From the Desk of the President
President Thomas E. Dillon
Some Reflections on our 35th Anniversary
(Winter 2007 Newsletter)
[Index
of Past Articles by President Dillon]
 Over
a century ago, John Henry Cardinal Newman opened the School of Philosophy
and Letters at his newly-founded Catholic University of Ireland
with a lecture addressed to its faculty and students. In this lecture,
Cardinal Newman explained that a common civilization has developed
in the West which, though nurtured in various soils, is most strongly
rooted in Ancient Greece and Palestine. Especially noteworthy is
the fact that the Word of God became incarnate within this civilization
which, in consequence, has been further cultivated and formed by
Christianity. According to Newman, this civilization is based upon
common principles, views, teachings, and especially books: indeed,
the classics and the liberal studies to which they give rise have
always been, he said, what the civilized world has adopted as the
instruments of education.
Sustaining Civilization
Cardinal Newman’s purpose in his opening lecture was to invest
the inauguration of the School of Philosophy and Letters with a
solemnity and moment of a peculiar kind. Those who were embarking
upon the endeavor were, in his words, “but re-iterating an
old tradition in carrying on those august methods of enlarging the
mind, cultivating the intellect, and refining the feelings in which
the process of civilization ever consisted.”
As we celebrate Thomas Aquinas College’s 35th anniversary,
I am mindful of Newman’s lecture for two reasons: first, we
at the College are doing the same kind of thing that Newman so vigorously
espoused. For 35 years, our students have engaged in those venerable
studies which shape the intelligence and lead to a knowledge of
the highest truths. It is right to say that such studies serve to
perpetuate what is best in our civilization. Indeed, if Newman is
right, such studies make civilization possible.
Holding Firm
Secondly, within his lecture Newman exhorted his listeners to hold
firm in the face of what he understood to be a movement in his day
against the classics. He saw clearly that practical exigencies are
one thing, the cultivation of the intellect quite another, and he
resolutely upheld the importance of liberal education. For 35 years,
Thomas Aquinas College has withstood similar movements, and this
milestone year in our history is an occasion to recommit ourselves
to our noble work.
While a consideration of the seven liberal arts and the studies
to which they lead reveals their intrinsic superiority both for
forming the mind and for fostering true wisdom, no school exists
in the abstract. Thomas Aquinas College exists at a particular time
and in a particular educational climate. In our own day we are witnessing
a sustained and vigorous attack against the classics and against
the whole of liberal learning. We are being urged from every quarter
to abandon what is perennial and worthwhile in itself in favor of
what is said to be practically or politically advantageous.
This is, of course, shortsighted at best. For, as Newman rightly
pointed out, if our civilization is to survive, we cannot ignore
those studies which have nourished and sustained it. No matter how
glorious the bloom of civilization may seem, if it be cut off from
its roots, it can only whither and die.
At Thomas Aquinas College, we are conducting our studies at a time
when there are pressures from all sides to cast away what is seen
as old and out-dated and to reject the substantial in favor of the
expedient. These pressures can be powerful, but we continue to stand
firm against them and whole-heartedly embrace our program of liberal
studies.
The Road to Wisdom
Socrates tells us that the unexamined life is not worth living.
In their four years here, our students live the examined life. They
consider nature, the human soul, and God. They wonder about quantity,
about motion, and about the heavens. Plato helps them to see what
they do not know and quickens their desire to seek the true and
the good. Aristotle distinguishes and makes more accessible to them
the things that can be naturally known. Augustine brings them face
to face with Christ, and Aquinas introduces them to the sublime
mysteries of the Trinity. Through our program, they wonder about
the most important questions facing any person in any age. By nurturing
their sense of wonder and taking their studies seriously, these
young people make a firm beginning on the road to wisdom.
Our intelligence is our greatest gift from God, and our minds are
meant to know. In undertaking the program of liberal studies offered
here, our students have an opportunity to engage in the highest
kind of activity and the most worthwhile in itself. By putting away
for a while the transient, the inconsequential, and the mundane,
they reach for the enduring, the noble, and the divine.
The Light of Faith
We are heirs of a precious intellectual patrimony. The Catholic
tradition of liberal learning is the greatest the world has seen.
For not only does it respect the deepest thinkers through the ages,
it finally rests on the Word of God Himself. Our Catholic faith
is a sure guide in our intellectual endeavors, and as it elevates
our studies, it invests them with a wisdom that is divine in its
origin and therefore sure in its direction and resplendent in its
end.
On the recent feast of our patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Benedict
XVI reflected on the relationship of faith and reason, saying, “It
is urgent...to rediscover...human rationality open to the light
of the divine Logos and to its perfect revelation that is Jesus
Christ, Son of God made man.” “Faith implies reason and
perfects it,” the Holy Father continued, “and reason,
illuminated by faith, finds the strength to rise to knowledge of
God and of spiritual realities....”
This is the work in which we engage at Thomas Aquinas College.
We are dedicated to helping form well the minds and souls of our
young people so that throughout their lives they will seek and uphold
the truth as it is illuminated by the twin beacons of faith and
reason.
A Noble Task
As we celebrate our 35th anniversary, I invite you to join us in
our noble task by renewing your commitment to genuine Catholic liberal
education. First and foremost, I ask that you support Thomas Aquinas
College and our students with your prayers, because only by the
grace of God shall we succeed in our task.
Second, I ask that you help the College financially to the extent
you are able. Elsewhere in the pages of this newsletter you will
read about two building projects taking place on our campus—our
faculty center and the crown jewel of the campus, Our Lady of the
Most Holy Trinity Chapel. We have received to date nearly $20 million
in funding for these projects, and I am deeply grateful to the many
generous friends and alumni who have stepped forward to help. To
complete these buildings, however, an additional $8 million is needed.
Moreover, an additional $3.7 million for financial aid and operational
costs is needed this year.
As you can see, the challenge is great. Yet, not only will your
generosity directly influence the lives of our students, it will
be far-reaching in its effects as these young people take the formation
they receive at the College into the world.
Many of our graduates are already in positions of leadership. They
are having a profound influence for good as teachers in colleges,
universities, and seminaries both in the United States and abroad.
One is the president of her Dominican Order’s college in Nashville;
another is the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St.
Peter, in charge of over 300 priests and seminarians worldwide;
still another (story on page 11) has responsibility for the deans,
department heads, and faculty for 10,000 students at six of the
colleges of the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico.
Some of our alumni are praying for the world from within their
cloisters, while others are teaching in seminaries, helping to form
scores of young men preparing for the priesthood. Even more alumni
are teaching in classrooms from kindergarten to graduate school
across the country, and still more are faithful Catholic parents
raising children to be similarly faithful. Those who have gone into
law, business, military or public service, journalism, and medicine
are having an influence for good in their workplaces.
Your generosity accomplishes great good here on our campus, in
our country, and in the Church. Please help us as we seek to more
firmly establish Thomas Aquinas College so that future generations
of young people will have the opportunity to be well-formed intellectually,
morally, and spiritually through our program of genuine Catholic
liberal education.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Winter 2007
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