Saturday, May 12, marked the graduation ceremony of the Class of 2012 at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts—a day of celebration, of goodbyes, and of new beginnings.

The ceremony began with a prayer lead by the College’s long-time chaplain, Reverend John Healey.

“This day is yours in all of its joy and solemnity,” College president William Fahey said during the commencement. “We have met to dedicate a portion of this day to celebrate you.”

In recognizing the graduating class, Fahey expressed gratitude to students and their parents alike, acknowledging that without family support, the students’ success would be impossible.

Parents Patrick Monaghan and Larry Sifert each received the institution’s Thomas More College Medal for exemplary dedication and support to the school. Each of these men is the father of ten children who have attended the College. This year marked the graduation of the youngest of the Monaghan and Sifert families, Mary Monaghan and Elizabeth Sifert.

Dr. Paul Connell, a graduate of Thomas More College himself and now the Academic Director of the Rome Program, was the commencement speaker.

He began on a personal note, “You are no longer students. You are alumni, as am I; that is something we now share.”

“This ceremony is about renewal and rebirth; it is about beginning ‘tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new,’” continued Connell, quoting from John Milton’s poem “Lycidas.”

“The Junior Project is a rite of passage at Thomas More College,” said recent alumna Aja Cowhig.  “To be able to say that you completed—and passed—your Junior Project is a tremendous feat.”

Each year, Thomas More College juniors work one-on-one with a professor to study, over the course of a semester, a major writer, idea, or body of literature.  Students have chosen to focus the content of their projects on a philosophical idea, a novel, a body of poetry by a certain author, a series of political treaties, the writings of a saint or theologian, the works of a particular painter, or the music of a composer.

“I have loved Tolkien for as long as I can remember,” said junior Marielle Gage. “I was thrilled with the opportunity to foster my interest and really immerse myself in his works, especially after studying him during the College’s Oxford Program last year.”

The Project allows students to delve deeply into a subject matter that is of particular interest to them.

“It is insufficient to simply read a certain work or mechanically memorize the lines of a poem,” said Lucy Domina, Class of 2010. “You truly must engage deeply the core of a text, idea, composition, or conversation and hit upon how, why, and in what way things come together to become what they are.

At the close of each semester, after hundreds of hours devoted to reading and reflecting, Thomas More College juniors present their Junior Projects before a panel of professors.

“I will never forget this moment,” said Lucy.  “Relying solely upon a short page of points, a handful of written quotes, and primarily my memory, I entered the Helm Room of the Library. I took my place at the head of the long wooden table—a seat usually reserved for the professor. There I sat in the role of the teacher, dressed in formal attire, conversing with my professors over the topic I studied so intensively that semester.”

“The JP is stressful,” said senior Molly Lloyd. “During that semester I had to push myself, but about halfway through the presentation I thought, ‘wow, this is really fun!’”

The purpose of the Junior Project is to allow students to study for the joy of learning, and not merely to “get a good grade.” In fact, no grade is given despite the project being required to graduate. Students at Thomas More are taught that to learn is a gift, and to be able to express what you have learned is an even greater gift—and even a duty.

The class of 2013 Junior Projects:

J. R. R. Tolkien

Baroque Painting

G. K. Chesterton

Karl Marx

Aristotle

Robert Penn Warren

Machiavelli

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Josef Pieper

Bernini

A Short Story (composition)

Benedict XVI on: Culture

Othello

Benedict XVI on: Deus Caritas Est

De Koninck on: Primary of the Common Good

C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters

Milton’s Paradise Lost

Plato’s Political Thought

In America, it is possible for someone to go through all of Lent and Holy Week without realizing its true significance. The only clue are the gads of chocolate in pink and purple packages filling the aisles of the supermarket.

Not so in Rome.

Holy Week was filled with all things Catholic for the sophomores of Thomas More College. The pilgrims are pouring into Rome to spend the most important time of year with our beloved Pope Benedict XVI. Everywhere one looks seems to be a nun or a priest, a postcard with a Saint’s face or a dangling Rosary.

