Bishop Burke Leads 30th Anniversary Festivities
Students and friends of Thomas Aquinas College gathered on
campus on September 21 to celebrate 30 years since the College
first opened its doors to 33 freshmen. Festivities began with
Mass in St. Bernardine of Siena Library celebrated by Bishop
Raymond L. Burke of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Drawing from the feast for the day, St. Matthew's, Bishop
Burke delivered a homily in which he compared the irresistible
power of Christ's call on a sinful tax collector to the irresistible
power of truth presented through authentic Catholic education.
(See Homily, p. 2). "Students whose reason is formed
in the light of the faith through a Catholic liberal education
become, in fact, a beacon of Christ's light, leading others
to the truth and transforming our world."
Following Mass and an outdoor reception in the upper courtyard
of the St. Joseph Commons, students and guests enjoyed an
outdoor formal dinner on the lawn in front of the Library.
In delivering the opening remarks for the event, Bishop Burke
explained that this was his long-awaited first visit to the
campus. He has referred students to the College over the years
and two College graduates now serve as priests in his diocese:
Fr. Joe O'Hara and Fr. Don Bauer. (See feature on p. 7). Other
graduates are employed by his diocese.
He noted that, as bishop, he is aiming to recruit the College's
graduates to come work for him. The reason, he said, is simple:
"Here you learn to love Christ and to love His Church,
which is His Living Body. And that's the bottom line. All
the brilliance in the world, and all of the study in the world
will leave you absolutely bereft if there isn't first and
foremost a deep love of Christ, God Incarnate, and for His
Church. That is what I find in the graduates of Thomas Aquinas
College."
He has met many of the College's graduates over the years
and finds they are "very well educated - educated in
the best sense of the word because they read the authors in
the original text," and because they engage "the
whole history of human thought in a way that makes that thought
alive for us today."
In remarks directed to the students, he said, "I would
urge you young men and women, if you really want to serve
the Church at Her foundation, to enter into the teaching of
the Catholic faith, to prepare yourselves to be catechists,
to be teachers of the Faith." He emphasized that "you
could provide a service which would truly be transforming
for the Catholic Church by devoting your lives to that work,
that work of proclaiming the faith, so that from hearing,
other young people will come to the Faith and grow in Christ,
in wisdom and age."
"As a bishop and pastor of the Church - I see this as
the greatest need in the Church today: for a new catechesis,
a new teaching of the Faith in our Catholic schools and in
our programs of religious education."
Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., a lector in Biblical Hebrew at
the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, delivered the principal
after-dinner address, speaking on the "Liberation of
the Liberal Arts." (See his remarks, p. 3). President
Tom Dillon called Fr. Mankowski a "brilliant young Jesuit
with a witty sense of humor." It was Fr. Mankowski's
second address at the College.
Guests then heard remarks from four founders of the College,
founder and President Emeritus, Dr. Ronald McArthur, Dr. John
Neumayr, Mr. Marcus Berquist, and Mr. Peter DeLuca. Each of
them offered their reflections on the life of the College
over the past 30 years. (See brief excerpts, p. 4).
After their remarks, long-time Board of Governors member
Thomas Sullivan struck up his band, the "T.S. Dixieland
Band," and dancing continued through the evening.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Winter 2002
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