Note: At its 2017 Commencement exercises, Thomas Aquinas College awarded its highest honor, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion, to Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, SV, Superior General of the Sisters of Life.

Audio

Note: Each year the graduating class elects one of its members to present the Senior Address at Commencement. Upon graduation, this year’s speaker, Joseph Rivera of Kendall Park, New Jersey, plans to pursue graduate studies in philosophy at The Catholic University of America.

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Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, SV
Superior General, Sisters of Life 
Commencement Address to the Class of 2017
Transcript
May 13, 2017
Dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima

It is an honor to be with you, dear graduates. And Joseph, you are a bit intimidating to follow! That was a beautiful address, and I thank you for it.

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“Only the Childlike Attain True Wisdom and Learning”

by Rev. Paul Scalia
Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, Diocese of Arlington, Virginia
Transcript, Homily from the Baccalaureate Mass
May 13, 2017

“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”

On May 16, Thomas Aquinas College celebrated its 43rd Commencement Exercises, honoring the 91 members of the Class of 2017. The day began with the Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. Rev. Paul Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, served as the principal celebrant and homilist:

Note: Each year the president of Thomas Aquinas College hosts a dinner on the Wednesday before Commencement as a chance for members of the faculty and staff to bid farewell to the graduating class. The president, dean, and assistant dean all speak to the Seniors and, customarily, the Seniors present a gift to the College. Below are text and audio of President Michael F. McLean’s remarks and a photographic slideshow from this year’s dinner.

• Mother Agnes Mary: In These 26th days … (May 23)
• Now Available: Class of 2017 Portraits & Commencement Photos (May 22)
• Rev.

On Wednesday, as members of the Senior Class completed their last final examination, they greeted one another with hugs and congratulations on the academic quadrangle. After all arrived — and despite the unseasonably cool weather — they then headed down to the campus ponds for the traditional celebratory swim:

Note: Rev. Ryan Rooney is a graduate of the Northfield Mount Hermon school, which previously occupied the campus of Thomas Aquinas College’s planned New England campus. On Tuesday morning, prior to the signing ceremony at which the National Christian Foundation formally donated the campus to the College, Fr. Rooney offered a Mass for the College’s officials and friends at St. Patrick’s Church in Northfield. Below is the text of his homily.

In anticipation of tomorrow’s transfer ceremony — in which the National Christian Foundation will formally donate to Thomas Aquinas College a campus in Northfield, Massachusetts — President Michael F. McLean and members of the College’s Board of Governors today toured the property. As part of the tour, the group visited  residence halls, the gymnasium, administrative and classroom buildings, and the campus chapel.