My peers and I enjoyed our final classes of the week on Holy Monday and our final tour of Rome on Holy Tuesday. Our audience with Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled for the following day and we waited in eager anticipation. The time came and we cried out to him from our nearby seats, “We love you, Papa!” This was just the beginning of a grace-filled Holy Week busy with Papal Masses and countless ancient traditions, such as visiting seven churches on Maundy Thursday and praying the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

Holy Thursday was particularly special. We began the day by attending the Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s—thousands gathered there. I will never forget the Pope’s words in his homily, “We need, I need, not to claim my life as my own, but to place it at the disposal of another—of Christ. I should be asking not what I stand to gain, but what I can give for him and so for others.” The radical quality of Christ’s message struck me with these words. When do we not live for ourselves?

In the evening we each chose seven churches to visit. This is a long standing tradition that is safely assumed to have begun in Rome. All the altars in the city’s countless churches are decked with flowers, usually lilies, and literally hundreds of candles. The effect is unimaginable. Immediately upon entering each of the churches, the overpowering fragrance of the flowers or the soft flickering light of the little flames enrapture you in a spirit of prayer, in a sense of awe at the Passion of Christ. The whole city is waiting and praying.

The following day, Good Friday, we were able to pray the Stations of the Cross with Pope Benedict XVI at the Coliseum, and the following evening we attended the long awaited Easter Vigil in Saint Peter’s Basilica—a Mass that will forever stay in our memories.

Rome is commonly known as the Heart of the Church and during these special days of Holy Week leading into the Easter Season, the name is more fitting than ever—it is a racing, joyful, love-filled heart. The goods and graces of this Holy Triduum have overwhelmed us with joy as we celebrate the Easter Octave!

On March 28, two Thomas More College students were received into the Catholic Church in the personal chapel of Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, former Archbishop of Saint Louis and now a resident in Rome as the prefect of the Church’s highest court—the Apostolic Signatura.

“Today, we are privileged to witness in a most beautiful manifestation the work of God’s grace flowing from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus through the mediation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” said Cardinal Burke in his homily.

For Kristina Landry from Ellington, Connecticut, and Jonathan Wasserman from Kansas City, Missouri, both just nineteen, it was the perfect conclusion to the Rome Semester spent studying the magnificence and history of the Eternal City as part of Thomas More College’s core curriculum.

“Though not Catholic when they began their studies at Thomas More College,” said a peer, “it was immediately evident that both were seekers. They were looking for the truth and when they discovered it to be a person, Christ, they were courageous enough to make the sacrifices it takes to embrace Him.”

“I feel incredible,” Jonathan said just moments after being received into the Church. “It was a dream come true. I’m just so glad to have this all. I’m happy.”

“It’s incredible, amazing, awe inspiring,” added Kristina. “The Catholic Faith encompasses everything that is true. It is how we are meant to praise God.”

When asked why he became Catholic, Jonathan responded, “It is the one true Church. To be a Catholic is to have the truth with you.”

Their peers were overjoyed and provided beautiful Gregorian Chant that filled the sixteenth century Baroque chapel during Mass.

After administering the Sacrament of Confirmation, Cardinal Burke said to the new Catholics, “As Baptism was your personal Easter, so Confirmation will be your personal Pentecost.”

Concluding his homily, he encouraged and advised them, “Keep yourself alive in Christ through frequent reception of Holy Communion and through regular confession. Throughout the day deepen Christ’s life within you by your prayers and devotions, especially devotion to the most blessed Sacrament, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Holy Mother of God and the whole company of saints.”

Knowing he was addressing young intellectuals, he added, “never cease to study with fervor the truths of our faith especially as they are set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: and never to give way to discouragement or grow weary in your daily efforts to live those truths in a good and holy life.”

Each student at Thomas More College is required to spend three full months on our campus in Rome, staying at a majestic villa by night and taking private tours of the Eternal City by day. Students are immersed in the history and culture of Rome. They study theology with a Vatican-based theologian, attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, take day trips to Assisi, Siena, Florence, and venture into one of the Church’s most critical apostolates—communications. The College’s Vatican Studies Center and the Internet-based Catholic media agency, H2o News employ students to create worldwide TV broadcasts about Church news—editing, correcting translating, and dubbing the voices of newsmakers, cardinals, and even Pope Benedict XVI.

