people 
     for so long, has now been a faithful presence for many 
     months. The guns and bombs are silent, and Protestants and 
     Catholics alike are finding how much they can accomplish 
     together when violence no longer oppresses their community. 
     It makes me proud of my country to know that America is 
     helping this dream of peace and reconciliation to come true.
       I arrived in Ireland as ambassador 30 years after President 
     Kennedy's famous visit in 1963. One of my first trips was to 
     County Wexford, ``where our ancestors had lived. At the 
     heritage center there, I type the name of my great-
     grandfather into a computer. The screen read: ``Patrick 
     Joseph Kennedy, Age: 28. Literacy: None.''
       This year, as we observe the 150th anniversary of the Great 
     Famine, when millions were forced to leave Ireland, those 
     words symbolize for me their courage, faith and 
     determination. These immigrants came to this country 
     penniless, without their families and without education, in 
     order to build a better life for themselves and their 
     children in the freedom and opportunity of this land. We are 
     a nation of immigrants. And our diversity has helped make us 
     strong. But our faith will keep us free.
       You, the members of this graduating class, will make all 
     the difference in maintaining these high ideals in the years 
     ahead. The success of your neighborhood, your community and 
     our country will depend on you. You will be asked to take 
     chances, to take risks, to take action. The ripples of hope 
     that you send forth will make America a better country in a 
     better world.
       As my brother Robert said, ``This world demands the 
     qualities of youth: not a time of life, but a state of mind, 
     a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, 
     predominance of courage over timidity--of the appetite for 
     adventure over the love of ease.''
       I wish you great adventure, happiness and fulfillment in 
     all that you do--for yourselves and others.
     

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