News & Press
Early in the morning of May 23, 2013, a truck towed away the last modular building on the academic quadrangle of Thomas Aquinas College — St. Patrick Hall.
There is no such thing as a typical day on the job for Caroline Johnson, M.D. (’97).
Photographs of the Class of 2013 and this year’s Commencement exercises are now available, for viewing and for purchase.
Video, audio, photos and text from this year's Commencement Exercises
At its 2013 Commencement exercises on May 11, Thomas Aquinas College awarded its highest honor, The Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion, to two men who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Church and its people.
“To Live in a Spirit of Joy and Love,” by Liam Collins (’13), Commencement 2013
The Homily from the Baccalaureate Mass, by His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, at Thomas Aquinas College’s 2013 Commencement exercises.
Under a bright California sky, on Saturday, May 11, Thomas Aquinas College celebrated its 39th Commencement exercises, welcoming the 91 members of the Class of 2013 as its newest alumni.
With the end of the academic year comes the return of a number of annual senior traditions.
President McLean's remarks to the Class of 2013 and a photo gallery
A graduate student in political science at Claremont University, Daniel Carpenter (’11) has written a thoughtful essay for The John William Pope Center for High Education about his time at the College.
During the last days of classes before final examinations, 35 Thomas Aquinas College juniors gathered in the rotunda of St. Thomas Hall to sing four hymns.
Photos this weekend’s Spring Concert of Chrysostomos, a student choral group at Thomas Aquinas College
In a longstanding tradition, the younger classes at Thomas Aquinas College take turns each spring bidding farewell to the soon-to-be-departing seniors ...
Each spring, in the final weeks of the semester, members of the Senior Class team up against the faculty in the annual Senior-Tutor Softball Game.
On Tuesday, April 24, the Class of 2013 took its turn in this yearly ritual, consigning much of the last year’s hard work — although certainly not its fruits! — into the flames.
Cardinal DiNardo will address the largest graduating class in the College’s history — 91 men and women who hail from across the United States and abroad.
On April 17 2013, representatives of Thomas Aquinas College and the Fritz B. Burns Foundation broke ground on the College’s next building, St. Gladys Hall.
Dr. Hattrup has successfully defended his dissertation, “Form and Predicability in Aristotle’s Categories and the Middle Books of the Metaphysics,” at the University of Houston’s Center for Thomistic Studies.
An end-of-the-year, outdoor dance, Chez Martin has become one of Thomas Aquinas College’s most popular annual events.
Audio from the April 20 lecture by Dr. Scott Crider, University of Dallas
The Thomas Aquinas College Choir recently held its spring concert, at which it performed some of the world’s best-loved opera choruses.
Highlights from a performance by two of Thomas Aquinas College’s choral groups at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, Calif., earlier this month
Fr. Buckley's Homily at the Votive Mass of St. Gladys, on the occasion of the Groundbreaking of St. Gladys Hall
Early Wednesday afternoon, four spades pierced the ground in front of the College’s newest permanent building, St. Gladys Hall.
In a longstanding tradition, the younger classes at Thomas Aquinas College take turns each spring bidding farewell to the soon-to-be-departing seniors. This past Sunday the sophomores had their opportunity.
The Thomas Aquinas College Board of Governors has elected to its ranks a new member with a familiar name: Mr. Walter J. Conn of San Marino, Calif.
Homily from the Memorial Mass for Thomas E. Dillon
Director of College Relations Anne (Schaeffer ’81) Forsyth appeared a guest of Kathleen Beckman on Radio Maria’s “Living Eucharist” program Monday, April 8.
On Saturday evening Thomas Aquinas College students donned their finest clothes and decorated St. Joseph Commons for the spring dance.
Some 750 people from the greater Los Angeles area descended upon Ojai’s Libbey Bowl on Sunday for a concert hosted by Thomas Aquinas College.
Thomas Aquinas College and 21 other Catholic institutions of higher education have signed a memorandum formally protesting the HHS mandate that would compel Catholic organizations to provide contraceptive, abortifacient, and sterilization coverage.
