Current Students

At 6:00 a.m. on April 2, the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, a dozen Thomas Aquinas College students embarked on a nearly 30-mile hike over Sulphur Mountain from Santa Paula into neighboring Ventura. Some 12 hours later, they reached their destination — a cross erected by the region’s newest canonized saint, St. Junipero Serra, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and one of the nine California missions he founded, Mission San Buenaventura. There they were joined by the Thomas Aquinas College Choir, and Chaplain Rev.

On one Sunday each spring, students, alumni, faculty, and staff of Thomas Aquinas College come together in Ojai’s Soule Park for “Soul Butter” — a concert that features “soulful” selections of folk and bluegrass music. This year’s concert took place on April 17, and photos are available in the slideshow below:

“When the government itself concedes that it can achieve its ends through less restrictive means, then it must do so, and the substantial burden it has imposed on religious exercise cannot be sustained.”

Responding to a rare order from the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing Thomas Aquinas College and its 34 co-plaintiffs today filed a supplemental brief brief in their ongoing case against the HHS Contraceptive Mandate.

On Saturday, May 14, the Most Rev. Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, will serve as Commencement Speaker at Thomas Aquinas College’s annual graduation exercises. During the event, His Excellency, who heads the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, will receive the College’s highest award, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion, in recognition of his lifelong fidelity and service to the Catholic Church.

While on campus last week to meet with students who are considering religious vocations, New York’s Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal paid visits to two of the women’s residences, St. Thérèse and St. Monica Halls. In evening conversations around the fireplace, the sisters answered questions and showed a new video from the Council of Major Superiors for Women Religious, For Love Alone.

On Friday evening the Thomas Aquinas College Choir, under the direction of Daniel J. Grimm (’76), performed Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance before a packed audience in St Joseph Commons. The production was part of the 2015-2016 St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series, endowed by Barbara and Paul Henkels.

On Saturday evening Thomas Aquinas College students donned their finest clothes and decorated St. Joseph Commons for the spring dance. The evening, sponsored by the freshman class, began with comedic entertainment, including skits and a dance number about life at the College, and then proceeded with feasting and swing-dancing.

On Sunday, Chrysostomos, a student choir directed by Alan Bird (’16), performed its spring concert in St. Bernardine of Siena Library:

The concert consisted of two sections. The first section focused on sacred music such as “Sicut Cervus,” “Blasius Amon Mass in C,” Biebel’s “Ave Maria,” and “Pie Jesu” by Andrew Lloyd Weber. The second featured secular spring music such as “The Pasture” and “Shenandoah.”

The photos below come from Saturday’s inter-class soccer matches. In the first game, the women Juniors and Seniors bested the Freshmen and Sophomores 4-1. Next, in the men’s game, the upperclassmen narrowly defeated the underclassmen 2-1.