“Do Whatever the Lord Tells You,
and be Faithful to Jesus”

Note: The Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila is the Archbishop of Denver. He served as the College’s Convocation Speaker last fall, at which time he granted the following interview.

How did you discern your vocation to the priesthood as a young man at a secular college in the turbulent 1960s?

With nearly half of the student body traveling during Easter Vacation, 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 entirely 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:

A beloved Thomas Aquinas College chaplain, Rev. Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J., has fallen ill and needs our prayers.

“His doctor seems confident that Father will make a full recovery, but this may take some time,” says Dean Brian T. Kelly. To provide spiritual aid and comfort for a man who has served the College so generously and lovingly, Dr. Kelly urges all friends of the College “to pray for Fr. Buckley, especially during the Triduum and the holy season of Easter.”

Over the course of the Easter Triduum, Thomas Aquinas College students spent their time in retreat, practicing the Spiritual Exercise of St. Ignatius under the guidance of a Jesuit retreat master, Rev. Raymond Gawronski, S.J.

The video above comes from the St. Genesius Players’ production of Othello on March 21, 2015. It is the beginning of Act V, Scene 2, in which Othello (Rocky Brittain ’15) prepares to kill Desdemona (Zoe Appleby ’18).

Photos from the production are available in the slideshow below:

The women of Thomas Aquinas College met on the campus fields Saturday morning for the annual “Powder Puff Bowl” — a friendly game of flag football, with their male classmates serving as coaches and referees. The two squads arrived early to warm up, while fans gathered and several students played music and told jokes over the loudspeakers.

On Palm Sunday, Chrysostomos, a student choir directed by John Parker Wilmeth (’15), offered “Lent and Easter Meditations” at a concert in the newly completed St. Gladys Hall. The concert featured a wide range of compositions, including songs by Rachmaninoff, Eric Whitacre, John Taverner, Thomas Tomkins:

Just prior to the 9:00 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday, students, faculty, and friends of the College gathered with Head Chaplain Rev. Hildebrand Garceau, O.Praem., by the Guadalupe Fountain for the blessing of the palms. The congregation then processed around the academic quadrangle and into Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

The slideshow above features photos from the procession as well as from the proclamation of the Gospel during Mass, during which students Giorgio Navarini (’17) and John Parker Wilmeth (’15) joined Fr. Hildebrand in chanting the Passion of Our Lord.

This past weekend, Resident Assistant Sarah Dufresne (’14), joined by tutors Carol Day and Karen Zedlick, led a group of Thomas Aquinas College women on a camping trip to the KOA campgrounds in Santa Paula.