LOS ANGELES — Veteran actor and social justice activist Martin Sheen told Loyola Marymount University graduates to “go about the world bringing justice, healing and mercy” at a commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 6, on the Westchester campus.
“The world opens up to us with an equal measure of opportunity and responsibility but the more the world changes, the more it remains the same, because the most important needs of every human being on earth are not only food, clothing and shelter, but equally the need for justice, healing and mercy,” Sheen told the graduates. “Without the latter, the former are useless.”
Sheen’s long performing career includes more than 100 film roles over the last 60 years and a seven-year run on the NBC series “The West Wing.” He also has worked for decades as an activist for social causes, including homelessness, poverty, nuclear disarmament, environmentalism, and anti-war efforts. A longtime supporter of the Catholic Worker movement, Sheen played co-founder Peter Maurin in the film “Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story.”
LMU’s 111th undergraduate commencement exercises were held at Sunken Garden. Watch Sheen’s address to the Class of 2023.
LMU’s graduate commencement ceremony with keynote speaker Ginni Rometty, former Chairman, President and CEO of IBM, will be held on Sunday, May 7. The Hon. James E. Graves, Jr., judge of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, will speak at LMU Loyola Law School commencement on Sunday, May 21.
