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COMMENCEMENT 2015
Sr. Regina Gorman, O.C.D, Offers Prayers and Wisdom for College’s Newest Graduates
On May 16, Thomas Aquinas College celebrated its 41st Commencement, honoring the 80 members of the Class of 2015. In keeping with His Holiness Pope Francis’s call for a Year of Consecrated Life, the College chose as its Commencement Speaker one of the preeminent women religious in the United States, Sr. Regina Marie Gorman, O.C.D. “You are to be congratulated and celebrated for your accomplishments,” Sr. Regina Marie told the graduates. “Truly, they are singular.”
In a heartfelt Commencement Address, the Vicar General of Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles urged graduates to continue “tapping back into the torrent of gifts you have received here in this oasis of grace in Santa Paula,” by “coming face to Face with God every day in the integrity of your own soul.” This call for preserving a robust, active faith continued throughout the day. “We all must maintain an intense interior life — the Mass, the Rosary, spiritual reading, regular confession, penance for our souls and the souls of all the world,” advised Rev. Joseph Illo, principal celebrant and homilist, in his homily at the Baccalaureate Mass. Added Joshua Brittain (’15) in his Senior Address at the Commencement ceremony, “To love rightly, we need both knowledge of the truth and goodness of soul.”
To assist the College’s newest alumni in their prayer lives, the members of the College’s Board of Governors have given each a subscription to Magnificat, the monthly devotional magazine. Thus members of the Class of 2015 leave the College well-formed and spiritually armed, embracing their chosen class motto, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
Full coverage: Commencement 2015
College Gives Highest Honor to Sr. Regina
Order photos and Class of 2015 portraits
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Baccalaureate Mass
Commencement Ceremony
Chairman of the Board of Governors R. Scott Turicchi presents Sr. Regina Marie the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion
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SENIOR REFLECTIONS
Members of the Class of 2015 Take a Look Back ... and Forward
Two members of the Class of 2015, Rocky Brittain and Morgan Furore, spoke before the Thomas Aquinas College Board of Governors on May 15, discussing how they came to the College, their experience over these last four years, and their plans for life after graduation.
“This love of the intellectual life, and especially theology, has only been strengthened by the wonderful community here,” said Mr. Brittain. “Almost all of the good things in my life I have the College to thank for. My parents gave me my faith, but I made it my own within the walls of this chapel. I have found something that I am good at and that I love, and I will pursue that love further at Ave Maria University where, this fall, I will enter the master’s program in theology. It is here where I met my beautiful fiancée, Caitlin, whom I will marry next month.”
In her remarks, Miss Furore described how a conversation with a television producer on an airplane led her to see just how much the College has changed her. “We ended up talking about The Aeneid and The Odyssey and all of these great texts, and … toward the end of the trip, he began asking me about my faith, and about what my views were on controversial topics such as abortion. We realized pretty quickly that we didn’t see eye to eye, but … at the end of the flight he shook my hand and thanked me for taking the time to talk with him. He told me that I had given him hope.”
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Rocky Brittain (’15)
Morgan Furore (’15)
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A NEW YORK PRIEST IN CALIFORNIA
Fr. Rutler Speaks at Two College Events
Residents of both Northern and Southern California recently had an opportunity to meet and listen to one of New York’s most renowned priests, Rev. George W. Rutler, S.T.D., who spoke at two separate events for Thomas Aquinas College.
The first gathering, a reception hosted by the College’s Bay Area Board of Regents, took place at the city’s Olympic Club at Lakeside on Wednesday, May 20. Fr. Rutler — pastor of the Church of St. Michael in Manhattan and host of a weekly television program on EWTN — discussed his latest book, Hints of Heaven, which draws on the teachings of Christ through His parables.
The next event took place some 375 miles to the south, at the College’s campus in Santa Paula, for a gathering of the members of the Santa Barbara Chapter of Legatus, the international organization of Catholic business executives. “The Legates enjoyed meeting Fr. Rutler and learning from his thoughtful consideration of Our Lord’s parables,” said Vice President Paul J. O’Reilly. “We are honored that he would travel all these miles — first across the country and then the length of the state — to come visit with us.”
Full story and slideshow
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Fr. Rutler at
San Francisco’s Olympic Club
Fr. Rutler and
Msgr. Steven Otellini
Rev. Joseph Fessio, S.J., Eva Muntean, and Fr. Rutler
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• This November the Vatican will host the World Congress on Catholic Education, and among its invited experts will be one of the preeminent advocates for Catholic liberal education in the United States, Michael Van Hecke (’86). Mr. Van Hecke is the headmaster of St. Augustine Academy in Ventura, California, president of the Catholic Schools Textbook Project, and president and founder of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. “The aim of this Congress echoes everything I’ve strived for in my work,” he says. “The issues of this congress are the same issues I’ve been discussing with colleagues, superintendents, and bishops.”
• The Canadian Broadcast Corporation’s Ottawa Morning recently aired an episode about Elizabeth (Susanka) and Jeff Fennelly (both ’03) and their adopted son, Shawn. Now eight years old, Shawn is profoundly deaf and suffers from limited vision, cerebral palsy, and reflux disorder. Doctors once feared that he would never sit or stand on his own, or give and receive affection. Yet under the Fennellys’ care, he has thrived. Hear his story via the Faith in Action blog.
• A new musical album, Benedicta: Marian Chant from Norcia, features the voices of three alumni monks: Rev. Thomas Bolin, O.S.B. (’96); Br. Mary Evagrius Hayden, O.S.B. (’08); and Br. Philp Wilmeth (’13). The three graduates are members of an 18-member Benedictine community at Monastero San Benedetto, a 1,000-year-old monastery in Norcia, Italy. The album, drawn from the monks’ daily life of prayer, features 33 tracks of Gregorian chant, including traditional Marian antiphons such as “Regina Coeli” and “Ave Regina Coelorum.”
The Faith in Action Blog
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Michael Van Hecke (’86)
Elizabeth (Susanka) and Jeff Fennelly (both ’03)
Benedicta: Marian Chant from Norcia |
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