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“STANDING ON SACRED GROUND”
Cardinal Lajolo Offers Prayers for College, Dr. Dillon, at St. Peter’s Basilica
While visiting with members of the Church hierarchy in Rome, President Michael F. McLean and Governor Lloyd Noble recently had the privilege of attending a Mass offered by His Eminence Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo, President Emeritus of the Vatican City State. A friend of the College, Cardinal Lajolo visited the campus and presented a lecture in 2008.
“We are standing on sacred ground,” Cardinal Lajolo began his homily, given in the Clementine Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica. “It is sacred because it has been consecrated with the blood of the first Roman martyrs and of the Apostle Peter.”
Recalling the witness and the sacrifice of the Apostles, His Eminence prayed that their example would guide the College. “Let us also pray for the governors, the faculty and staff, the students and families of Thomas Aquinas College, so they continue to grow in knowledge and grace,” he said. “May the Lord guide their important mission, so that they always give witness to the light which Jesus Christ brought to humanity — with the humbleness and courage of the first Roman martyrs, of Peter and the Apostles, remembering the courageous witness they have left for us.”
In particular, the Cardinal offered prayers for the College’s late president Dr. Thomas E. Dillon. “We pray for him and remember him with affection; he left an indelible mark in the College’s mission,” the Cardinal said. “May the Lord reward his faithful servant.”
Read the full homily 
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Governor Lloyd Noble, Cardinal Lajolo, a visiting sister, and President Michael F. McLean
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PRAYER WARRIORS
For the Class of 2015, a Gift in Honor of
Dr. McArthur
When members of the Class of 2015 arrive at the President’s Dinner on May 13, they will receive a gift from a former student of the College’s late founding president, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur. The gift is a knotted Rosary, on which knots in the cord, rather than beads, denote each prayer. Knotted Rosaries are said to be preferred among combat soldiers because the cords are soft and make no noise.
A few years ago one of Dr. McArthur’s students from his days at St. Mary’s College in the 1960s presented him with a knotted Rosary. The gift was a fitting choice, as Dr. McArthur served in the Armed Forces during World War II and, throughout his life, was a solider for Christ. Dr. McArthur treasured this gift and prayed the knotted Rosary during the last year of his life. At his request, he was buried with it after his death on October 17, 2013.
Knowing that the knotted Rosary meant so much to Dr. McArthur, this dear friend decided to present each member of last year’s graduating class with one just like it at the 2014 President’s Dinner. Now he is repeating this kind gesture for the second year in a row.
Full story
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Fr. Hildebrand blessing the Rosaries
Dr. Ronald P. McArthur †
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• Less than one year since her graduation, Sara Majkowski (’14) is living just outside of Phoenix, where she is an educator by day and — in her spare time — she is learning the ropes of film production and finance. While teaching in the rapidly expanding consortium of Great Hearts charter academies, she has become involved with an emerging lay apostolate, Catholics in Action. She is helping to organize its trip to the 2016 World Youth Day in Poland, and she is busily raising funds for an upcoming film, Footprints, about a group of young men’s 40-day pilgrimage along Spain’s Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
• The Ventura County Star recently published a lengthy feature about the latest assault on human life in California — physician-assisted suicide. The story included several quotations from an alumnus and tutor of the College, Dr. John. J. Goyette (’90). “The very idea of physician-assisted suicide is an implicit judgment that a life that involves suffering is not really worth living. It’s seeing human beings as disposable,” Dr. Goyette told the Star. He further observed that assisted suicide’s supporters have a grimly utilitarian view of the end of human life. “The underlying assumption is that a death with pain and suffering is somehow meaningless or undignified — that doesn’t really fit with our experience. Suffering is an opportunity for people to show care and compassion. A death that’s filled with compassion, that’s not a meaningless or undignified death.”
• A Third Order Carmelite, Cynthia (Six ’77) Montanaro recently appeared on Radio Maria’s “Carmelite Conversations,” where she spoke about her book, Diary of a Country Mother. The memoir, which chronicles the life of her beloved son Tim, reflects her yearlong journey of prayer and meditation, begun about six months after Tim’s death at the age of 15 in 2005. “This account of the life of my son simply reveals that each person, no matter his mental or physical problems, has a great worth beyond measure, and leaves an enormous impact on those near to them and those farther afield,” Mrs. Montanaro told host Mark Damis. The full interview is available via the Radio Maria website.
The Faith in Action Blog
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Sara Majkowski (’14), right, with Catholics in Action
Dr. John J.
Goyette (’90)
Cynthia (Six ’77) Montanaro
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GOODBYE, SENIORS
College Prepares to Bid Farewell
to the Class of 2015
Having called campus their home for the last four years, Thomas Aquinas College’s seniors are generally, and understandably, ambivalent about the prospects of departing after Commencement. Those they are leaving behind — underclassmen as well as faculty and staff — are likewise heavy-hearted to see the Seniors go. Thus the process of saying goodbye at the College is, mercifully, long and gradual, with many occasions for reminiscences and well-wishes along the way.
For the Class of 2015, the Long Goodbye has already begun. It started with a farewell brunch, hosted by the Sophomores. It continued with the annual Tutor-Senior Softball game and Thesis Draft-Burning party, the Senior-Freshman Late-Night Snack, and the Junior-Senior Dinner. Still to come are the President’s Dinner and Reception, the Alumni and Parents’ Associations’ Taco Dinner and, of course, Commencement itself.
Please pray for members of the Class of 2015 as they prepare for graduation and life beyond!
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Thesis Draft-Burning
Junior-Senior Dinner
Senior-Freshman Late-Night Snack |
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BUILDING ON DR. DILLON’S LEGACY
The Thomas E. Dillon Memorial
Scholarship Fund
Thomas Aquinas College has been given an extraordinary opportunity.
This year, due to a providential combination of circumstances, and with two months still remaining in the fiscal year, the College has already met its financial aid goal. That means that, for these next two months, it can focus its efforts on the future.
Last year, the College launched the Thomas E. Dillon Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for its beloved late president. The Fund provided immediate assistance in the 2013-2014 fiscal year to students who would otherwise have been unable to continue in the program.
This year, the College is taking the next step by turning the Thomas E. Dillon Memorial Scholarship Fund into an endowment. Every gift made to the Thomas E. Dillon Memorial Scholarship Fund before June 30 will permanently benefit the College’s students, decrease its reliance on annual fundraising, and help to ensure its future stability.
A letter from Dr. McLean
Contribute to the Dillon Scholarship Fund
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Dr. Thomas E. Dillon †
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