    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 21 (Monday, May 28, 2001)]
    [Pages 779-783]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Commencement Address at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame,
    Indiana

    May 20, 2001

        Thank you, Father Malloy. Thank you all for that warm welcome.
    Chairman McCartan, Father Scully, Dr. Hatch, Notre Dame trustees,
    members of the class of 2001. It is a high privilege to receive this
    degree. I'm particularly pleased that it bears the great name of Notre
    Dame. My brother Jeb may be the Catholic in the family--[laughter]--but
    between us, I'm the only Domer. [Laughter]
        I have spoken on this campus before. It was in 1980, the year my dad
    ran for Vice President with Ronald Reagan. I think I really won over the
    crowd that day. [Laughter] In fact, I'm sure of it, because all six of
    them walked me to my car. [Laughter]
        That was back when Father Hesburgh was the president of this
    university, during a tenure that in many ways defined the reputation and
    values of Notre Dame. It's a real honor to be with Father Hesburgh and
    with Father Joyce. Between them, these two good priests have given
    nearly a century of service to Notre Dame. I'm told that Father Hesburgh
    now holds 146 honorary degrees. That's pretty darn impressive, Father,
    but I'm gaining on you. [Laughter] As of today, I'm only 140 behind.
    [Laughter]
        Let me congratulate all the members of the class of 2001. You made
    it, and we're all proud of you on this big day. I also congratulate the
    parents, who, after these years, are happy, proud--and broke. [Laughter]

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        I commend this fine faculty for the years of work and instruction
    that produced this outstanding class.
        And I'm pleased to join my fellow honorees, as well. I'm in
    incredibly distinguished company with authors, executives, educators,
    church officials, and eminent scientists. We're sharing a memorable day
    and a great honor, and I congratulate you all.
        Notre Dame, as a Catholic university, carries forward a great
    tradition of social teaching. It calls on all of us, Catholic and non-
    Catholic, to honor family, to protect life in all its stages, to serve
    and uplift the poor. This university is more than a community of
    scholars; it is a community of conscience and an ideal place to report
    on our Nation's commitment to the poor and how we're keeping it.
        In 1964, the year I started college, another President from Texas
    delivered a commencement address talking about this national commitment.
    In that speech, President Lyndon Johnson issued a challenge. He said,
    ``This is the time for decision. You are the generation which must
    decide. Will you decide to leave the future a society where a man is
    condemned to hopelessness because he was born poor, or will you join to
    wipe out poverty in this land?''
        In that speech, Lyndon Johnson advocated a War on Poverty which had
    noble intentions and some enduring successes. Poor families got basic
    health care; disadvantaged children were given a head start in life.
    Yet, there were also some consequences that no one wanted or intended.
    The welfare entitlement became an enemy of personal effort and
    responsibility, turning many recipients into dependents. The War on
    Poverty also turned too many citizens into bystanders, convinced that
    compassion had become the work of Government alone.
        In 1996 welfare reform confronted the first of these problems with a
    5-year time limit on benefits and a work requirement to receive them.
    Instead of a way of life, welfare became an offer of temporary help--not
    an entitlement, but a transition. Thanks in large part to this change,
    welfare rolls have been cut in half; work and self-respect have been
    returned to many lives. This is a tribute to the Republicans and
    Democrats who agreed on reform, and to the President who signed it,
    President Bill Clinton.
        Our Nation has confronted welfare dependency. But our work is only
    half done. Now we must confront the second problem, to revive the spirit
    of citizenship, to marshal the compassion of our people to meet the
    continuing needs of our Nation. This is a challenge to my administration
    and to each one of you. We must meet that challenge because it is right
    and because it is urgent.
        Welfare as we knew it has ended, but poverty has not. When over 12
    million children live below the poverty line, we are not a post-poverty
    America. Most States are seeing the first wave of welfare recipients who
    have reached the law's 5-year time limit. The easy cases have already
    left the welfare rolls. The hardest problems remain, people with far
    fewer skills and greater barriers to work, people with complex human
    problems like illiteracy and addiction, abuse and mental illness. We do
    not yet know what will happen to these men and women or to their
    children, but we cannot sit and watch, leaving them to their own
    struggles and their own fate.
        This is a great deal at stake. In our attitudes and actions, we are
    determining the character of our country. When poverty is considered
    hopeless, America is condemned to permanent social division, becoming a
    nation of caste and class, divided by fences and gates and guards.
        Our task is clear, and it's difficult: We must build our country's
    unity by extending our country's blessings.
        We make that commitment because we are Americans. Aspiration is the
    essence of our country. We believe in social mobility, not social
    Darwinism. We are the country of the second chance, where failure is
    never final, and that dream has sometimes been deferred; it must never
    be abandoned.
        We are committed to compassion for practical reasons. When men and
    women are lost to themselves, they are also lost to our Nation. When
    millions are hopeless, all of us are diminished by the loss of their
    gifts.
        And we're committed to compassion for moral reasons. Jewish prophets
    and Catholic teaching both speak of God's special concern for the poor.
    This is perhaps the most radical teaching of faith, that the value of
    life is not

