Red For The Boston College Commencement 2009

For those of you who are aficionados of Catholic vestments, check out this photo of Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, at Monday's commencement ceremony at Boston College. The cardinal, a Franciscan Capuchin friar whose preferred garb is the brown hooded habit and sandals of his order, here is shown wearing a silk ferraiolo, which is an ecclesiastical cape used for solemn nonliturgical events, like formal dinners and academic convocations. The ferraiolo is over the cardinal's simar, or house cassock, a black wool garment, in this case trimmed in scarlet, the color signifying that O'Malley is a cardinal. O'Malley is shown entering the commencement ceremony with the Rev. T. Frank Kennedy, the rector of the Jesuit community at BC.

Link (here)

A Georgetown Commencement 2009

It is a Georgetown tradition to hold separate commencement ceremonies so students may graduate with their classmates and also hear from speakers who are experts and scholars in the students’ chosen fields.

PBS journalist Gwen Ifill of “Washington Week” and “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” spoke at Georgetown College’s ceremony -- the largest at the university. Ifill encouraged the more than 800 graduates to approach life with a healthy dose of skepticism.

“You need to prepare to question yourself, to question those around you, and maybe even question those who you aspire to be,” Ifill said to a sea of graduates and their families sitting on Healy Lawn.

Link (here)

Photo of Ifill with Barack Obama in 2004