Classes were cancelled and offices closed as the annual tradition of Convocation Mass commenced on September 1, 2016. Donnelly College students, faculty and staff joined community members and priests from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas for the Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Peter.
Prior to a community procession to Mass, Donnelly College President Monsignor Stuart Swetland welcomed and encouraged hard work and the pursuit of excellence for all students in the new academic year.
Mass featured a formal matriculation ceremony that welcomes all new students to Donnelly. During the homily, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann shared with students that “The purpose of Donnelly College is not to proselytize students, striving to convert them to Catholicism. It is rather to assist students to pursue the true, the good and the beautiful. The existence of Donnelly College is a concrete manifestation of our Catholic conviction of the innate, God-given dignity of each and every human being”.
Following Mass, attendees were welcomed on campus for a picnic lunch hosted by Student Senate.
Read the full text of Archbishop Naumann’s homily.