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    contingent on wealth or strength or skill, that value is a reflection of
    God's image.
        Much of today's poverty has more to do with troubled lives than a
    troubled economy. And often when a life is broken, it can only be
    restored by another caring, concerned human being. The answer for an
    abandoned child is not a job requirement; it is the loving presence of a
    mentor. The answer to addiction is not a demand for self-sufficiency; it
    is a personal support on the hard road to recovery.
        The hope we seek is found in safe havens for battered women and
    children, in homeless shelters, in crisis pregnancy centers, in programs
    that tutor and conduct job training and help young people who may happen
    to be on parole. All these efforts provide not just a benefit but
    attention and kindness, a touch of courtesy, a dose of grace.
        Mother Teresa said that what the poor often need, even more than
    shelter and food--though these are desperately needed, as well--is to be
    wanted. And that sense of belonging is within the power of each of us to
    provide. Many in this community have shown what compassion can
    accomplish.
        Notre Dame's own Lou Nanni is the former director of South Bend's
    Center for the Homeless, an institution founded by two Notre Dame
    professors. It provides guests with everything from drug treatment to
    mental health service to classes in the Great Books to preschool for
    young children. Discipline is tough. Faith is encouraged, not required.
    Student volunteers are committed and consistent and central to its
    mission. Lou Nanni describes this mission as repairing the fabric of
    society by letting people see the inherent worth and dignity and God-
    given potential of every human being.
        Compassion often works best on a small and human scale. It is
    generally better when a call for help is local, not long distance. Here
    at this university, you've heard that call and responded. It is part of
    what makes Notre Dame a great university.
        This is my message today: There is no great society which is not a
    caring society. And any effective War on Poverty must deploy what
    Dorothy Day called ``the weapons of spirit.''
        There is only one problem with groups like South Bend's Center for
    the Homeless; there are not enough of them. It's not sufficient to
    praise charities and community groups; we must support them. And this is
    both a public obligation and a personal responsibility.
        The War on Poverty established a Federal commitment to the poor. The
    welfare reform legislation of 1996 made that commitment more effective.
    For the task ahead, we must move to the third stage of combating poverty
    in America. Our society must enlist, equip, and empower idealistic
    Americans in the works of compassion that only they can provide.
        Government has an important role. We will never be replaced by
    charities. My administration increases funding for major social welfare
    and poverty programs by 8 percent. Yet, Government must also do more to
    take the side of charities and community healers and support their work.
    We've had enough of the stale debate between big Government and
    indifferent Government. Government must be active enough to fund
    services for the poor and humble enough to let good people in local
    communities provide those services.
        So I have created a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
    Initiatives. Through that office we are working to ensure that local
    community helpers and healers receive more Federal dollars, greater
    private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. We have proposed
    a compassion capital fund that will match private giving with Federal
    dollars.
        We have proposed allowing all taxpayers to deduct their charitable
    contributions, including non-itemizers. This could encourage almost 15
    billion a year in new charitable giving. My attitude is, everyone in
    America, whether they are well-off or not, should have the same
    incentive and reward for giving.
        And we're in the process of implementing and expanding charitable
    choice, the principle, already established in Federal law, that faith-
    based organizations should not suffer discrimination when they compete
    for contracts to provide social services. Government should never fund
    the teaching of faith, but it should support the good works of the
    faithful.

