COLLEGE GUIDE UPDATES
Top 10 for “College Values” and “Most Beautiful Quads”

• A perennial top performer in Kiplinger Personal Finance’s annual college rankings, Thomas Aquinas College has jumped several spots — into the “Top 10 Best Values in U.S. Colleges,” or as the magazine describes it, “the crème de la crème” of its newly published guide, Top 300 Best College Values of 2017. “Thomas Aquinas College’s sticker price — which is about half that of many private colleges on our best values list — and generous financial aid awards propel this pint-sized, Catholic liberal arts college up 15 places on this year’s combined best values list,” writes Kiplinger. The magazine ranks the College No. 7 in the country among all colleges and universities, up from No. 22 in 2016, and No. 4 among private, liberal arts schools — an eight-point leap from its No. 12 ranking last year. 

• A website dedicated to providing “students with a wide range of information regarding every aspect of college,” CollegeRank.net has placed Thomas Aquinas College at No. 7 on its list of The 50 Most Beautiful Campus Quads. “A campus quadrangle (or quad) is essential to the college campus experience,” write the guide’s authors. Thomas Aquinas College’s academic quadrangle, they continue, includes “what is referred to as the ‘crown jewel’ of chapels.” Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel is “a beautiful part of campus, and the sight is known to bring serenity.”
 

FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog

• “Caring for the poor is not merely an option in Catholicism,” says Daniel J. Grimm (’76), the newly appointed director of Catholic Charities for the Santa Barbara pastoral region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “Jesus spells it out as the nonnegotiable basis of morality when He describes the Last Judgment. And if you’re going to love the poor the way Christ did, you must love them with the humility and respect that is particularly Christian.” In his new position, Mr. Grimm is responsible for the work of Catholic Charities in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, a region that covers nearly 6,000 square miles and a population of more than 1.25 million residents.

• There are 11 Thomas Aquinas College alumni serving at Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Hulbert, Oklahoma, and one of them — Rev. Joshua Morey, O.S.B. (’00)  — has recently been named the community’s subprior. Abbot Philip Anderson, O.S.B., appointed Fr. Morey to his new position this past spring, less than seven years after his ordination in 2009. As subprior, Fr. Morey succeeds another alumnus of the College, Rev. Mark Bachmann, O.S.B. (’82). In addition to his responsibilities as subprior, Fr. Morey teaches philosophy to the community’s seminarians and works in the Abbey’s business office.

• Reflecting on the newly released Netflix documentary 13, which examines the legacy of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, alumnus Dr. Adam Seagrave (’05) has penned a thoughtful article for The Public Discourse about the broader question of how the U.S. lives up to its founding ideals, particularly with respect to African Americans. “We shouldn’t blame the Thirteenth Amendment for persistent racial injustice, just as we shouldn’t blame the Constitution for slavery,” writes Dr. Seagrave, the Kinder Institute Associate Professor of Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. “When it comes to nations, it is vastly better to be hypocritical than unabashedly immoral. The former possess a foundation for improvement in a way the latter do not, and this has been clearly evidenced in the real progress that has been made toward racial equality in the U.S.”

The Faith in Action blog  
 

WISDOM ON DOWNLOAD
Listen to Lectures & Talks via Podcast! 

Throughout the year, Thomas Aquinas College’s tutors and distinguished guests present lectures and talks on campus, many of which are available via the College’s website. Beginning this semester, select addresses will also be available as podcasts — through iTunes, Stitcher, and the College’s RSS feed.

“Whether they be events from the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series, Wednesday-afternoon tutor talks, or homilies from visiting prelates, we are glad to make this audio content more available to the College’s friends,” says Direct of College Relations Anne S. Forsyth. “Last semester alone, we were blessed with several lectures from alumni scholars as well as a talk and homily from Cardinal Müller. Now no one need worry about missing any future events. Just subscribe to our podcast feed, and the audio will download to your device as soon as it becomes available.”

For Apple users, Thomas Aquinas College lectures and talks are now available via iTunes, and Android users can access them via Stitcher. By using the RSS feed, users of any other podcasting software can likewise download the audio at their convenience.