CIA-RDP96-00792R000700550001-0

6 Juin 88
A SPI CIAL GUEST
-Approved Fe
"Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700550001-0
BY WAYNE PARTLOW-THE WASHINGTON POST
Approved con Released2001103107is @MA RDP96:00792kdoorb0550001-0
diploma yesterday. The 77-year-old nun addressed Gonzaga graduates during the ceremony. Story, Page D3.

church, which adjoins the school'
buildings. About 400 others watched
Approved For Release 2001/03/07 :ICIA-TOP96-00792R000700550001-0
) BY WAYNE PARTLOW -- THE WASHINGTON POST
Mother Teresa talks with the Rev. Bernard J. Dooley during the ceremony.
Mother Teresa Brings Call
For Service, Peace to D.C.
"Nun Addresses Gonzaga High Graduates
By Lawrence Feinberg
-queington Post Staff Writer
Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace
e winner who heads the world-
wide Missionaries of Charity, at-
tended her first U.S. high school"
graduation yesterday, handing out
diplomas to graduates of Washing-
ton's Gonzaga High School and ap-
pealing for service and peace.
The 77-year-old nun, who lives in
Calcutta, where she and her Roman
Catholic order care for the poorest
of the poor, shook hands with each
of the Jesuit school's 186 graduates
as she passed out diplomas. She
food one step up on the altar of St.
Aloysius Church, but most of the
graduates in the all-male class tow-
-red above her slight, stooped fig-
After losing enrollment as its
neighborhood north of Union Sta-
tion deteriorated in the 1960s and
.1970s, Gonzaga has flourished in
recent years. It now draws about
-equal numbers of students from the
-District, Maryland and Virginia.
The school has added buildings and
refurbished old ones.
"We are important to the extent
that we extend ourselves to oth-
ers," Smedira said in his speech,
echoing a theme of Mother Tere-
sa's
She shook hands pretty firmly
and
said,
Congratulations, God
ss you,
said graduate Brian
Amorosi after the ceremony.
ut is almost absurd that a person
Inke Mother Teresa should come
halfway around the world to attend
a ceremony honoring us," said vale-
ictorian Scott C. Smedira, "It is
squally absurd that, in a world with
so many people, that we as individ-
uals make a difference. But that,
too, is a reality."
Mother Teresa, accompanied by
live members of her order, arrived
just before the start of the ceremo-
ty. She left quietly just before it
ended an hour and a half later, and
was driven from the church on
North Capitol Street in a small
White van ..
The Rev. Bernard J. Dooley,
president of the 167-year-old
school, said he wrote Mother Te-
resa a letter of invitation about a
year ago and also"had some help
from some parents who know her."
Instead of making a donation to
the school, the seniors gave their
class gift-about $4,000-to her
order,
which operates three mis-
sions in the District. She received
Cho honor or award yesterday. Some
universities-Georgetown six years
ago and Columbia last week-have
given her honorary degrees.
"Her speech was a homily, urging
the graduates to serve others and
"never be afraid to do small things
with love."""
WHunger is not only for bread,
though there are many places
where people are dying of hunger,"
Mother Teresa said. "But there is
that terrible hunger for love.
"The fruit of love is service. The
fruit of service is peace," she contin-
ued. "And peace begins with a smile."
During the ceremony Mother Te-
resa smiled often as she chatted
With Dooley. She applauded the
school's wind ensemble after it
played a march that John Philip
Sousa had conducted at a Gonzaga
graduation in 1886.
And she joined in applause and
Warm laughter for Dr. Richard D.
Mudd, a 1917 graduate of the
school, who said he has made it to a
healthy "87 and %" by following a
regimen of "two steaks a year, one
glass of wine a day, a low-choles-
terol diet, one egg a week, and vi-
olent exercise."
About 1,200 people filled the
church, which adjoins the school
buildings. About 400 others watched
the ceremony on closed-circuit tele-
Approved For Releasea2001/03/071: CIA-RDP96-00792R000700550001-0