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RELIGIOUS LIBERTY UPDATE!
College Wins Permanent Protection from HHS Contraceptive Mandate
Marking the culmination of a four-year legal effort that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. government on Friday agreed to a settlement that will permanently exempt Thomas Aquinas College from the so-called HHS Contraceptive Mandate of the Affordable Care Act.
“This is an extraordinary outcome for Thomas Aquinas College and for the cause of religious freedom,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean “It is a relief to know that the College can continue its 46-year mission of offering excellent Catholic liberal education without facing the threat of crippling financial penalties resulting from our commitment to the full teachings of the Catholic Church.”
Instituted in 2012, the HHS Mandate sought to compel all employers — even Catholic ones — to provide free contraceptive, abortifacient, and sterilization coverage to their employees. In 2013 the College and several co-plaintiffs, citing the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, challenged the mandate in federal court. The litigation eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2015 agreed to consider the lawsuit, as well as six others, in the consolidated case of Zubik v. Burwell. One year later, the Court took the unusual step of vacating the lower court opinions and remanding the consolidated cases back to their respective courts of appeal for further consideration.
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EXCELLENCE AND FIDELITY
U.S. News, National Catholic Register,
and CNBC Give College Top Rankings
• In the newly released 2018 edition of its “Best Colleges” guide, U.S. News & World Report places Thomas Aquinas College in the top third of the top tier of all American liberal arts colleges, one of only two Catholic colleges to rank so highly. The guide also praises the College’s financial aid program, listing the school as No. 30 among the Top 40 national liberal arts colleges on its “Best Values” list and No. 5 among national liberal arts colleges for “Least Debt” at graduation — the only Catholic school in the United States to make either list.
• The National Catholic Register has selected Thomas Aquinas College as one of only 34 faithfully Catholic colleges and universities included in its “Catholic Identity College Guide 2017.” The guide is based on the schools’ responses to 10 questions which, the Register explains, are designed such that “a ‘YES’ answer reflects essential elements of the renewal of Catholic identity called for by Pope St. John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution on higher education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (Out of the Heart of the Church), its 2000 ‘Application to the United States,’ canon law and other relevant Church documents.”
• “While some schools leave graduates shouldering an unbearable mountain of debt,” writes Abigail Hess of CNBC, “others work with students to make sure they're not taking on more than they'll be able to pay off.” After assessing more than 1,800 U.S.-based colleges and universities, the business-news network compiled a list of 10 colleges where students “graduate with the least debt,” and that list includes Thomas Aquinas College. “By capping the amount students borrow and keeping students on track to graduate in four years,” says Ms. Hess, “Thomas Aquinas is able to limit the amount of debt that graduates hold.”
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• In its newly released “Catholic Higher Education” issue, Legatus magazine profiles an alumna of the College, Jane Neumayr Nemcova (’98), vice president and general manager of global services for machine intelligence at Lionbridge, a global language services provider. “In the rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence,” writes author Brian Fraga, Mrs. Nemcova “is playing her part to ensure that ethics will influence the emerging technology.” A mother of three children and holder of three master’s degrees, she specializes in linguistic support for machine learning and artificial intelligence, employing her expertise in the language localization industry throughout the world.
• Class of 2017 graduate Nnadozie Onyekuru is quoted in a recent story in Scholastic, the student magazine at the University of Notre Dame, where he is one of 38 students in the inaugural class at the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs, working toward a master’s degree in global affairs. With a keen interest in the role of the Catholic Church in the world, he hopes to do his part to promote the cause of religious freedom.
• Less than two years after completing her first marathon, Rose Carlman (’17) ran in her tenth 26.2 miler last Saturday in Hartford, Connecticut. This time, she ran for a cause dear to her heart — a foundation named for a 17-month-old boy (the son of a longtime family friend) who died of a malignant liver tumor in 2015. She completed the race in less than three hours — 2:59:07 — setting a new personal record and besting most of the competition. Among the 56 women in her age bracket (20-24), Miss Carlman came in first place. She also achieved the 11th fastest time among all 684 women and 48th place among all 1,618 runners, both male and female.
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Jane Neumayr Nemcova (’98)
Nnadozie Onyekuru (’17)
Rose Carlman (’17)
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ALUMNI VOCATIONS!
Seminarian and Sister Updates
• A new video from the Western Dominican Province features Br. John Winkowitsch, O.P. (’04), who made his first profession as a Dominican friar on September 2. “What do I love more than anything in the world?” he asks. “I love the truth, and I love Jesus Chris, and I love the Church. I want to lay down my life sharing that love with others, sharing that truth with others.”
• On October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Sr. Sophia of the Holy Eucharist, OSB (Gina Marie Eid ’08), made her solemn vows as a member of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, in Gower, Missouri. Per their community’s custom, Sr. Sophia and a fellow newly professed nun, Sr. Margaret Mary of the Hidden Life, composed a litany of saintly intercessors, which they asked friends to pray for their vocations. The litany is available via the College’s website.
• “Thought you might like to know,” writes Derek Remus (’13), “that Bishop William McGrattan of the Diocese of Calgary, Alberta, has called me to be ordained to the transitional diaconate.” The blessed event will take place at the end of Advent, on December 23, just in time for the newly ordained deacon to proclaim the Gospel and preach the homilies throughout Christmas. It was four years ago — two years after his graduation from the College — that Mr. Remus entered St. Joseph’s Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta, for the Diocese of Calgary. By God’s grace, he will be ordained to the priesthood next summer, making him the first alumnus to serve as diocesan priest in Canada!
Faith in Action blog 
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Br. John Winkowitsch, O.P. (’04)

Sr. Sophia of the Holy Eucharist, OSB (Gina Marie Eid ’08)

Derek Remus (’11) |
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THE SACRAMENTAL VEIL
St. Thomas Aquinas on the Eucharist
as Spiritual Food
By Dean John Goyette
Note: The following remarks are adapted from Dean Goyette’s report to the Board of Governors at its May 12, 2017, meeting. They are part of an ongoing series of talks about why the College includes certain texts in its curriculum.
“There are … many profound elements of Aquinas’ teaching about the mystery of the Eucharist. He discusses the purpose and fittingness of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the supernatural and miraculous conversion of bread and wine into the true body and blood of Christ (which is called ‘transubstantiation’), and the miraculous suspension of the accidents of bread and wine after the consecration. There is much to think and ponder about the Eucharist, but I would like to focus on just one element of Thomas’s teaching, the Eucharist as spiritual food. …
“What is the difference between spiritual food and material food? Material food restores the strength and vitality of the body by changing into the one who eats it, whereas spiritual food nourishes by changing the person who eats it into Christ himself. When we eat Christ, we do not physically tear his body with our teeth, and digest him in some kind of cannibalistic ritual. It is rather we who are changed by what we receive: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. To be clear: St. Thomas is not calling into question the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but explaining what being fed by His true body and Blood means. Spiritual eating is nothing other than being united to Christ by faith and charity. This is the proper effect of the sacrament of the Eucharist. …”
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