Father Dennis Holtschneider, CM, gives the commencement speech to St. Ambrose University-Davenport graduates May 17 at Vibrant Arena at the Mark in Moline, Ill.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
MOLINE, Ill. — Don’t turn a blind eye to things around you. You can help make a difference in the world, Father Dennis Holtschneider, CM, told graduates of St. Ambrose University during their commencement ceremony May 17. The Vincentian priest, who has dedicated his life to Catholic higher education and caring for vulnerable populations, served as commencement speaker. He also received an honorary degree before giving his address for St. Ambrose University at the Vibrant Arena at the Mark.
Father Holtschneider shared a reflection from the summer that followed his college graduation and the profound impact it had on his life. He moved to Panama that summer to learn Spanish. “The program that I had signed up for was deep in the countryside. It was in the interior, in the impoverished area, where nobody knew English — it was perfect. I was forced to communicate in Spanish.”
Located on the side of an ancient volcano, his program was in the last town toward the top, Las Nubes, which means “the clouds.” Quite literally, during part of the day, he said, “that town was in the clouds.”
As Father Holtschneider rode toward his destination, seemingly out of nowhere a brightly lit casino appeared. “Not only a casino, but in front of it, a long paved road. It connected to nothing.”
His hosts explained that Manuel Noriega, the country’s dictator, ran the casino. The paved road actually was a landing strip for airplanes that transported his friends engaged in gambling and the drug trade. “It was amazing to see a brightly lit casino in a desperately poor area,” the future priest explained. That evening, the people who accompanied him hooked up a lightbulb to a car battery. “That was our light for the meeting.” Just across the street was greater light “than you could possibly use in this casino.”
He asked the town’s residents about the casino. “One woman actually denied that it existed even though we were looking at it right there. The poor of Las Nubes simply went on with their lives. They stayed away and they pretended it wasn’t there.”
Noriega’s reign led the people to “hunker down, to survive as best they could without making waves. They ignored what they saw in front of them and slowly it turned into a way of life. Except, that is, for the Catholic Church.”
One priest that Father Holtschneider came to know had a radio show on which he read the names of people who went missing. The priest broadcast about the corruption in their midst. Other priests talked about the corruption during Mass on Sundays. “Noriega hated the Catholic Church because it was the one force that actively and successfully resisted him.”
Father Holtschneider said he has many good friends from that summer. “I was surprised at a town that chose to ignore what was right in front of them. Now this is the exact opposite of the purpose of your education,” he told the graduates. No matter the field you chose, your convictions play out the way you live your life.
St. Ambrose University has trained you, planted a seed, he said. “What has always been right in front of you could easily be ignored altogether. All of us go through our lives with our heads down…. You aren’t just trying to see the world. You are also trained to act.”
“The purpose of our liberal arts education at a Catholic university is to see the world truly to understand it. St. Ambrose will step back, and it’ll wait and see what you make of yourself,” he said. “Keep your eyes open … Never ignore the world and its needs that are right in front of you to see. See the world all around you and all its complexity. And then act. And in many years to come, I know that you will make this institution proud.”
Following his talk, students received their bachelor, master or doctoral degrees as they processed across the stage and shook hands with St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak and Bishop Dennis Walsh, co-chair of the board of trustees.
