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STUDENTS RETURN!
Life Resumes on Campus with Start of California Summer Program
Against long odds, the 2020 California Summer Program is now under way! Students arrived on the California campus on Sunday, and already they are discussing Boethius, contemplating Plato, and making friends from across the country and the world.
“We are thankful to God for making this year’s program possible,” says Director of Admissions Jon Daly. “We are also grateful to the many people who have prayed for the program, and to the members of the College’s Medical Advisory Board, who have worked hard to devise plans for programs that safeguard the health of our students, employees, and the surrounding communities.”
The College has, of course, had to make some minor adjustments to how the program functions: Students were required to test for COVID-19 before coming to campus, for example. Likewise, there will be no off-campus excursions, and masks and social distancing have been required where appropriate. Otherwise, though, the program is very much the same as always — an intellectually challenging, spiritually enriching, fun experience of the life at Thomas Aquinas College.
The California program runs through July 25, immediately followed by the New England program on the College’s new campus in Northfield, Massachusetts. A few spots are still open for the New England program. If you know any rising high school seniors, please encourage them to apply!
►Meet the Summer Program Prefects
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A WORLD UNITED IN PRAYER
Photos & Video: Bishop Barron, College Close Global Rosary Relay 2020
The Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, joined the community of Thomas Aquinas College as its members prayed the Holy Rosary for the sanctification of priests on Friday, June 19, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The gathering marked the conclusion of WorldPriest’s eleventh annual Global Rosary Relay, an international prayer chain in which members of the faithful across the world took turns praying a designated set of mysteries, thereby encircling the planet in prayer for 24 hours. Thomas Aquinas College was blessed this year to serve as the last leg of the relay, spiritually delivering the world’s prayers to the Blessed Mother from its chapels in California and New England.
Prior to the recitation of the Rosary, Bishop Barron offered Mass from Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel on the California campus. “It’s a joy to be with you, a joy to be at this beautiful place,” said His Excellency as he began his homily (video below), focusing on the “center of Jesus’ affectivity,” His Sacred Heart. “Love what He loves,” the Bishop advised. “Rejoice over what He rejoices over. Be sorrowful over what He’s sorrowful over. Exult in the manner of His exultation.”
►Continue reading
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OVERWHELMING GENEROSITY
Friends Contribute $780k+ for Week of Giving!
“It’s such a blessing for me, and a genuine delight, to make this gift,” said Dr. Melissa Buckley when she promised to match all contributions made to the College’s 2020 Week of Giving, up to $350,000. “I hope it will inspire others to support the wonderful students at Thomas Aquinas College.”
It sure did.
Spurred by Dr. Buckley’s great generosity, hundreds of friends made their own gifts to the College, collectively surpassing the campaign’s goal on its final day, due to a surge in last-minute giving. In total, they contributed at least $432,525 — which, when combined with Dr. Buckley’s matching gift, amounts to more than $782,525 in all.
“The outpouring of generosity we have seen over the last week has been phenomenal,” says Matthew Plaisted, the College’s director of annual giving. “Total giving was up more than 40 percent from last year, which would be stunning at any time, but is all the more so when you consider the economic difficulties that so many are facing right now.”
The Week of Giving is the third and final giving event of the College’s fiscal year, coming after the Alumni Day of Giving in March and the Parent Day of Giving in May. It invites friends of the College — who neither attended TAC nor have children or grandchildren who did so — to support its mission. Combined, the three events secured nearly $1.2 million for the College’s annual fund.
►Continue reading
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Dr. Melissa Buckley
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College's Alumni Blog
• Only four years since his graduation, Louis Knuffke (’16) has been named the headmaster of Chesterton Academy, a Catholic high school offering a classical curriculum in Annapolis, Maryland. “As Headmaster of Chesterton Academy, I hope to guide the school in maintaining a clear vision of the essentials of Catholic liberal education,” says Mr. Knuffke. “It is the education that I received at Thomas Aquinas College, as well as my further studies in Thomistic theology, that have given me a deeper understanding of the path of knowledge from its beginning in logic to its culmination in sacred theology.”
• Friends and loved ones gathered July 2 for the funeral Mass of an alumnus of Thomas Aquinas College, Fred Arthur (’96), a father of four young children who passed away after a courageous struggle against cancer. Many fellow alumni were on hand, most notably the principal celebrant for the Mass: Mr. Arthur’s onetime TAC roommate, Rev. Ramon Decaen (’96), a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. “Today we pray in a special way for our brother Fred, whose gentle smile illuminated the campus at Thomas Aquinas College,” said Fr. Decaen in his homily. “He had a great love for people, a great love for everyone. … He was always generous, very giving of himself.”
• After serving for the last few years as a part-time lecturer at Christendom College, TAC alumna Dr. Kathleen Sullivan (’06) has been named a full-time faculty member in the school’s Department of English and Literature. Dr. Sullivan holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Dallas and a doctorate from the Catholic University of America. During her graduate-school years, she was a perennial presence on Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus, where she served several times as the beloved head women’s prefect for the High School Summer Program. Congratulations to Dr. Sullivan on her new job — and to Christendom on an excellent hire!
► Faith in Action blog
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Louis Knuffke (’16)
Fred Arthur (’96)
Rev. Ramon Decaen (’96)
Dr. Kathleen Sullivan (’06) |
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OUR LADY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
Liturgical Arts Journal Calls California Chapel “A Triumph in Church Architecture”
“After years in the faith-based travel industry,” writes by John Paul Sonnen in the Liturgical Arts Journal, “I can say without equivocation the chapel at Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) in Santa Paula, California is a must-see for Catholics.”
A tour operator, history docent, and travel writer with Orbis Catholic Travel, Mr. Sonnen sings the praises both of the California campus’ chapel and the school it serves. “For those who do not know, TAC is the undisputed ‘rex’ of Catholic university-land in the area of liberal arts,” writes Mr. Sonnen. “What began as a little-known experiment in the world of Catholic higher education in 1971 has led to the college leading as a major force in United States Catholicism and the academic world at large.”
There is a continuity, he notes, between the College’s singular academic program and its “totally unique” chapel. “Just as the whole curriculum leads and points ultimately to the study of God, so, too, the campus points to the Chapel, the crown jewel of the campus layout,” observes Mr. Sonnen. “The Chapel yields untold blessings to the college community, lifting the soul, forming the mind, moving the heart and guiding the spirit. Young students set out their freshman year on a journey, embarking with great courage on a four-year pilgrimage, seeking to excel at academic and intellectual pursuits.”
►Full story in Liturgical Arts Journal
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