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“UNIFORMLY iMPRESSIVE STUDENTS”
Boston Catholic Schools Chief Recruits TAC’s Future Teachers
“You’re learning about your faith, you’re learning to think, you’re learning to interact and to become passionate about the intellectual life,” Thomas W. Carroll, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, told students at Thomas Aquinas College, New England, in November. “That will prepare you for any number of careers, particularly the ones I’m pitching to you today.”
Over the course of his talk in Dolben Auditorium, Mr. Carroll offered advice to students who are interested in pursuing a career in teaching, while also seeking to recruit some of them to work for the Archdiocese. “I tell people that if I were to do my life over again, this is the school I would try to get into,” he said. Catholic schools, particularly those within the Archdiocese of Boston, need TAC students who are firm in their faith and enthusiastic to share their gifts as teachers.
The role of Catholic schools is vital to the life of the Church, Mr. Carroll advised students. “If people are not going to Catholic schools, within 20 years there will not be anybody in the pews,” he explained, encouraging would-be educators to help strengthen the faith of the next generation. “Our commitment to the Catholic Church is that we will, no matter what the cost is, find a way to educate your children and help guide them to sainthood.
► Full story
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Thomas W. Carroll |
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“GAME-CHANGER”
County, College Create New Helispot for Area Firefighting & Rescue
A newly installed helispot on the California campus of Thomas Aquinas College got its first use in December as the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) trained a crew in advanced firefighting techniques using one of its recently purchased Sikorsky Firehawk helicopters.
“The new helispot at Thomas Aquinas College – less than a mile from where the 2017 Thomas Fire started — greatly aids our firefighting abilities in the Santa Paula area,” said Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen. “We no longer need to fly our helicopters to Fillmore to fill water tanks. That means we can put more water on a fire while it’s small, giving it less time to spread.”
For more than 40 years, the Aviation Unit landed its Vietnam-era “Huey” helicopters on Thomas Aquinas College’s athletic fields, an option which would not work for the much larger and heavier Firehawks. “We had to find a new solution, and working with the VCFD, we were able to come up with one that will serve the people of Ventura County for many years to come,” said Mark Kretschmer, the College’s vice president for operations.
► Full story
► Media: CNA, Aleteia, KVTA, OV News
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FRIENDSHIP & COMMON HUMANITY
Why We Read Huckleberry Finn
By Dean John J. Goyette
All of the books that we read in Thomas Aquinas College’s academic program are “great” either because of their own substantive merit or because their ideas and sentiments have been influential in shaping Western ideas and culture. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deserves to be included for both of these reasons. We read it near the end of the first semester in the Senior Seminar, which mainly includes great works of the last couple hundred years, such as Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and also works of Hegel, Marx, Jane Austen, Tocqueville, Dostoevsky, Freud, and Nietzsche.
One of the elements that characterizes a Great Book is that it engages in a great conversation over the centuries. Elements of the storyline in Huckleberry Finn are reminiscent not only of Homer’s poetry, but also the Bible, works of Shakespeare, and Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote. There are also subtle references throughout the story to a number of enduring conversations that span the centuries.
The principal theme of Huckleberry Finn is Huck’s growing awareness, throughout his journey down the Mississippi, of his friendship and affection for Jim, and his consequent recognition of Jim’s humanity. This realization culminates in a crisis of conscience, wherein Huck pits his own love and friendship for Jim against what he thinks his conscience is telling him, a conscience which has been formed, or rather deformed, by a fundamentally unjust convention.
► Full story
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Dean John J. Goyette
Mark Twain |
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• “Concerned about soaring crime and homelessness in her city, College Governor Angela (Andersen ’87) Connelly has co-founded Tacoma Safe, a community organization that is pushing for increased local policing and shelter options. The group has spoken before the Tacoma City Council and launched a petition which calls for bolstering Tacoma’s police, mental-health, and drug-treatment resources. But Tacoma Safe does not limit its efforts to activism. “We meet every Saturday — we have tons of people going out and covering over graffiti. We’re collecting garbage from the homeless camps,” says Mrs. Connelly. “We are passionate about not sitting back and watching this city die.”
• The Western Dominican Province’s director of vocations, Rev. John Marie Bingham, O.P. (’00), and two fellow alumni — Rev. John Winkowitsch, O.P. (’04) and Br. Michael Thomas Cain (’18) — returned to the California campus in late November to lead a vocations talk. The three shared about how their time at Thomas Aquinas College prepared them for priesthood and the religious life, as well as how students can know if God is likewise calling them. “Preaching is our spirituality; it’s more than a thing we do,” said Fr. John Marie . “Give it some thought,” he continued. “It’s a beautiful calling.”
• Every year, Westerners purchase billions of dollars of Christmas decorations, from crèche scenes to inflatable reindeer, imported from China. What do the workers who make these goods think of them? Alumna author Priscilla (Smith ’77) McCaffrey explores this question in her new novella, Christmas Blossoms. Published by Sophia Institute Press, the book tells the story of Zhang Jian, a Chinese glass painter. “He is an artisan who was born before the Communist revolution and raised by a Catholic family,” she explains. “He’s someone who understands the real meaning of Christmas, so his ornaments are very beautiful and very sincere.”
► Faith in Action blog |
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Angela
(Andersen ’87) Connelly
Rev. John Winkowitsch, O.P. (’04)
Priscilla (Smith ’77) McCaffrey |
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END-OF-YEAR GIVING
Two New Ways to Save on Taxes while Supporting TAC!
As 2021 draws to a close, there are two ways that friends of Thomas Aquinas College can help support the College’s mission of Catholic liberal education — while also saving money on their taxes.
The first is through increased deductibility options on charitable giving through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Taxpayers who itemize will be allowed to deduct all cash charitable contributions that they make, up to 100 percent of their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), on their 2021 tax returns. And taxpayers who claim the standard deduction will nonetheless be permitted to deduct up to an additional $300 for singles, or $600 for couples, in charitable contributions.
The second is through an IRA Charitable Rollover, open to Americans over the age of 70½. This year IRA holders will once more need to make a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) — and that includes paying income tax on the distribution. Yet those who choose to use their IRAs to support the College can avoid the tax charge altogether. “If you are 70½ or older, simply ask your IRA administrator to make a portion or all of the distribution directly to Thomas Aquinas College,” says Paul Blewett, the College’s director of gift planning. “In the year you turn 72, your gift can be used to satisfy all or part of your RMD, up to $100,000 — tax-free.”
► More information
► Make a gift
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