Christendom College celebrated its 47th commencement on May 16, awarding 112 Bachelor of Arts degrees to the Class of 2026. Anne Carroll, founder of Seton School, Seton Home Study, and wife of late Christendom College founder Dr. Warren Carroll, delivered this year’s Commencement Address and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in recognition of her outstanding contributions to Catholic faith, culture, and public life. Carroll, who has shaped generations of students over her 50-year career in education, reflected on pivotal moments of crisis in Church history during her address, including the reign of King Henry VIII and the landmark Land o’ Lakes Statement of 1967 that directly led to Christendom’s founding. Through these stories, Carroll emphasized that while darkness has repeatedly emerged throughout history, hope has risen in response to it time and time again — proof that one man or one woman can make a difference for the better. “During all the historical times when the church was beleaguered, ordinary people were keeping the faith, remaining faithful to the Church when the wealthy and the powerful, the influencers, were going in the opposite direction,” said Carroll. “That faithfulness is a different kind of heroism, but in some ways even more important because it is possible for everyone. That is where you come in.” Carroll, who is the author of the widely read Christ the King, Lord of History, closed her address by turning from the past to the future, offering hope for the future of Christendom and the rest of the Church. “Though predictions are risky, I will now make one. 110 years after that dark year of 1967, what will we see? Christendom will be preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and God willing, most of you will be here to celebrate it, and some of your descendants will be sitting where you are now,” concluded Carroll. “The college will have faced new and even frightening challenges, but God will certainly provide the graces to surmount them, and those of us who have finished the race will be looking on from Heaven, or maybe Purgatory. and singing with all of you who will be celebrating on Earth.”