|
|
|
“Firmly Established at Ferndale”
College Acquires 700+ Acres Surrounding California Campus
For nearly 40 years, Thomas Aquinas College has operated on a 131-acre property in Santa Paula California. By God’s grace, the size of that property has now expanded more than six-fold.
At the end of August, College officials acquired more than 700 acres of surrounding open space. The acquisition substantially re-assembles the historic Ferndale Ranch along Santa Paula Creek, 131 acres of which were first deeded to the College in 1975.
“We have hoped for some time,” says President Michael F. McLean, “to acquire the land surrounding our present campus so that, as our students have prayed at nightly Rosary for many years, Thomas Aquinas College ‘might be more firmly established at Ferndale.’ That day has arrived, and we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to secure the College for generations to come.”
The purpose of the acquisition is to improve the existing campus, not to enlarge the College’s enrollment. “This additional property enhances what is already a beautiful and well-situated campus,” says Dr. McLean. “It will provide expanded recreational areas that are convenient and safe for the College’s students.”
Continue reading 
High-res map
|
|
|
|
|
ST. CECILIA LECTURE & CONCERT HALL
Archbishop Gomez Dedicates,
Blesses College’s Newest Building
“After much work and prayer by so many members of the College community, we gather now to bless and dedicate this new lecture and concert hall to St. Cecilia,” declared the Most Rev. José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, at Thomas Aquinas College on August 27. “It will be a center of the College’s lecture and concert series — and a place for its students’ performances and other wholesome entertainment.”
His Excellency visited the College to impart his blessing on the recently completed St. Cecilia Hall, which features a 580-person auditorium, a seminar discussion room, a recreation room, and a student coffee shop. Made possible by a generous grant from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation of Los Angeles, St. Cecilia Hall is the 14th of 15 buildings called for in the College’s master plan.
The day’s events began in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, where Archbishop Gomez, joined by three of the College’s chaplains, served as the principal celebrant at a votive Mass of St. Cecilia, the 3rd century virgin, martyr, and patroness of musicians. Following the Mass, the congregation processed into St. Cecilia Hall, where Archbishop Gomez formally dedicated the building and pronounced his blessing.
Full story
|
|
|
|
|
CONVOCATION 2018
College Welcomes the Class of 2022
On the morning of August 20, Thomas Aquinas College held its annual Convocation day, welcoming a new class of freshmen who hail from 5 countries and 31 states — the Class of 2022.
At the morning’s Mass of the Holy Spirit in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, the Most Rev. Thomas Daly, Bishop of Spokane, Washington, served as the principal celebrant and homilist. “Thomas Aquinas College is known as a solidly Catholic college, one that does not give in to the latest educational trends that so often find their way into the policies and curricula of other so-called institutions of higher learning,” said His Excellency. “And you are a college that truly cares, not only for the intellectual dimension of those entrusted to your care, but also the spiritual, moral, and social lives of young people who enter just four years out of grade school and, God willing, enter a world as informed, faith-filled, and courageous young adults.”
The group then gathered for the Matriculation ceremony — held for the first time in the newly completed St. Cecilia Lecture and Concert Hall. There, as Director of Admissions Jon Daly called each freshman by name, the students came forward, one at a time, to greet President Michael F. McLean and Bishop Daly. They then signed their names in the College’s registry, thus beginning their tenure as students at Thomas Aquinas College.
Full story
|
|
|
|
.
|
FAITH IN ACTION
Graduates Address Church Scandal
on College’s Alumni Blog
Several alumni authors have recently offered their thoughts and suggestions regarding the most recent revelations of abuse and cover-up in the Church, which the College has shared with its readers by way of the Faith in Action blog:
• Writing for the National Catholic Register, Sophia (Mason ’09) Feingold observes that the revived scandal has led critics to renew their calls to end priestly celibacy. The discipline, they argue, is too onerous, and living up to it makes abusers of otherwise good men. To which Mrs. Feingold proposes an intriguing counter-argument: What if the burden on priests is not too heavy, but too light? “The problem in the priesthood is not so much that priests are required to be celibate,” she writes, “as that there is not enough stress on celibacy and the sort of self-restraint and self-discipline that supports celibacy.”
• Erik Bootsma (’01) makes a constructive recommendation: “As a Catholic who has been shocked by the revelations, and as an architect who deals almost exclusively with building and renovating Catholic churches,” he writes in Crisis, “I would like to offer one suggestion that I believe could make a small but practical contribution to preventing abuse in the future. The Church should immediately call for the end of hearing confessions face to face in ‘reconciliation rooms.’” Mr. Bootsma thus urges a return to the use of traditional confessionals, consisting of “two separate spaces, each with a separate entrance for priest and penitent … connected by means of a properly fixed metal screen.”
• “In spite of all this,” remarks the Rev. Mr. Andrew De Silva (’03) of the sordid saga, “I still feel called by God.” A seminarian and transitional deacon for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, Deacon De Silva is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves Chaplain Corps. By God’s grace, he will be ordained to the priesthood next spring. “I want to be a Catholic priest; because of all the incredible men who are good and holy priests and have helped and supported me in my own life,” he writes in CatholicPhilly.com. “Because of the much-needed ministry I have been privileged to provide already as a religious brother; doing Army chaplain ministry and as a seminarian. Because God has chosen to make Himself present in the Eucharist in the hands of a priest.”
Faith in Action blog
|
|
Sophia (Mason ’09) Feingold
Erik Bootsma (’01)
Rev. Mr. Andrew De Silva (’03)
|
|
|
|
COLLEGE GUIDES 2018-19
Top Ratings for Academics & Financial Aid
• Thomas Aquinas College has climbed 15 spots in the annual U.S. News & World Report college rankings, from No. 58 to No. 43 among the country’s national liberal arts colleges. The College is one of only two Catholic institutions in the U.S. to make the top 50. The newly released 2019 edition of the magazine’s “Best Colleges” guide also lists Thomas Aquinas College at No. 11 for “lowest student debt load at graduation” and No. 35 for “Best Value” among all national liberal arts colleges.
• To help families better manage the cost of higher education, CNBC has named its “Top 10 Colleges for Financial Aid” and, for the second straight year, Thomas Aquinas College has made the list. Drawing upon The Princeton Review’s data about the amount of financial aid that schools offer and students’ satisfaction with their aid packages, CNBC identifies Thomas Aquinas as one of the 10 schools in the country that are doing the most “to offset the cost of college.” For needy students, the guide notes, the cost of attending Thomas Aquinas College can be “less than it would cost to attend a public college in many cases.”
• Thomas Aquinas College has earned a spot among the nation’s top colleges and universities, according to Washington Monthly. The magazine, which rates schools “based on what they are doing for the country,” considered some 1,739 colleges and universities nationwide for its 2018 list. Thomas Aquinas College ranks in the top 100 of the magazine’s list of liberal arts College’s, at no 69. The College also ranks at No. 34 on the magazine’s list of schools that offer the “Best Bang for the Buck” in the Western United States.
Full story
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