Both Jonathan and Kristina agreed that living in Europe this semester characterized their conversions. For example, Saint Peter was a natural choice for Jonathan when deciding on a confirmation saint. Similarly for Kristina, who chose Saint Faustina, a twentieth century nun famous for introducing the Divine Mercy devotion, and whose native country, Poland, Kristina was able to make a pilgrimage to.

“Coming to Europe and seeing in Italy and especially in Poland that there’s just so much faith in the people and in the youth, that gives you a lot of hope for future generations,” said Kristina.

Jonathan added that the Rome Semester is inspiring because “you are being surrounded by beauty all the time.”

Rome Program director Tony Assaf said that students “become an extended family during these three intense months together. This is the first time, though, that we’ve been able to celebrate the ‘birthday’ of a new brother and sister in Christ into our Catholic family during the course of the program.”

“I am deeply moved by Kristina’s and Johnny’s conversions,” said Dr. William Fahey, President of Thomas More College. “And I am grateful to Cardinal Burke for his involvement. He has been good to us—showing support not just on an institutional level, but by seeing and taking an interest in the individuals who make up our community.”

Cardinal Burke is a longstanding friend of the College. In addition to having now brought two of the College’s students into the Church, he has visited the Rome Campus twice, welcomed students to his office in the Vatican, spoke at our President’s Council Dinner in Boston, MA, and is currently serving on the advisory council for our capital campaign.

Throughout the history of the Christian Faith, there have been three recognized forms of Baptism—water, blood, and desire.  Over the centuries, however, the validity and nature of the latter two forms have been a point of controversy among the faithful.  In fact, many have argued that there is no way to attain salvation except through Baptism by water.

Thomas More College’s Edmund Campion Debate Society determined to explore the question.  Six students—three representing each side of the debate—convened last Friday evening to engage in a lively back and forth on the nature of Baptism.

The Campion Debates—held regularly throughout the year—are popular among the students.  Friday’s debate was no exception.  Students filed into the Humanities Room and waited in anticipation for their peers to take the stage.  It didn’t take long for the battle lines to be drawn.

Thomas More College senior Keith Parkinson was the first to speak. “An omnipotent God desires all men to be saved,” Keith said.  “Baptism by water, however, is not made available to all men, and therefore, salvation must be possible outside of Baptism by water.”

Heads nodded across the room. 

But Paul Guenzel raised doubts by responding with Scripture.  “‘Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God,’ (John 3:5) scripture explicitly states that water must be used,” said Paul.

Keith wasn’t convinced, “What of the catechumen who risks his very life to learn about the Faith and then is martyred before being baptized?  What of the virtuous pagan who acts in perfect accord with his conscience?”

“What of all the men who lived and died before Christ came and instituted the sacrament of Baptism,” Keith added.  “Are all these damned for eternity because, through no fault of their own, none were baptized with water?”

Freshman Michael Duffy stood his ground and reminded his older classmates that, “God’s ways are not our ways.  The Scripture passage is clear. The alternatives, Baptism by blood and by desire, have never been confirmed as valid through any infallible statement of a pope.”

For a full hour, students respectfully debated the topic, tirelessly reasoning through the seemingly contradictory statements found in both Scripture and the writings of Doctors of the Church, the Popes, and the Catechism. 

As the debate neared its end, neither side had decisively convinced the audience of the truth about the matter.

Senior Thomas Shutzman tipped the balance with his closing remarks.  Shutzman—who transferred to Thomas More College last year from seminary—had wisely consulted the Father of Theology, Saint Thomas Aquinas, to gain a lucid and logical explanation to this problem.

Shutzman argued, as Aquinas did, that the “cause” of a thing is greater than its “effect.” The cause of Baptism by water is the Passion of Christ and the Holy Spirit. These things, Christ’s Passion and the Holy Spirit, are greater than Baptism by water and therefore through them, in exceptional circumstances, a man’s sins may be washed away without his actually being baptized with water.

