“The World Needs You”

For the fifth consecutive year, Franciscan University graduated its largest class in history, with 907 students in the Class of 2025.

Two of those graduates were mother and daughter. Emily Stephens ’25 and her mom, Mary Stephens MA ’25, crossed the stage in Finnegan Fieldhouse on May 10.

Mary traveled from Eagle River, Alaska, to be with her daughter during this dual graduation event and said it was Emily’s growing faith formation as a theology major that inspired her to get her master’s in catechetics online.

The decision bonded them in a special way as they shared many discussions about the Church and theology.

“To graduate with my daughter means everything to me. It’s such a beautiful thing,” Mary said.

Emily will soon enter the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in New Jersey. She said the culture and the encounters she experienced at Franciscan led her to this momentous decision.

“When I first came here, Catholicism was not at all the center of my life. But I came to know who Jesus is at this university. And then I came to know who I am,” Emily shared. “Franciscan changed my life. I fell in love with Jesus, and that’s ultimately why I’m becoming a cloistered nun.”

Recipient of the Father Gerald Odonis Award for Excellence in Economics Gavin Hughes ’25 said, “The community, the excellent academics, and the culture here all formed me in my spiritual journey in a way I didn’t know was possible.”

Hughes will pursue his master’s in theology at Franciscan while working as a residence director.

Social work major Elizabeth Luebbers ’25 said the training she received prepared her to “encounter those who are forgotten or neglected in society.”

The recipient of the Instruments of Peace Award in Social Work said being a Franciscan student has propelled her personal growth, both spiritually and intellectually.

“When I graduated high school, I thought I knew who I was, what I was going to do, and what I was going to accomplish in life. It was only when I came to Franciscan that God showed me who I truly am and that I am truly loved by him,” Luebbers said. “The Social Work Department has prepared me for the next step by training me to be a competent, professional social worker with a firm foundation in my faith.”

A community college transfer student, marketing major Rachel Vivian ’25 said, “Franciscan has altered my life for the better. I have learned what it means to take delight in simplic-ity, having gratitude toward all, and participating in the present moment.”

Vivian, the recipient of the Cardinal John Patrick Foley Award in Marketing, said the University’s Works of Mercy Office particularly enflamed her faith life and led her to the decision to become a full-time FOCUS missionary after graduation.

“Through my academic career, I have learned tangible marketing tactics that will engage my future target audience. Franciscan provided me with an enriching spiritual and academic environment that has prepared me for a call to missionary life,” Vivian said.

The Class of 2025 also included 196 online students from 26 states and 8 other countries.

The graduation celebration kicked off on May 9 with the Baccalaureate Mass. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, presided. A noted catechist, he serves as the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and is also a member of Franciscan’s Episcopal Advisory Board.

Bishop Cozzens received an honorary doctorate in catechetics and evangelization for his leadership of the National Eucharistic Revival and his many years leading catechetics and evangelization efforts for the Church.

In a deeply eucharistic homily, he challenged graduates to live lives of radical surrender to Christ. Reflecting on the conversion of St. Paul, he urged graduates to recognize the same invitation in their own lives.

“Let yourself be overwhelmed by Jesus in his love for you, so you can surrender everything to him,” he said.

He emphasized the centrality of the Eucharist in sustaining a faithful Christian life, saying, “There is only one place in the world where you can consistently receive the life of God … only here at the altar can you eat and drink the flesh and blood of God.”

Bishop Cozzens also warned graduates against holding any-thing back from the Lord, calling such resistance a barrier to grace.

“Whatever you don’t surrender to him will become an area of death in your life,” he said.

Encouraging graduates to become eucharistic people, Bishop Cozzens invoked the legacy of St. Francis of Assisi, the University’s patron, and the passionate love that drove him to give everything to Christ. He urged the students to follow that example as they enter a confused world.

During commencement, lawyer, author, and director of the Person and Identity Project Mary Rice Hasson and her husband, Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, were awarded honorary doctorates in humane letters for their work defending and promoting religious liberty and the dignity of the human person. Mary Hasson accepted the degrees of behalf of the couple and delivered the commencement speeches.

Hasson called on young Catholics to courageously confront a cultural crisis and live out their identity as sons and daughters of God. She congratulated graduates and their families, acknowledging their strong Franciscan University formation.

“You are talented, faith-filled, gifted young women and men,” she said. “You’ve shown resilience, creativity, and perseverance during your time here at Franciscan.”

Framing her message around what she called an “anthropological revolution,” Hasson described a profound cultural con-fusion about the human person—what it means to be male and female, and what it means to be human. She said the ideology driving this confusion is no longer fringe but dominant across institutions and social platforms.

“There are no sidelines in a revolution, no bleacher seats to occupy, far above the fray. You are in it,” she said. “The world in which you will work, live, and raise your own families has been profoundly marked by this anthropological shift.”

Citing Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and others, Hasson traced the rise of gender ideology as the fruit of a faulty anthropology—a false understanding of the human person. She said 23 percent of Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ and noted that many have “never heard that their most fundamental identity is as sons and daughters of the Lord.”

But Hasson’s message was not one of despair. Instead, she issued a clear call to action.

“It’s time for a counter-revolution,” she declared. “Your world, and the Church, need the witness and work of outstanding, virtuous young men and women to counter this anthropological revolution.”

She addressed young men and women separately, challenging each to embrace their vocation with integrity. “To our young men: The world needs you. Masculinity is not toxic; only sin is toxic,” she said. “The world needs good men. We need you.

“To our young women: The world needs you, women who are glad they are women, confident in their equal dignity, but secure in recognizing the differences between men and women. Women who embrace the gift of motherhood, whether spiri-tual or biological, as intrinsic to who they are.”

She concluded: “Love God, and love the life he gives you, with all its twists and turns, in darkness and in light. Know who you are, not just what you do.”

In his closing remarks, University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, exhorted graduates to take what they received at Franciscan and bring it boldly into the world.

“Take it to a world that desperately needs it. Speak, be seen, and live the faith you’ve learned here,” Father Dave said. “The world needs to be able to see what it is to be a young man or woman of faith, integrity, truth, honesty, goodness, and beauty.”

Watch the full livestream of the commencement at academics.franciscan.edu/commencement-live/ .