Daniel T. Flatley’s Address to the Class of 2023

“Never Forget this Place”

by Daniel T. Flatley
Trustee, The Flatley Foundation
Commencement 2023
Thomas Aquinas College, New England

The only question I have is, “Is Fr. Markey going to sit for the firefighters’ exam?” Following on this, it was encouraging to hear how the College community pulled together with Fr. Markey to hold Mass in a makeshift chapel following that fire. Another encouraging development I have been informed of is the fact that at least six weddings between students or alumni will be held this summer in the school’s chapel.

On a sadder note, you have my deepest condolences on the passing of Dr. Nancy Ann Faller, or Nurse Nancy, this past October. She must have been an unusual woman of complete and total commitment to this place.

There’s an old story told of the great doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas. I got it off Reddit, whatever that is — I’m no tech wizard.

Aquinas walks into a bar, and the bartender pours him a generous goblet of mead. The bartender asks him politely, “So, Thomas, how are you doing this fine day?”

Aquinas replies, “Oh, not so well. I’ve been hard at work on this major treatise for seminarians that basically explains all the major points of Catholicism. It could be the most important theological document of our time; I even thought of the perfect title, Summa Theologica.”

Aquinas went on to say, “So I finished it, and proceeded to misplace it. I just cannot find it anywhere. I cannot begin to understand how God would inspire me to do this great thing, and then He would allow it to be taken away from me. What in the world do you think God is trying to tell me?”

The Bartender replies: “Well, you win summa, you lose summa.”

Just hoping a joke mentioning the guy your school is named after might make me sound a little like an actual intellectual egghead! As one of your featured speakers here today, I am supposed to say something profound in the way of sage counsel to you, new graduates of this august institution of higher education. I honestly don’t know how well I will do, because I have a feeling I couldn’t gain admission here with my high school record. Well, here goes.

The best piece of advice I can imagine for you brilliant younger folks going forward: You have two perspectives to consider, your future and your past.

“The best piece of advice I can imagine for you brilliant younger folks going forward: You have two perspectives to consider, your future and your past.”

With regards to your future, try to keep in mind your future tax deductions: the children you might have someday. I wasn’t certain there would be a woman who would have me, or that I would ever wind up with the gifts the Good Lord gave me in our children, all three of whom turned out far better than I could have imagined. In the life you lead running up to having the spouse and children the Good Lord might grant you, be the example for them that you will want them to become eventually. That takes true wisdom and real discipline.

With regards to your past, never forget this place and the men and women working here who are completely and totally dedicated to you — to your physical, intellectual and spiritual well-being, such as Nurse Nancy. Pay it forward. The benefactors who have written checks for you to attend this fine college hope it does not end with you. Be productive and don’t forget those coming along after you. Start right away, even if it’s only $25 or $50 each and every year. It’s not cheap to run one of these colleges. It is also the right thing to do.

I will close with a lovely poem written by a Dominican missionary priest, Thomas Heath, Boston College, Class of 1943, who was murdered in Kenya in 2005. It is titled “Proud Refrain.” In my mind’s eye, I see a Catholic chaplain bending over to minister to a wounded soldier from one of B.C.’s wartime classes, on a Navy ship in a misty light.

What is it, soldier?
What is it that you see?

A tall grey Gothic tower
And a linden tree.

You speak so sadly, soldier,
so sad and wistfully …

I cannot hear the tower bell
In the swirling sea.

What meaning has it, soldier,
A tower, bell and tree?

Nothing, nothing — only once,
It meant my life to me.

Hopefully this place means as much to you.