In Sunday, March 24, Thomas Aquinas College students performed in the second of this year’s two informal concerts — “Schubertiades” — in St. Bernardine of Siena Library.
There were kilts and bagpipes, and much tossing of stones and cabers, on the Thomas Aquinas College campus this past weekend ...
Dr. S. Adam Seagrave (’05), has written a thoughtful article for The Public Discourse about the present state of the pro-life movement.
Some 40 Dames and Knights of Malta from the greater Los Angeles area came to the campus of Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday for a one-day retreat.
On Sunday members of the Thomas Aquinas College community gathered in St. Joseph Commons for the annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
The Sunday, March 17 edition of the CBS Evening News featured a segment, “American Catholic Youth on Pope Francis,” shot entirely at Thomas Aquinas College.
The College mourns the loss of a dear friend and the former Vice Chairman of its Board of Governors, James L. Barrett, who died early Thursday morning.
News of the white smoke above St. Peter’s first reached campus at around 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning ...
Welcoming the election of His Holiness Pope Francis, Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean offered the following statement:
After months of hard work, members of the Class of 2014 turned in the final drafts of their theses on Sunday evening.
Thomas Aquinas College tutor Elizabeth Reyes has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at the University of Dallas.
The women of Thomas Aquinas College met on the campus fields Saturday morning for the annual “Powder Puff Bowl” — a friendly game of flag football.
Among the cardinals being discussed as “papabili,” or possible successors to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, are five of Thomas Aquinas College's recent Commencement Speakers.
Please join the College in praying this novena, authored by College Chaplain Rev. Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J., for our cardinals as they prepare to elect a new Holy Father.
On February 28, members of the Thomas Aquinas College community came together to pray for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
Over the weekend, Dominican friars from St. Dominic’s Priory in San Francisco, Calif., visited campus to meet with students who may be contemplating religious vocations.
A longtime friend of Thomas Aquinas College, Msgr. Sommer faithfully lived out his vocation as a priest for 72 years, including 29 years as a chaplain in the United States Army.
Footage from Act the St. Genesius Players' performance on February 16, 2013.
I still remember so vividly, even though it was the summer of 1999, when I went to sleep one night thinking, “This is it. This is where I am going to college.”
On the February 16, 2013, the St. Genesius Players of Thomas Aquinas College presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream in St. Joseph Commons.
Miss Dufresne is a junior from Ventura, Calif. The following is adapted from remarks she made to the Thomas Aquinas College Board of Governors at its fall 2012 meeting.
Adapted from remarks made to the Thomas Aquinas College Board of Governors at its fall 2012 meeting.
Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of the College’s beloved former chaplains, Rev. Thomas A. McGovern, S.J., who died on February 19, 1995.
Nearly 500 people arrived on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College Saturday, filling the pews of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel to remember and to pray for the soul of John W. Blewett.
When he graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, Matthew Kuemmerlein (’07) never anticipated that he would soon spend two years in the jungles of the Far East....
The new issue of Legatus Magazine features a story about The Prophet of Our Time, a new documentary about Bl. John Paul II by filmmaker Lannette Turicchi.
“The pope’s resignation surprised students at Thomas Aquinas College, a small Catholic school in Santa Paula, where the Rev. Hildebrand Garceau mentioned it during Monday’s Mass.”
“Lent is a time of increased devotion here at Thomas Aquinas College.…”
The students of Thomas Aquinas College celebrated Mardi Gras a few days early this year with a Saturday-night dance in St. Joseph Commons.
Thomas Aquinas College has long held His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in great esteem, dating back to his time as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Thomas Aquinas College mourns the passing of Mr. John W. Blewett, who died on Friday, February 8, after a protracted illness.
“Pope Benedict XVI has been a great 21st century leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He is an outstanding theologian and a saintly man, beloved by Catholics from around the world....”
Thomas Aquinas College is one of the nation’s 75 “Best Value” private schools according to The Princeton Review in its just-published book, The Best Value Colleges: 2013 Edition.
Issues facing the various countries of the Americas are as diverse as the terrains of the continent, but Christians from north to south are taking up the same challenge: to respond to the Pope's call to promote a new evangelization.
