Abbot Vanden Branden, O. Praem., delivers address at the 2026 St. Norbert College commencement ceremony
DE PERE, WI — St. Norbert College’s 127th commencement ceremony took place on May 17, 2026. The day began with a baccalaureate Mass, celebrated by Abbot Bradley Vanden Branden, O. Praem.; Fr. Michael Brennan, O. Praem., the on-campus chaplain; and other priests of St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere.
Abbot Vanden Branden, who is four months and two days into his time serving as the youngest abbot in St. Norbert Abbey history, highlighted in his commencement address that commencement speakers typically have long lists of accomplishments and decades of experience.
“You, too, are standing at the beginning of something,” he said to the graduates. “Like me, you do not yet have a long resume, you don’t have decades of experience, what you have is something else, and in many ways, something more exciting: the next step.”
Abbot Vanden Branden is a lifelong member of the community. He grew up in West De Pere, attending Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and School and West De Pere High School. He graduated from St. Norbert College in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in choral music education before entering the novitiate at St. Norbert Abbey in 2010.
Following his novitiate, he attended Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he received a master’s degree in divinity in 2016. He was ordained to the priesthood that same year and earned a master’s degree in liturgy in 2017.
“The message that I hope the Class of 2026 takes with them is twofold: peace and courage,” Abbot Vanden Branden said ahead of Sunday’s ceremony. “The world that we are in at the moment has plenty of chaos to be fearful of. However, at St. Norbert College, we are called to be ministers of peace and reconciliation like St. Norbert.”
St. Norbert College awarded 364 undergraduate degrees, 23 graduate degrees, and one pre-law certificate. Among the graduates, 182 students received honors distinctions. The class represented 22 states and three countries — the United States, Canada, and India.
The class includes 34 graduates of the St. Norbert College Honors Program and 173 student-athletes.
The undergraduate student speaker was Savannah R. Kobasic ’26, a biology major with a biomedical sciences concentration and a double minor in chemistry and business administration. The graduate speaker was Reetika Verma, MBA ’26.
Holy Cross Parish and GRACE School System announce Holy Cross Catholic School relocation to new campus for fall
GREEN BAY, WI — Holy Cross Parish and the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System are pleased to announce that GRACE Holy Cross Catholic School will be relocating to a new campus at 3994 Wequiock Rd. Green Bay.
Located just a few miles down the road from its current site, the move reflects GRACE’s ongoing commitment to strengthening Catholic education while positioning Holy Cross Catholic School for continued growth, expanded programming, and long-term vitality. This move offers improved classroom environments, increased flexibility for programming, and space to foster deeper collaboration among students, faculty, and families. While its close proximity ensures continuity for Holy Cross Parish and current school families, it also creates new possibilities for innovation and development for the PK to eighth grade school.
This significant undertaking was made possible by the generosity of Holy Cross Parish and an anonymous benefactor. Reflecting on the spiritual mission behind the move, Abbot Gary Neville, O. Praem., noted, “Holy Cross Catholic School has been a leader in excellent Catholic education since 1868. The relocation to Wequiock Road will allow us to carry on that legacy in an updated and enhanced educational environment.”
“We are guided by our faith and strengthened by our entire community,” stated GRACE Holy Cross Catholic School Principal Kari Peterson. “This foundation allows us to move forward with confidence, knowing that Holy Cross Catholic School will remain a nurturing environment where students continue to learn, grow, and thrive for generations to come.”
GRACE Holy Cross Catholic School will open on the first day of school this fall, August 26, 2026. Families will be receiving additional information regarding transition details, open house opportunities and fall start up information. For continued move updates, please follow GRACE Holy Cross Catholic School on Facebook at facebook.com/HolyCrossFamily or call the current school office.
Pope Leo’s over 400 appeals for peace during first year of pontificate
VATICAN — In the first year of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has appealed hundreds of times for a reconciliation that is “unarmed and disarming,” and urged the “lords of war” to listen to “a melody greater than ourselves.”
“Unarmed and disarming.” With these words, at sunset on May 8, 2025 — the dawn of his pontificate — Pope Leo XIV described his vision of peace.
It is not the silence of weapons that comes from a ceasefire, he explained on Christmas morning, distancing himself even more clearly from the fragile agreements of international geopolitics.
Such agreements risk making every appeal for reconciliation seem disarming in the negative sense: stripping people of the will to react, respond or resist. It is that “great weariness” that threatens to seep into hearts and empty words of meaning.
During the Urbi et Orbi blessing on December 25, he pointed to the horizon of a “wild peace,” inspired by the poet Yehuda Amichai: a reconciliation that springs up “suddenly,” like wild “flowers,” those that stubbornly, with seeming naïveté, grow through cracks in the concrete. “May it come,” Pope Leo said of that harmony, “because the field needs it.”
Read the full article from Vatican News here: onmiss.io/peace.