For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 21, 2001
Remarks by the President in Commencement Address University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana
2:48 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: 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. (Applause.) 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 and applause.)
I
have spoken on this campus once 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
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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.) 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 and applause.)
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 an eminent scientist. We're sharing a
memorable day and a great honor, and I congratulate you
all. (Applause.)
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 five-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. That is a tribute to the
Republicans and democrats who agreed on reform, and to the President
who signed it: President Bill
Clinton. (Applause.)
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 five-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.
There 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 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 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 when they 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 combatting 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. It 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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.)
We have
proposed allowing all taxpayers to deduct their charitable
contributions -- including
non-itemizers. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.) Government should never
fund the teaching of faith, but it should support the good works of the
faithful. (Applause.)
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? Child
care 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 that be banned? Of
course not. (Applause.)
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 three-fold increase in this funding
-- which will expand homeownership, and the hope and pride that come
with it. (Applause.)
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. (Applause.) Faith-based organizations receive only a
tiny percentage of overall corporate giving. Currently, six
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. (Applause.)
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 and applause.) 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 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. (Applause.)
END
3:10 P.M. EST
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