The Baptism of blood is undergone by unbaptized martyrs, and Baptism of desire covers a man who “receives the effect of baptism by the power of the Holy Ghost… without baptism of water… forasmuch as his heart is moved to believe in and love God and to repent of his sins.”

This explains, argued Shutzman, why Christ tells the thief, “Today, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.”

But how does Aquinas respond to John 3:5?

“The sacraments of the New Law,” said Aquinas, effect a certain sanctification that occurs not in the outward sign of the sacrament, in this case water, but in man himself. Whether baptized by blood, desire, or water the effect of interior sanctification is the same, and so, there is only one Baptism which is available to all men.

The debate then formally concluded, and a vote was taken among the audience to determine which side won.  The audience voted almost unanimously in considering the validity of all three forms of Baptism. 

 “I enjoyed participating,” said Shutzman. “Debates force you to firmly establish your principles and to be adept in articulating their defense from various angles and unanticipated arguments. You’ve got to be on your toes, but you can still have fun and a wholesome exchange.”

“I love that there is a debate society at the College,” said Dr. William Fahey, President of Thomas More College.  “Students spend hour upon hour at their studies and in their classes, and yet, they devote a portion of their time to formal debates.   The pursuit of the truth is not a chore for them; it’s something they approach with diligence and enthusiasm.”

With the season of spring upon us, the students of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts have taken on a new and promising project led by artist-in-residence, David Clayton. They are now in the process of designing and planting a traditional English garden in the nineteenth century Arts and Crafts style.

Already several weekends have been devoted to the project. Students have volunteered their time, Chef Pat has contributed homemade lunches, and the mornings and afternoons have been spent happily and productively in the garden.

“Gardening,” said David Clayton, “is a wonderful activity for any community. The students really bond together. One moment they are discussing Dostoevsky’s novels and other great works and the next moment they all burst into some old Irish song they’re learning in their music guild.”

The inspiration for the College’s gardening project is Gertrude Jekyll, a British woman who lived from 1843-1932 and designed many still famous gardens in the Arts and Crafts style.

Entering the world of art as a young girl, Jekyll became a true expert not only when it came to designing and planting spectacular gardens, but also in articulating their significance and meaning. A deeply Christian woman, Jekyll was of the opinion that,

A garden is a great teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. ‘Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase’ (Cor. 3:6). The good gardener knows with absolute certainty that if he does his part, if he gives the labor, the love and every aid that his knowledge of his craft, experience of the condition of his place, and exercise of his personal wit can work together to suggest, that so surely as he does this diligently and faithfully, so sure will God give the increase. Then with the honestly earned success comes the consciousness of encouragement to renewed effort, and, as it were, an echo of the gracious words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ (Mt 25:23).”

It is with these thoughts in mind that the students are clearing away the dead and unhealthy plants, nourishing the soil, and preparing for the spring planting.

“It is rewarding already and we have only just begun,” said freshman Cecelia Black. “Your hands get all dirty, lunch tastes amazing because Chef Pat made it and because you’re so hungry, and then you go back outside and you’re amazed at how much better it looks after just one afternoon of work.”

“I am looking forward to what it will become,” added a peer, Erin Monfils. “Gardens are places of repose and refreshment. They provide the purest kind of enjoyment and that will be something for the College community, but also for the surrounding community.”

This spring the College hopes to have a fountain running, with a surrounding circular area planted, a viewpoint of the meadows under a birch tree, and most importantly, a Marian garden with a host of beautiful plants all with Marian names adorning an enclosed statue of Our Lady. It will be a peaceful place where everyone is welcome to visit and reflect on the virtues of Our Lady and ask for her intercession. In the coming years, the garden will be developed more and more as the property has potential for something quite extensive.

This week, the Young America’s Foundation announced that the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts was included among their top fifteen most conservative colleges in the country. This award is offered in the wake of several distinguished recognitions for the College, including being rated among the top 2% of all colleges and universities in educational quality, as well as being ranked as one of the most Catholic schools by First Things and the Washington, DC-based Cardinal Newman Society.