“I was a parish priest for 20 years, and now I am a college chaplain. What’s the difference? In the parish I prepared people for divorce, and in the College I prepare them for marriage.”
In anticipation of the upcoming groundbreaking ceremony for St. Gladys Hall, the College has commissioned two artistic renderings of the new classroom building. The renderings are the work of Domiane Forte (’00).
This summer, when Thomas Aquinas College begins construction on its second classroom building, St. Gladys Hall, it will also refurbish its first, St. Augustine Hall, with the assistance of a $600,000 grant from the E. L. Wiegand Foundation.
On January 28, 2013, members of the Thomas Aquinas College community celebrated the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas with a fitting combination of prayer, scholarship, and fun.
More than two-thirds of the Thomas Aquinas College student body participated in Saturday's Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco.
More than 200 students from Thomas Aquinas College plan to join a Walk for Life on Saturday in San Francisco.
Over the course of several days last week, Thomas Aquinas College students competed in their annual inter-class spring soccer tournament.
On Sunday two prominent Southern California business leaders visited Thomas Aquinas College to share their acumen, their stories, and their insights with the College’s students.
A video made for the 2013 March for Life in Washington, D.C.
Some two-thirds of the College’s student body to San Francisco this weekend for the Walk for Life West Coast.
His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, has accepted President Michael F. McLean’s invitation to serve as Thomas Aquinas College’s 2013 Commencement Speaker.
Mother Mary Assumpta Long, O.P., served as the College’s Commencement Speaker this past spring, at which time she granted the following interview.
An exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art profiles one of the most influential artists of the 16th and 17th centuries — and those he influenced.
President McLean's reflections from the Ecclesia in America Congress in Rome
During the last days of classes before final examinations, 35 Thomas Aquinas College juniors gathered in the rotunda of St. Thomas Hall to sing four hymns.
A New Alumna Looks Back at Her Time at the College and Ahead to Her Futur
Thomas Aquinas College has received a grant of $3.2 million from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation of Los Angeles for the construction of a new classroom building.
U.S News & World Report has named Thomas Aquinas College Number 2 out of more than 1,200 colleges and universities nationwide on its newly released rankings of alumni giving.
While students here have always been strongly and prayerfully pro-life, it was only in 1997, thanks to Angela, that an active, well-organized pro-life group was formed.
Barbara and Terrence Caster of San Diego, Calif., are marking their 35th anniversary as members of the President’s Council.
Some 40 Thomas Aquinas College students caroled this past weekend outside an abortion clinic to testify to the beauty of life in the darkest of places.
On Saturday, November 29, the students of Thomas Aquinas College transformed St. Joseph Commons into a formal ballroom for the annual Christmas dance.
On December 2, 2012, Thomas Aquinas College hosted its annual Christmas Appreciation Dinner to thank many of the dear friends who have given generously to the College and its students over the years.
Pray for the College, and pray with the College, in word and in spirit!
On behalf of the more than 70 percent of Thomas Aquinas College students who receive financial aid, Mirjana expresses her gratitude.
Around 360 students attend Thomas Aquinas College, a demanding and seriously Catholic bastion of the liberal arts and sciences in rural Southern California that specializes in the Great Books.
As we begin our preparations for the great feast of Christmas, I am mindful that this year Advent occurs within the Year of Faith, inaugurated by our Holy Father just weeks ago.
President Michael F. McLean recently addressed the Thomas Aquinas College community, giving students, faculty, and staff an update on the College’s efforts with respect to the HHS contraceptive mandate.
An interview with tutor Carol A. Day
Encouraging words from the College's founding president
On Saturday evening President Michael F. McLean hosted students, faculty, and staff at an all-college Thanksgiving dinner.
On Sunday, November 18, the upperclassmen squared off against the underclassmen in Thomas Aquinas College’s annual Turkey Bowl flag-football game.
Remarks at the 2012 Thanksgiving Dinner by President Michael F. McLean
An informal lecture by Dr. Christopher R. Oleson on November 14, 2012.
