Peter John Gomes, Doctor of Divinity
Your pilgrimage began, appropriately, in Plymouth where you preached from a childhood pulpit made of cranberry boxes in the basement. Your first public sermon came at age 12 and the rest, as they say, is theology. Named by Time magazine as one of America’s seven “star preachers” you have packed Harvard’s Memorial Church on Sundays with crowds drawn by the thunderclap of great preaching. There, as well as in your classes, in your extensive writings, and at the Wednesday afternoon teas held in your home, you have dared speak with the rising generation about what you have called their “great moral thirst” — addressing issues that don’t often arise in dorm room conversation, such as suffering, joy, evil, temptation, virtue, hope, and doing so with an uncommon blend of eloquence, erudition, and heart. Blessed are the students challenged by you to distinguish between making a living and making a life. And blessed is the society that those students, like ours here today, head out to serve.
I hereby declare you recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 6, 2004
Morton Owen Schapiro
President of the College