Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients

Robert Royal, Ph.D., founder and president of the Faith & Reason Institute and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, will deliver the Commencement address during Assumption’s rescheduled 103^rd Commencement exercises. 

Royal is a distinguished scholar known for his writings that address questions of ethics, culture, religion and politics, topics he discusses in international lectures, on television and radio stations, and through his work with the Faith & Reason Institute and his online publication, The Catholic Thing. Founded in 2008, The Catholic Thing offers daily columns by renowned Catholic thinkers offering thoughtful insight, commentary and analysis on current events, complementing the work of the Faith & Reason Institute, which seeks to infuse religion into the public discourse through research, conferences, seminars, and publishing of relevant material. According to the organization’s website, the Institute is “the first Washington think-tank devoted to encouraging both of these essential dimensions of our existence,” addressing “questions of economics, politics, public policy, science, technology, the environment, and public culture, from the perspective of both faith and reason” in the context of the richness of Western and Catholic history.

Royal has taught at Brown University, Rhode Island College, and The Catholic University of America, and received fellowships from the Renaissance Society of America to study in Italy as a Fulbright scholar. He has also served as vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and as editor-in-chief of Prospect magazine. He has written numerous essays that have appeared in scholarly journals and has translated books and articles from French, Italian and Spanish, and  published several books, including 1492 And All That: Political Manipulations of History; Reinventing the American People: Unity and Diversity Today; The Virgin and the Dynamo: The Use and Abuse of Religion in the Environment Debate; The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive Global History; The Pope’s Army; The God That Did Not Fail; and A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.

Royal earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate in comparative literature from the Catholic University of America. 

James T. Brett, President and CEO of The New England Council

Brett is a leading advocate for education, health care, financial services and energy issues throughout New England and in Washington D.C. He has served as president and CEO of The New England Council—an alliance of schools, hospitals, corporations and private organizations working to promote economic growth and quality of life throughout New England—since October 1996, during which the organization has experienced significant membership and financial growth. He is also co-host of NECN’s D.C. Dialogue, and previously spent more than 15 years serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. While in the House, he served as chairman of a number of committees. 

Brett is committed to service, participating on and leading a number of philanthropic organizations, for which he has received several honors and awards, though most notable for his advocacy for the physically and mentally challenged. He currently serves as vice-chairman of the National Council on Disability; chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability; and chairperson of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission. The James T. Brett Chair in Disability and Workforce Development at UMass Boston is the nation’s only endowed chair in disability and workforce development and in 1996 Boston’s Bay Cove Human Services named a new community home for disabled adults “Brett House” in his honor. He has been designated by the Boston Red Sox as a disability advocate and was the driving force behind the Able Act, federal legislation that creates “a savings plan for people with disabilities for future education, training, living expenses, and other supports.”

Brett holds degrees from American University, Suffolk University and Harvard University and has been awarded with Papal Honors such as being named a Knight of Malta and Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He and his wife, Patricia, live in Dorchester.