The Young America’s Foundation identified those institutions of higher education who are unafraid to introduce their students to conservative scholarship, and who engage in dialogue regarding key topics of interest to conservatives, including smaller government, free enterprise, and traditional values.  Most of all, they looked for those institutions that offer a core curriculum based on the time tested ideas of the West.

“Thomas More College is widely recognized for its Liberal Arts curriculum, which introduces students to the greatest books of Western civilization,” said Mark Schwerdt, Director of Admissions at Thomas More College.  “Students are guided through these works by accomplished faculty who are committed to the Catholic Faith and the search for truth.”

Dr. William Fahey, President of Thomas More College and personal assistant to one of the 20th century’s leading conservative thinkers, Russell Kirk, was pleased to receive this award.

“Thomas More College is honored to be chosen by the Young America’s Foundation as one of the top conservative colleges in America,” said Dr. William Fahey. “It is heartening to know that we are recognized and valued as one of the few colleges that continue to educate students in the best of the Western intellectual tradition.”

Recently, nearly a third of the student body at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts gathered for a Lenten retreat led by Father Paul Check. In the context of the penitential spirit of Lent, Father Check focused the retreat on the virtues of Christ, particularly his humility, mercy, and intimate love for us.

Throughout the academic year, Thomas More College hosts retreats to replenish and nourish the students’ spiritual lives.

“Our Lord Himself went in the desert for days and regularly withdrew from the hurley-burley of life for quiet contemplative prayer,” said Dr. William Fahey, President of Thomas More College. “He did so, I would suggest, so that we saw the need always to create moments of peace and detachment so that we could draw closer to God and see to the nourishment of our souls.”

This particular retreat included Mass, Confession, adoration, benediction, spiritual direction, a question and answer period, and four profound mediations on Christ’s virtues. The lectures, complemented by the time of prayer during adoration and Mass, delved deeply into questions central to Christianity: who is Christ? How do we interact with him? How do we imitate him?

“Fr. Check has long been a dear friend and spiritual counselor for students, families, and staff at the College.  His arrival on campus is like Jean de Brébeuf arriving to visit the faithful Hurons,” said Fahey.

Father Check opened the first conference with a reading from Saint Mark’s Gospel,

As [Jesus] went out of Jericho, with his disciples, and a very great multitude, Bartimeus the blind man . . . . . began to cry out, and to say: Jesus son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him . . . . . but he cried a great deal the more . . . . . And Jesus, standing still, commanded him to be called (Mark 10:46-49).

Bartimeus responded to Jesus’ call with the humble confidence of a child. He was sure he would be healed, and indeed he was healed.

“Take heart, and rise, for he is calling you,” Father Check, addressing his listeners, echoed the crowd’s words to Bartimeus. “These words are not for Bartimeus alone, they are for you too. Think of this time of prayer as a solitary personal interview that God has granted you. He is calling you to a deeper intimacy with him.”

“It was refreshing,” said freshman Gracie Lloyd. “Sometimes Catholics make the mistake of separating the person of Christ from the teachings of Christ. Father Check presented the person and the teachings together and that is essential to the Christian life. When holiness is about getting to know the heart of Christ, it just never gets old.”

Oliver Kress, also a freshman, was equally struck, “I am not Catholic, but I like to ask questions. Father Check was approachable and his wisdom was evident after only a few moments of listening to him. He made things easy to understand without debasing their meaning.”

All young men and women should be blessed with the opportunity to participate in such a weekend—a weekend of being silent and listening, of reflecting and examining, of wondering and questioning, of prayer and surrender.

At one point Father told a story of a young man about to be ordained in Saint Peter’s and as he was processing down the aisle, he caught sight of Mother Teresa in the congregation. He broke from the line, approached her, and said, “Mother, tell me something.” She, being a humble woman, was rather taken aback, but, looking him in the eyes, she said, “Give God permission.”

This is the advice our rising generation needs; this is the advice that the young men and women of Thomas More College are blessed to hear. They are blessed to follow a curriculum created by those who understand that the pursuit of truth calls for the gift of faith and the gift of reason. In a tightly knit community, with spiritual guidance and academic rigor, students blossom into capable and devoted men and women formed by the habit of giving God permission.