On this All Souls' Day, please pray for all of the College’s deceased alumni, chaplains, governors, faculty, and staff.
There’s an older, more venerable, and deeply Christian understanding of education. Education cultivates wonder and grows students in wisdom and virtue without which freedom, democracy, and prosperity are impossible.
In addition to Sophomore Seminar and Junior Philosophy, Dr. Gardner now teaches two sections of Freshman Mathematics.
This year Dr. Cooper is teaching Senior Seminar, two sections of Freshman Language, and Sophomore Philosophy.
One of the nation’s most trusted publishers of business forecasts and personal-finance advice, Kiplinger has ranked the College on its list of the “Top 10 Best Values in Private Colleges Under $20K.”
Photos from the first of this year’s two informal concerts — “Schubertiades” — in St. Bernardine of Siena Library.
On Sunday, October 21, 2012, the College hosted its first annual Wine Tasting Event for members of the Greater Los Angeles Board of Regents and their guests.
Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean and Dean Brian T. Kelly ask that members of the College community pray fervently through November 6 for “the conversion of our country and a very happy outcome to the elections.”
Thomas Aquinas has joined a consortium of 15 Catholic colleges and universities in filing a legal brief in support of two lawsuits against the HHS mandate.
On October 15, members of the Thomas Aquinas College community joined the parents and siblings of Andrew “Kent” Moore (’14) for a memorial Mass in Our Lady of Most Holy Trinity Chapel.
Slideshow: Columbus Day Weekend was a big time for basketball at Thomas Aquinas College, with both men’s and women’s games on the campus courts ...
Photos from the on-campus gathering of Thomas Aquinas College alumni on October 6, including the annual cardboard-box boat race.
The American Council of College Trustees and Alumni has released its third annual report on the curricular strength of American colleges and universities, and once again, Thomas Aquinas College is at the very top of the list.
On Friday night, the College hosted the inaugural concert of this year’s St. Vincent DePaul Lecture and Concert Series, followed by the annual Students vs. Tutors game of Trivial Pursuit.
Two weeks ago the Thomas Aquinas College men enjoyed their annual campout, and this past weekend, the women had their turn.
Judy Barrett, a dear friend of the College who writes for the California Catholic Conference website blog, has published a beautiful reflection about Andrew (Kent) More (’14).
After a week of aggressive treatments, Dr. McArthur’s doctors are optimistic that he is finally on the road to recovery.
Note: A lecture by Thomas Aquinas College tutor Dr. Michael Letteney on August 24, 2012.
Audio: “On the Existence of God and Contemporary Physics: A Response to the So-Called New Atheism”
Highlights from the College's annual Great Books Summer Program for High School Students.
In the newly released 2013 edition of its Best Colleges guide, U.S. News & World Report places Thomas Aquinas College in the top tier of all American liberal arts colleges.
Over the past weekend tutor Carol Day led a women’s campout for some 20 members of College’s Senior Class in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Saturday, September 8, members of the junior class hosted a welcome dance for Thomas Aquinas College’s freshmen.
The first dance of the academic year took place last Saturday night with the theme of Peter Pan. As always, the evening included student-produced entertainment, complete with Indians, pirates, and Lost Boys.
The 1960s was a time of great tumult in the United States — one that had devastating effects on the country’s institutions and mores.
Lining the sidewalk outside the Planned Parenthood facility in Ventura, Calif., this Saturday were some 180 Thomas Aquinas College students who prayed for, and with, their departed friend, Andrew “Kent” Moore (’14).
Photos from this weekend’s fall barbeque for students and faculty, including the inter-class tug-of-wars and the celebratory slip and slide.
John Schmitt, a former tutor at Thomas Aquinas College, died on August 22, 2012, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary.
The College has learned that is founding president, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, has experienced a setback in his recovery from recent open-heart surgery. Please continue to keep him and his wife, Marilyn, in your prayers.
Forbes has placed Thomas Aquinas College within the top 20 percent of all institutions, the top 100 private colleges and universities, and the top 10 Catholic schools.
Congratulations are in order for Thomas Aquinas College tutor David Arias, who has successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of St. Thomas’ Center for Thomistic Studies.
