Benefactors

For Thomas Aquinas College’s second annual Parents’ Day of Giving on May 1, the parents and grandparents of students past and present were challenged to raise $125,000. With four hours left to go in the day, they had already surpassed that total.

Thanks to the tremendous support of many Thomas Aquinas College parents, grandparents, and alumni, the College has reached its initial goal for the second annual Parents’ Day of Giving! “With less than four hours to go until day’s end,” says Parents’ Association Coordinator Robert Bagdazian, “we have surpassed the $125,000 in matching gifts that two generous benefactors contributed to get the day going.”

Over the recently concluded Easter Recess, a group of freshmen who will transfer to Thomas Aquinas College’s new campus in the fall paid a quick visit to their future home. Joined by two members of the California faculty who are also making the move, as well as two of next year’s resident advisers, some 27 members of the first class set foot, for the very first time, on the campus of Thomas Aquinas College, New England.

For more than 20 years, summers at Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus have been highlighted by the Great Books Summer Seminar Weekends for friends and benefactors. This summer the event will be offered — for the first time — on the College’s new campus in Northfield, Massachusetts.

With nearly half of the student body traveling during Easter Recess, the campus of Thomas Aquinas College grows quiet over Holy Week. After the final classes on Wednesday afternoon, the classrooms go dark. For a brief time, the work, the studies, the myriad activities that dominate campus life cease. Thoughts and hearts turn to Our Lord, His sacrifice, and His ultimate triumph. The Paschal Triduum — from the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper to Saturday’s Easter Vigil — is a solemn time of prayer on campus.

By Rev. Michael Casey
Vocation Director, Archdiocese of Hartford
Open House
Thomas Aquinas College, New England
April 7, 2019

What a joy it is to be here to celebrate this Mass at the Open House for Thomas Aquinas College, New England! My name is Fr. Michael Casey; I’m the vocation director for the Archdiocese of Hartford and a pastor in New Britain, Connecticut, outside of the city of Hartford.

Please pray for the faithful of Sri Lanka, victims of a horrendous terrorist attack on this, the most sacred day of the Christian year. Please pray, too, for His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and a friend of Thomas Aquinas College. Cardinal Ranjith served as the College’s 2007 Commencement Speaker and received its highest honor, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of a good friend of Thomas Aquinas College and a great Jesuit priest, Rev. James V. Schall, S.J.. Following a lengthy illness, Fr. Schall passed away Wednesday at the age of 91.