Thomas Aquinas College Begins 31st year
– 301 students hear
faculty take Oath of Fidelity, Profession of Faith
(September 10, 2001)
Eighty-five young men and women entered the
freshman class and became members of Thomas Aquinas College
at Convocation on Monday, September 10th. The annual welcoming
ceremony began with Mass of the Holy Spirit. As is customary
at the College, the new members of the faculty publicly took
the Oath of Fidelity and Profession of Faith as required by
the Church. Convocation concluded with the faculty and upperclassmen
welcoming the freshmen as they signed the Registrar's book
to formally begin their studies in the College's four-year
"great books" liberal arts program.
The freshmen bring the College's student body
to 301, its largest number ever. 151 women and 150 men come
from 38 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Austria and China.
Convocation Day coincided with the publication
of U.S. News and World Report's annual listing of "America's
Best Colleges." Of the nation's 1400 colleges and universities,
four Catholic colleges were among the 114 institutions ranked
in the first two tiers: Thomas Aquinas College, College of
the Holy Cross, College of St. Benedict, and St. John's University
(Minnesota). Thomas Aquinas College was the only Catholic
college the magazine commended as a "Best Value."
U.S. News strongly emphasizes academic
excellence in ranking colleges and universities. In light
of the current divisive discussions among academics about
the mandatum - a certificate from the bishop signifying a
teacher of theology at a Catholic institution is in full communion
with the Church - the recognition of the academic excellence
of Thomas Aquinas College is evidence from a secular source
that a college can publicly affirm its Catholic identity and
conformity with the teaching Church and attract excellent
faculty and students.
In his Convocation address to the student body,
Dr. Thomas Dillon, President of the College, reminded students
and faculty of the nobility of their purpose as a Catholic
community seeking wisdom. "These four years are a precious
opportunity to develop your minds and refine your habits of
thought and action. You will be reading and discussing the
greatest works ever written; works that have defined eras
and shaped civilizations. In a community of friends, and under
the guidance of tutors who care deeply about your good, you
will seek to make reasoned judgments about the nature of reality.
Your success in making a good beginning on the ascent toward
wisdom depends very much on you - on your diligence, on your
intellectual energy, and on your cultivation of wonder. "
Ours is a society discouraged about the possibility
of discovering truths of nature and skeptical about Revelation
and the special role of the Church in education. Nevertheless,
the lofty goals of human and divine wisdom can be grasped,
especially at a Catholic college, because of the treasure
of graces in the sacraments and Mass and because of the Church's
rich tradition of learning. "You will be aided in your
inquiries," Dr. Dillon assured students, "by the
rich intellectual tradition of the Church as you study her
wisest teachers - wise especially because of their own docility
to Christ and His Church."
"It is remarkable - astonishing really,"
Dr. Dillon observed, " that Socrates could have the insights
he did without the benefit of Christianity. How blessed we
are, in contrast, to have Christ the Teacher, to have the
Gospels and St. Paul's letters, and to have an unerring Church
to mediate God's Revelation. How fortunate also are we to
have the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church, especially
our patron, St. Thomas Aquinas, whom pope after pope have
recognized as occupying the pinnacle of Christian thought."
The four-year program of Thomas Aquinas College
is based on the "Great Books," the original works
of Civilization's principal philosophers, theologians, mathematicians,
scientists, poets, and authors. Electives, majors and minors
are replaced by an all-required, integrated curriculum of
the arts and sciences essential in undergraduate education.
Classroom lectures are replaced by guided conversations in
tutorials, seminars, and laboratories. The curriculum, essentially
unchanged since the College's founding in 1971, has been seen
and emulated as a unique and successful expression of Catholic
liberal education in modern times.
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