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BICOASTAL DEVOTION
College’s Two Campuses Jointly Close 2021 Global Rosary Relay
On the evening of Friday, June 28 — the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — members of the Thomas Aquinas College community on both coasts prayed the Holy Rosary for the sanctification of priests.
The gathering marked the conclusion of WorldPriest’s twelfth annual Global Rosary Relay, an international prayer chain in which members of the faithful across the world took turns praying a designated set of mysteries, thereby encircling the planet in prayer for 24 hours. Thomas Aquinas College was blessed this year to serve once again as the last leg of the relay, spiritually delivering the world’s prayers to the Blessed Mother from its chapels in California and New England.
Meanwhile, friends of the College across the country and the world added their prayers and joined along via livestream. In total, more than 300 congregations participated in the Rosary Relay in more than 85 countries and on 6 continents. The prayers were offered to God in thanksgiving for all priests, as well as to seek the loving care of Our Lady for her priestly sons.
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California
New England |
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“A GREAT PRIVILEGE AND TREASURE”
Dr. Andrew T. Seeley (’87) Teaches Every Class in College’s Curriculum
At the recent close of the academic year, Dr. Andrew T. Seeley (’87), a tutor on the California campus, joined a select group of Thomas Aquinas College faculty: those who have taught all 23 courses in the College’s classical curriculum. Only four other members of the teaching faculty have previously achieved this milestone: New England Dean Thomas Kaiser and California tutors Dr. Glen Coughlin, Dr. John Nieto, and Mr. David Quackenbush.
“It’s been a great privilege and treasure to be able to teach in a program that allows me to be a continuing learner with the students and my colleagues,” says Dr. Seeley. “I’ve felt my understanding of each year of study grow as I’ve worked toward mastering other parts of the integrated curriculum. That has helped me to better guide the students as I’ve been able to better understand where they’re going and what they’re drawing upon from their previous studies.”
“Thomas Aquinas College is unique among American colleges and universities in requiring its faculty members to teach not only in their areas of expertise, but in all the disciplines,” says Dean John J. Goyette. “Our founders recognized that tutors who teach across the disciplines are better equipped to answer students’ questions and help them see how the disciplines build upon one another. The requirement demands much from our faculty, but they rise to the occasion, and our students are the ultimate beneficiaries.”
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Dr. Andrew T. Seeley (’87) |
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“ONE OF MY FAVORITE TEACHERS”
High School Students Sing Praise of TAC Alumni Educators
Anchored, the official podcast of the Classical Learning Test, recently featured an episode in which CEO Jeremy Tate interviewed six of the test’s highest-scoring takers. During the discussion, Mr. Tate asked the students to name the teachers who have had the most profound influence on their lives, and two of the young scholars named Thomas Aquinas College alumni.
“One of my teachers was actually a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, Giorgio Navarini (’17), and he taught me civics and Latin my sophomore year,” says Cordelia, who recently graduated from St. Therese Classical Academy in Santa Barbara and will be a freshman on the California campus this fall. “And I really loved his classes because he implemented the whole Socratic seminar style that he learned at TAC into our classroom.”
Next, Ava — who will be participating in this summer’s High School Great Books Program — named Dr. Kathleen Sullivan (’06), who taught her at Chelsea Academy in Front Royal, Virginia. “I think that one of my favorite teachers all time was Dr. Sullivan; she teaches at Christendom now,” said Ava. “She taught my ninth grade English class. The way she taught, it was a lot of discussion, which I loved, and a ton of reading. … It made my entire high school experience more fruitful because I was able to participate more. And she was always super-enthusiastic about everything, and that made me just love reading and the whole entire experience so much better.”
Thanks be to God for TAC alumni teachers!
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Giorgio Navarini (’17)
Dr. Kathleen Sullivan (’06) |
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FAITH IN ACTION
Reflections from the College's Alumni Blog
• On June 19 Rev. David Allen (’10) received the Sacrament of Holy Orders at the hands of the Most Rev. Daniel F. Garcia, Bishop of Monterey, at Madonna del Sasso Parish in Salinas, California. Thanks be to God, Fr. Allen is Thomas Aquinas College’s 78th alumnus priest — and the fourth ordained this summer. Among the alumni in attendance for the glorious occasion was Rev. Michael Masteller (’13), who was also ordained to the priesthood just two weeks earlier for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “Fr. David is a good friend, a true brother,” says Fr. Masteller. “His ordination is a source of great joy and hope for me as well as for the entire church.”
• An MD-PhD candidate at Creighton University, Maggie McCann (’13) recently completed a prestigious two-year fellowship with the Paul Ramsey Institute, which trains young leaders from a wide range of disciplines in a morally grounded approach to bioethics. She has also completed the first part of her dissertation in collaboration with Stanford University, focusing on spinal cord injury. “The education I received from TAC prepared me well for a career in science,” she reflects. “The program teaches one to think analytically, which is what scientists spend most of their time doing. Additionally, the integrated nature of TAC’s curriculum enriched my education and helped me appreciate how philosophy and science reciprocate.”
• Some 21 years after her graduation from Thomas Aquinas College, Mother Madeleine Marie of St. Joseph (Mary Kay Ellis ’99) returned to the California campus last month. As Superior of the Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest, Mother Madeleine Marie travels the world to oversee the Sisters’ eight houses in five countries. Yet what brought her to California was an invitation to speak at the Ventura / North Los Angeles chapter of Legatus, the international organization of Catholic business executives. where she delivered a talk, “The State of the Church in Europe,” to the chapter’s members at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Westlake Village.
► Faith in Action blog
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Rev. David Allen (’10)
Maggie McCann (’13)
Mother Madeleine Marie of St. Joseph (Mary Kay Ellis ’99) |
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“TREMENDOUS GENEROSITY”
Friends Contribute More than $1 Million for 2021 Week of Giving!
“Today marks the first day of the new fiscal year for Thomas Aquinas College,” President Michael F. McLean and President-elect Paul J. O’Reilly wrote in a letter to benefactors on July 1. “And we begin this new year — our fiftieth anniversary — in sound financial shape, thanks to the tremendous generosity of the many friends who contributed to the 2021 Friends Week of Giving.”
With contributions still trickling in, some 571 friends of the College have contributed $540,946 to date. Combined with $500,000 in lead matching gifts, that amounts to $1,040,946 — a 33 percent increase over last year’s total. The College’s friends have contributed more than $40,000 above the Week’s ambitious goal of $1 million — enough to provide financial aid for 58 TAC students.
The new fiscal year will be historic for Thomas Aquinas College in many ways. It will be the first with four classes of students on the New England campus, which will host its first-ever Commencement in the spring. In California, the Pope St. John Paul II Athletic Center will be completed this fall. And on both coasts the College will be celebrating 50 years of God’s providence, made manifest in the continued and loyal support of its friends.
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