Peer pressure can be a very powerful motivator, especially for the young. That's why it's encouraging to find young people with the courage to speak the truth in the face of very negative peer pressure. Dawn Eden has a post up about Ben Kessler, a student at St. Thomas University, who spoke about traditional (Catholic!) values at his graduation and was arrogantly mocked by morons in the audience.
See also the story at Bettnet, which adds the rather unfortunate detail that the president of the university, Dennis Dease, criticized Kessler for using Commencement as a forum to air his "opinions". (This is the same Dennis Dease who criticized Ann Coulter last year for being, well, a conservative.)
I've managed to sit through a ton of Commencements in my day, and at every single one of the them the speaker gave us his or her "opinions". What are they supposed to do? Regurgitate the usual platitudes? If the teachings of the Catholic Church are nothing more than the "opinions" of a graduating senior, then we're all in trouble; but if they are timeless truths, then a graduate senior is perfectly within his rights to offer them up at his own Commencement exercises.
But instead of being honored for saying what needs to be said, Kessler was goaded into offering an apology!
Dennis Dease, who happens to be a priest of the Church, ought to be ashamed of himself. It seems that St. Thomas is well on its way towards losing its Catholic identity.
Kessler was a philosophy major, with a 4.0 grade point average. He also wants to be a priest. I am confident he will turn out to be a better one than Dennis Dease.
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