Once In a Lifetime
Graduate Greets Pope Benedict XVI
(Spring 2008 Newsletter)
Shannon McAlister, a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College's Class
of 2000, was chosen by Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., President
of The Catholic University of America (CUA), to be among a select
group of ten people, each of whom personally greeted the Holy Father
just prior to his addressing the presidents of Catholic colleges
and universities. Now a graduate student in theology, Miss McAlister
was the only CUA student in the group, which included well-known
journalists Wolf Blitzer of CNN and Tim Russert of NBC News and
MSNBC.
Shannon offers her memory of this remarkable moment saying, "When
Father O'Connell introduced me to the Holy Father, I greeted him
as 'Your Holiness,' going down on my left knee to kiss his ring.
As I arose, Father O'Connell mentioned that I was a student of theology
at CUA, and the Holy Father's eyes lit up when he heard what I was
studying. He asked me what my specialty was. I shared with him that
I was hoping to write my dissertation on the idea of the motherly
generation of the Eternal Word in the Trinity, according to Bonaventure
and Aquinas. He smiled and offered words of affirmation, and I proceeded
to tell him that many people had asked me to give him their love.
He seemed touched by this-his face was beaming and he replied with
gratitude."
Tony Fiorini/The Catholic University of
America |
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Shannon McAlister, graduate of the Class
of 2000, received from Pope Benedict XVI a bronze medallion
commemorating his visit to the United States. One side bears
a bas-relief bust of the Holy Father, while the other features
images of the United States Capitol and the United Nations,
symbols of the two cities His Holiness visited while in the
United States.
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-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 2008
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