This past week, the University of Notre Dame announced that Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Notre Dame alumnus, will deliver the 2025 commencement address. In choosing Grady, the University is endorsing the power structures he represents over its commitment to Catholic values.
Grady built his career within the military-industrial complex, an institution that inherently lacks public accounting and has repeated histories of violating international and human rights law. His selection reflects a broader moral failure: Notre Dame is celebrating a figure whose legacy is defined by war and destruction, rather than peace and justice.
Grady has been a key architect of U.S. military operations that contradict Catholic values, devastating civilian populations and undermining Middle Eastern sovereignty. To be clear, my criticism is not of the brave men and women — some from my own neighborhood — who sacrificed their lives after 9/11. It is aimed at the architects of that war, like Grady, whose documented disregard for human life is undeniable.
As sea combat commander for the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group during the war on terror, Grady played a leading role in Operation Enduring Freedom. Under his leadership, Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) executed relentless bombing campaigns in Afghanistan. Between October and December 2001 alone, CVW-1 flew 7,086 sorties and dropped 800 tons of ordnance — flattening villages, displacing families and killing untold numbers of civilians under the guise of counterterrorism.
Some might hope — without evidence — that Grady was an internal voice of restraint, pushing for a more measured approach as a Notre Dame alum. But that claim is both unverifiable and illogical. If he had meaningfully opposed these indiscriminate bombings, he would not have continued to ascend the ranks of military leadership. Instead, in 2021, he was appointed vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — an endorsement of his record and the legacy his leadership left in the Middle East, not a repudiation of it.
As vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Christopher Grady is the second highest ranking military officer in the United States, overseeing weapons acquisition and military strategy that directly sustain other countries', like Israel’s, abilities to wage war. As chair of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), he plays a critical role in deciding which weapons and military systems are prioritized for funding, including those sent to Israel. While Congress approves Israel’s $3.8 billion annual military aid package, Grady determines how that money is spent, ensuring that Israel receives precision-guided bombs, artillery shells, fighter jets and missile defense systems used in its ongoing assault on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Through JROC, Grady has supported joint U.S.-Israel defense programs like the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow-3, which provide Israel with an unparalleled technological advantage over the stateless, besieged Palestinian population. Since October 2023, the U.S. has delivered thousands of bombs and munitions to Israel, fueling an airstrike campaign that has leveled entire neighborhoods, targeted hospitals and massacred tens of thousands. Grady ensures that this flow of arms remains uninterrupted, keeping Israel’s military well-stocked regardless of mounting war crimes accusations and international human rights concerns. If the White House were to scale back or halt weapons transfers due to global outrage, Grady would be central to assessing the “risks” of limiting military support to Israel.
As the Biden administration faced mounting calls to restrict military aid to Israel — amid harrowing images of devastation circulating online, including a father holding the lifeless, headless body of his child — Grady played a key role in ensuring that support remained uninterrupted. His influence reinforced a status quo in which Palestinian lives are treated as expendable in service of U.S. strategic interests.
This is the man Notre Dame has chosen to honor. What does that say about the University’s so-called Catholic values? Catholicism has always been a faith of peace — rejecting the violence of Roman authorities, Nazi Germany and today, the Israeli Defense Forces. Catholic leaders have long stood against war, and Dorothy Day, a pillar of the Catholic anti-war movement, reminds us: “The works of mercy are the opposite of the works of war — feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, nursing the sick, visiting the prisoner.”
By celebrating Grady, Notre Dame signals its willingness to forsake these fundamental tenets in favor of power and militarism. Where in Adm. Grady’s record are the works of mercy?
What hungry has he fed?
None. Instead, he played a central role in the failed Gaza pier project — an empty gesture of humanitarian aid that did nothing to challenge Israel’s blockade. While food shipments stalled, military aid to Israel continued uninterrupted.
What homeless has he sheltered?
None. Under his oversight, the weapons supplied to Israel have reduced 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure to rubble, displacing nearly 2 million people by December 2024.
What sick has he nursed?
None. Israel’s assault, enabled by U.S. military support, has left 31 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals destroyed or inoperable, depriving the wounded of even basic medical care.
And what prisoner has he visited?
None. As U.S.-backed airstrikes continue, more than 300 Palestinian children remain in Israeli custody, many held without formal charges or due process.
Yet, here we are — called to be Catholic forces for good, yet presented with a model of leadership that secures violence rather than peace and power rather than justice. Notre Dame could have chosen to uplift voices of resilience; those who have suffered under the weight of war yet still call for mercy. In the past, we have welcomed leaders like a Ukrainian Bishop who embody the struggle for dignity and self-determination. Instead, we honor a man who has helped sustain war, displacement and destruction.
A Catholic education should not ask us to accept power for power’s sake. It should challenge us to lead with compassion, stand against the machinery of war and build a world where peace is not an afterthought but a calling. If Notre Dame is to be true to its mission, it must ask itself: are we preparing students to perpetuate the status quo or to transform it into something closer to Christ’s will — into something that favors more prayers and less war?
Connor Marrott is a senior from Cleveland, Ohio His writing has appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cincinnati Enquirer. He serves on the board of SoildarityND and is always eager to discuss any and all ideas. You can contact Connor at cmarrott@nd.edu.