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        Some critics of this approach object to the idea of Government
    funding going to any group motivated by faith. But they should take a
    look around them. Public money already goes to groups like the Center
    for the Homeless and, on a larger scale, to Catholic Charities. Do the
    critics really want to cut them off? Medicaid and Medicare money
    currently goes to religious hospitals. Should this practice be ended?
    Childcare vouchers for low income families are redeemed every day at
    houses of worship across America. Should this be prevented? Government
    loans send countless students to religious colleges. Should this be
    banned? Of course not.
        America has a long tradition of accommodating and encouraging
    religious institutions when they pursue public goals. My administration
    did not create that tradition, but we will expand it to confront some
    urgent problems.
        Today I am adding two initiatives to our agenda, in the areas of
    housing and drug treatment. Owning a home is a source of dignity for
    families and stability for communities, and organizations like Habitat
    for Humanity make that dream possible for many low income Americans.
    Groups of this type currently receive some funding from the Department
    of Housing and Urban Development. The budget I submit to Congress next
    year will propose a threefold increase in this funding which will expand
    homeownership and the hope and pride that come with it.
        And nothing is more likely to perpetuate poverty than a life
    enslaved to drugs. So we've proposed 1.6 billion in new funds to close
    what I call the treatment gap--the gap between 5 million Americans who
    need drug treatment and the 2 million who currently receive it. We will
    also propose that all these funds--all of them--be opened to equal
    competition from faith-based and community groups.
        The Federal Government should do all these things, but others have
    responsibilities, as well, including corporate America. Many
    corporations in America do good work in good causes. But if we hope to
    substantially reduce poverty and suffering in our country, corporate
    America needs to give more and to give better. Faith-based organizations
    receive only a tiny percentage of overall corporate giving. Currently, 6
    of the 10 largest corporate givers in America explicitly rule out or
    restrict donations to faith-based groups, regardless of their
    effectiveness. The Federal Government will not discriminate against
    faith-based organizations and neither should corporate America.
        In the same spirit, I hope America's foundations consider ways they
    may devote more of their money to our Nation's neighborhood and their
    helpers and their healers. I will convene a summit this fall, asking
    corporate and philanthropic leaders throughout America to join me at the
    White House to discuss ways they can provide more support to community
    organizations, both secular and religious.
        Ultimately, your country is counting on each of you. Knute Rockne
    once said, ``I have found that prayers work best when you have big
    players.'' [Laughter] We can pray for the justice of our country, but
    you're the big players we need to achieve it. Government can promote
    compassion; corporations and foundations can fund it; but the citizens--
    it's the citizens who provide it. A determined assault on poverty will
    require both an active Government and active citizens.
        There is more to citizenship than voting--though I urge you to do
    it. [Laughter] There is more to citizenship than paying your taxes--
    though I'd strongly advise you to pay them. [Laughter] Citizenship is
    empty without concern for our fellow citizens, without the ties that
    bind us to one another and build a common good.
        If you already realize this and you're acting on it, I thank you. If
    you haven't thought about it, I leave you with this challenge: Serve a
    neighbor in need, because a life of service is a life of significance,
    because materialism, ultimately, is boring, and consumerism can build a
    prison of wants, because a person who is not responsible for others is a
    person who is truly alone, because there are few better ways to express
    our love for America than to care for other Americans, and because the
    same God who endows us with individual rights also calls us to social
    obligations.
        So let me return to Lyndon Johnson's charge. You're the generation
    that must decide. Will you ratify poverty and division with

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    your apathy, or will you build a common good with your idealism? Will
    you be the spectator in the renewal of your country or a citizen?
        The methods of the past may have been flawed, but the idealism of
    the past was not an illusion. Your calling is not easy, because you must
    do the acting and the caring. But there is fulfillment in that
    sacrifice, which creates hope for the rest of us. Every life you help
    proves that every life might be helped. The actual proves the possible.
    And hope is always the beginning of change.
        Thank you for having me, and God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:48 p.m. in the Joyce Center. In his
    remarks, he referred to Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., president,
    Patrick F. McCartan, chairman, board of trustees, Rev. Timothy R.
    Scully, C.S.C., executive vice president, Nathan O. Hatch, provost, Rev.
    Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus, and Rev. Edward P.
    Joyce, C.S.C., executive vice president emeritus, University of Notre
    Dame; and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida.