Newman Guide 2018 Lauds College for “Impressive Intellectual Rigor” and “Orthodox Catholicism”

In the newly released edition of The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College, the Cardinal Newman Society once again recommends Thomas Aquinas College as one of 17 residential Catholic colleges nationwide with a strong Catholic identity. The 2018-19 publication lauds the College for its “impressive intellectual rigor” as well as its “commitment to orthodox Catholicism.”

Noting that there “is a certain sense of ongoing immersion in a special adventure at TAC that can last a lifetime — and beyond,” the guide adds that the College’s “environment is stimulating but not intimidating … intellectual, yet relaxed and personal as well.” Thomas Aquinas College graduates, it concludes, “have much to offer the Church and future employers who value critical thinking, analytical reasoning, strong communications skills, and an ethical sense.”

What distinguishes the Newman Guide from its secular counterparts is its emphasis on religious fidelity and spiritual vitality. Thomas Aquinas College, the guide reports, “is fully committed to its Catholic identity” and offers students a “vibrant spiritual program” that includes holy hours, regular confession, and four Masses daily. The College has been included in the guide every year since the Cardinal Newman Society released the first edition in 2007.

“We are always happy to see a new edition of The Newman Guide— and to be included in it,” says Jon Daly, the College’s director of admissions. “It is a wonderful tool for prospective students and their parents because it highlights the unique qualities that distinguish these 17 institutions from each other.”

The Newman Guide notes that Thomas Aquinas College “was the first in a wave of new Catholic colleges born from the crisis of Catholic identity in American Catholic higher education.”  Moreover, although it “has encouraged the emergence of other faithful Catholic colleges, including some that share its emphasis on the Great Books, [it] still has the distinction of being the only Catholic college in America that teaches exclusively from these classic works of Western civilization.”