Thomas Aquinas College is one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review.
On Monday, August 20, 2012, some 102 students from across the country and abroad matriculated as freshmen at Thomas Aquinas College — the Class of 2016.
Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, the founding president of Thomas Aquinas College, will be undergoing open-heart surgery tomorrow (Wednesday), the Feat of the Assumption, at 8:30 a.m. Please pray for him, for his surgeons, and for a happy outcome.
In preparation for the upcoming academic year — freshman orientation begins Friday! — Thomas Aquinas College has hosted three retreats in the last two days.
Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean has been invested in the Order of Malta.
According to newly released data from the California Student Aid Commission, Thomas Aquinas College alumni have a 0.0 percent default rate on their student loans.
The August 9 episode of EWTN’s Life on The Rock will feature a tribute to Andrew Moore (’14), and Crossroads Pro-Life Walkers will participate in several memorials in his honor this weekend in Washington, D.C.
"The time has finally come when I am unable to teach anymore at the College."
“It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that I will be unable to teach anymore at the College.”
News about Andrew, upcoming memorials, and tributes to this young champion of the pro-life cause.
A tribute to Andrew Moore by his father, Joseph Moore.
While passing through Stilesville, Ind., early this morning as part of a 3,000-mile trek on behalf of the unborn, Thomas Aquinas College student Andrew Moore (’14) was struck and killed by a passing vehicle.
Recap, photos, and text/audio from Dr. McLean's address at the 2012 Summer Seminar Weekends.
Dinner Remarks from the 2012 Summer Seminar Weekends by Dr. Michael F. McLean, president of Thomas Aquinas College
“If you are what you should be,” begins the quotation from St. Catherine of Siena that the Thomas Aquinas College Class of 2012 has chosen as its own, “you will set the whole world on fire.”
With the College’s 40th Anniversary year coming to an end, the alumni held one last celebration on June 30 with an on-campus dinner. The speakers for the evening were none other than three of the College’s founders, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, Dr. John W. Neumayr, and Mr. Peter L. DeLuca.
I am grateful to the founding parents and benefactors of the Lyceum that you have not had to grow up in a cultural wilderness as I did.
A slideshow featuring photographs of the members of the Class of 2012 and the titles of their Senior Theses.
Please pray for a former Thomas Aquinas College tutor and the parent of several alumni, John Schmitt, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Today Andrew Moore in North Platte, Neb., nearing the halfway point in his 10-week, 3,000-mile walk across the continental United States. Like other Thomas Aquinas College students in the past, Mr. Moore is participating in the Crossroads Walks Across America — four separate, simultaneous journeys of college students traversing the country in defense of the unborn
There are only a handful of truly unique colleges—schools so exceptional in their curriculum and approach to education that there is no comparison. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California is one of these schools.
Rev. Joseph Illo, Thomas Aquinas College's newest chaplain, delivered the keynote address at San Francisco’s recent Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally.
On June 15 Catholics throughout the world will unite in prayer for our holy priests, and leading the way will be Berni Neal, a member of the Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College.
At the end of the Spring 2012 semester, Dr. Thomas Kaiser, a senior tutor and a member of the Board of Governors, became the first tutor in the 40-year history of the College to have taught every one of the 23 courses in the College’s classical curriculum
Remodeling, a national trade publication read by more than 80,000 professional contractors, has honored Brian Hill, a member of the Thomas Aquinas College Greater Los Angeles Board of Regents, and his brother Terry, owners of Hillrise Construction.
In an effort to stop the HHS Mandate that would compel Catholic employers to violate Catholic teaching on matters of life and conscience, Thomas Aquinas College has signed on to a formal request that the Obama Administration rescind the directive.
Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean's Commencement Address at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, Calif., on May 26, 2012.
Sherwood Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif., was the site of the sixth annual Thomas Aquinas College Golf Classic, hosted by the Greater Los Angeles Board of Regents on May 21.
“Dynamic situations call for a nimble, dynamic mind, and the College really prepares you for that.”
– Lt. Robert Mohun (’09)
U.S. Marine Corps