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Commencement 2020
Bishop Paprocki to Serve as Speaker
The Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield in Illinois, has accepted President Michael F. McLean’s invitation to serve as Thomas Aquinas College’s 2020 Commencement Speaker.
“It is an honor to be invited to speak at the Commencement this year for Thomas Aquinas College,” says His Excellency. “It is a mark of distinction that the great books of Western civilization are at the heart of the Thomas Aquinas College curriculum, which, together with its unabashedly Catholic identity, are key factors that distinguish the graduates of Thomas Aquinas College from those of many other schools. I look forward to addressing the graduates of this esteemed institution of higher learning named after the Angelic Doctor.”
Dr. McLean made Bishop Paprocki’s acquaintance at a conference last summer and extended the invitation not long thereafter. “His Excellency is a holy, intelligent, and humble man, as well as an enthusiastic champion of our program of Catholic liberal education,” he says. “We are grateful and honored that he will be part of this important day in the life of the College and for the members of the Class of 2020.”
► Continue reading
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The Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki
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Annual report
College Gives Thanks for Extraordinary Year
Dear Friends of Thomas Aquinas College,
The fiscal year that closed on June 30, 2019, was one of preparation — in ways both practical and spiritual — as we laid the groundwork for the successful opening of our New England campus in August.
Meanwhile, we also expanded our California campus, adding some 700 acres of the surrounding ranch land. And at the start of the academic year, we welcomed Archbishop Gomez to dedicate the newly completed St. Cecilia Hall, a gift of the Fritz B. Burns Foundation. Such milestones are important, and it is only fitting that we celebrate and give thanks to God. Yet these extraordinary events are important precisely because of the ordinary life that underlies them, and to which they are ordered: the life of Faith Seeking Understanding. This life takes place in our classrooms, in the residence halls, and in the Chapels, and it manifests itself in song, in prayer, and in witness. …
The work of Thomas Aquinas College would not be possible without the support of thousands of benefactors. Our audited financial statements for Fiscal Year 2019 document both your generosity and our stewardship. It is a privilege for us to do this work, and we are honored by your confidence in the value of our program and in the dedication of our students.
Thank you. May God bless you.
Sincerely,
Michael F. McLean
President
► Full letter from Dr. McLean
► Audited financial statements (PDF)
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President Michael F. McLean |
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national gold medal
Freshman Earns Top Honors from Royal Conservatory of Music
Before coming to Thomas Aquinas College last fall, Georgia Snethun (’23) spent a year pursuing her diploma (ARCT) in speech arts and drama from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. The process culminated with her diploma exam, an hour-long, one-woman show consisting of some 10 self-selected pieces, followed by a defense, during which Miss Snethun had to answer judges’ questions about her selections and their significance. Midway through her Freshman Year on the California campus, she learned not only that she had passed the examination, but that she had also earned the highest mark in all of Canada — the National Gold Medal.
“I started speech arts when I was six, and I went up through all the grades, 1-10, that the Royal Conservatory offers,” says Miss Snethun. “Speech arts uses various media — such as literature, public speaking, acting, poetry, and literary history and analysis — to create a confident voice in speakers. We study the whole body and how it relates to the voice, we study poetry scansion, we study phonetics. The goal is not specifically to be an actor; it’s to be able to speak clearly.”
Her final-examination performance “was kind of like a culmination of my music and acting and public speaking,” she says — noting that she chose not to pursue those disciplines in college, but instead to seek a Catholic liberal education at Thomas Aquinas College. “As much as I love acting and I love poetry, public speaking, and everything that speech arts entails, at some point you want something a little more,” Miss Snethun reflects. “When I saw what the College has to offer, I thought, ‘Wow, there are my two great loves coming together: the Great Books and discussion with the voice.’”
► Full story
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Georgia Snethun ('23) |
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• Having recently completed his flight training for the Apache helicopter, U.S. Army Warrant Officer Alex Potts (’14) is now stationed in Katterbach, Germany, where he will spend the next three years training with European forces before his first deployment. Mr. Potts joined the Army through its Street to Seat program, through which servicemen quickly move through boot camp, warrant officer school, and then flight school. He spent most of the last year on flight training, culminating in the arduous task of mastering the Apache. “I love it. I thrive on it,” he says. “When you get out of that cockpit at the end of the day, it’s a real sense of fulfillment.”
• Sr. Maria Kiely, OSB (’77) lives in Washington, D.C., teaching Greek at the Dominican House of Studies and Latin at Catholic University. She is also on the editorial committee for ICEL, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. ICEL was established during the Vatican Council by Bishops from countries where English is used as a liturgical language. It is responsible for the revised translation of the Roman Missal, promulgated in 2011 and now in use. Last fall, ICEL finished translating the Latin Liber Hymnarius, the hymnal for the Liturgy of the Hours revised after Vatican II, which the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to accept at its annual meeting. Video of the Thomas Aquinas College Choir singing representative examples of the ICEL hymns are available via YouTube.
• After reviewing nearly 900 nominations, the legal-news website Law360 has identified 160 lawyers as its 2019 MVPs — “attorneys who have distinguished themselves from their peers over the past year through high-stakes litigation, record-breaking deals, and complex global matters.” Among those included is a Thomas Aquinas College alumnus: Raymond Tittmann (’94). A partner in the Los Angeles office of Wargo French, Mr. Tittmann is a litigator specializing in insurance coverage, class and collective action, unfair competition, and complex commercial litigation. Last year he “helped a subsidiary of The Home Depot negotiate a global settlement of thousands of claims,” write the website’s editors, “landing him on the list of Law360’s 2019 Insurance MVPs.”
► Faith in Action blog |
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 Alex Potts ('14)
Sr. Maria Kiely ('77)
Raymond Tittmann ('94) |
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Pro-life Generation
March for Life with TAC Students!
Thomas Aquinas College invites alumni, parents, benefactors, and other friends to walk and pray for the unborn with its students at two major, upcoming pro-life events, one on each coast:
• The entire student body of Thomas Aquinas College, New England, is expected to make the trip to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life on January 24. If you would like to join the group, please contact Admissions Director Jon Daly.
• The annual Walk for Life West Coast will take place on January 25 in San Francisco, and once again, more than 200 Thomas Aquinas College, California, students will be there to lead the way. All alumni and friends of the College are invited to join them! Please meet the TAC entourage at the Civic Center before the Walk gets under way at 1:30 p.m. You will find the students in red sweatshirts this year, under a TAC banner.
Let us pray together for all of our beloved unborn!
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