The College was very fortunate to have Father Check lead the retreat. He graduated from Rice University in 1977 and served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for nine years. He was ordained a priest in 1997 and holds a S.T.B from the Gregorian University in Rome and a S.T.L. from the University of the Holy Cross, also in Rome. He is now a priest with the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut and is the Executive Director of Courage International. Additionally, Father Check teaches Moral Theology to seminarians, permanent deacon candidates, and religious.

The Mardi Gras of 2012 is one that students at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts are sure to remember. It was a spectacular masquerade with festive dancing, celebratory punch, and scrumptious desserts served on silver platters.

Throughout the year several banquets are held to celebrate a variety of things—the holiness of a saint, the brilliance of a poet, or the magnanimity of a heroic act in history. These banquets reflect the abundant harvest that flows from a community life centered on what is true and noble.

“Life in a small community has its challenges, but the joy and camaraderie that one finds in festivity nourish the soul and strengthen our resolve to seek the common good,” said Dr. Fahey, president of Thomas More College.

This particular banquet was to celebrate a traditional festive season in Catholic culture extending from Epiphany through “Fat Tuesday”. This season, commonly known as “Mardi Gras,” is in honor of Christ’s birth and to prepare for Lent. At the time the feast originated, the Church forbid certain foods during the season of Lent; Mardi Gras was an opportunity to clean the cupboards, so to say, in preparation for the penitential season.

“I wanted to encourage the students to take this Lent seriously,” Fahey said. “It is not the Catholic way to try to stamp out fun, but rather to transform it into holy joy precisely because, in the words of St. Philip, ‘A joyful heart is more easily made perfect that a downcast one.’ What better way to prepare for a good Lent than with a masquerade?”

The evening was brilliantly planned by Sara Kitzinger, Fellow, and Gwen Adams, Dean of Women and Visiting Fellow. The students were locked outside the library building and, before being allowed to enter, had confetti poured over their heads from the upper windows. From that point on, the evening was a mixture of nineteenth century style dancing, enthusiastic conversation, and touching toasts. 

“It was the perfect evening,” said senior Mary Monaghan. “In an authentically Catholic community, you learn the true meaning of festivity. You learn that if you want to experience deep joy, you have to understand that there is a time for penance and a time for celebration, both are very important.”

The Thomas More College has taken to heart the reminder Pope John Paul II gave in his Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, that the distinctive characteristic of an educational institution is its gaudium de veritate, that is, its joy in the truth.  Every institution finds its identity in a common purpose, and the common good at which liberal education aims is nothing less than the whole truth about man and God. It is in Him that we find our joy, and it is this joy that is the cause of true festivity at Thomas More College.

By Lux Kamprath

The opportunities provided by this internship are truly amazing!  I am working at Catholic News Agency and H20 News, which are located across the street from the Vatican and Saint Peter’s Basilica. My work consists of transcribing interviews for use in journalistic articles, and recording voiceovers for a weekly program called “Vaticano” that is broadcasted in the United States on EWTN.

But this is merely the beginning.  Beyond the enjoyable and interesting tasks of my internship duties, being involved with the news agency means acquiring a unique access to and perspective on the Eternal City.  It is marvelous to tag along with media professionals, jump into a Roman taxi cab, and ride across the city to conferences and events which would not otherwise be open and available to me, or perhaps even known.

One day we went off to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to cover the visit of several American bishops to the tomb of the Apostle.  On another occasion we got journalistic access to a convention organized by the Italian Bishops’ Conference on Christ and contemporary society, with an international crowd of speakers and attendees. Again, we’ve had the privilege of getting into a symposium at the Lateran University by the John Paul II Institute on the issue of marriage.  And the list goes on…

Speaking as a Thomas More College student, I must say that I feel genuinely blessed to be involved with this internship while studying in Rome. The occasion to get involved with the workings of Catholic journalism, to meet reporters, cameramen, editors and others involved with this work has been a wonderful opportunity.