The Pastoral Work for Vocations at the Tertiary Level
The Case of Thomas Aquinas College
By Dr. Thomas E. Dillon
Seminarium — a publication of the Vatican Office for
Vocations in the Congregation for Catholic Education
(January - March, 2007)
Introduction
Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, first opened
its doors in 1971. It was founded by a seasoned group of lay Catholic
educators during a time of great tumult in America that deeply affected
its institutions as well as its mores. Our founders were concerned
about the declining condition of higher education in America, and
in particular, Catholic higher education.
The publication in 1967 of the "Land 0' Lakes Statement on
the Nature of the Contemporary Catholic University" was a watershed
moment for Catholic higher education in the United States. In effect,
it codified for many Catholic colleges and universities the steady
erosion-already underway-of both their Catholic character and their
commitment to classical education. Across the country, venerable
Catholic institutions that for many scores of years had faithfully
passed on to the young the Church's treasured intellectual heritage,
were instead, in the name of "academic freedom," adopting
the curricula, methods, and aims of their secular counterparts.
Not only did campus life in many places swiftly give way to the
permissiveness of the time, the very commitment to Catholic liberal
education was quickly disappearing.
Thus, amidst great turmoil and disintegration in America, and in
spite of the widespread relativism and skepticism it gave rise to
in higher education, Thomas Aquinas College came to life, dedicated
to renewing what is best in our intellectual heritage and to conducting
liberal education under the guiding light of our Catholic faith.
In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council's decree on the Apostolate
of the laity that "the laity take a more active part, each
according to his talents and knowledge and in fidelity to the mind
of the Church, in the explanation and defense of Christian principles
and in the correct application of them to the problems of our times,'
the founders of Thomas Aquinas College in 1969 proposed and established
a new Catholic institution that was determined to be faithful to
Christ and never to compromise its principles. They were unbending
in their resolve to pass on the great intellectual patrimony of
our civilization and the wisdom of the Church's greatest thinkers,
and to do so in complete fidelity to the Church and her Magisterium.
Bearing Good Fruit
There are a number of signs that God is rewarding our aspiration
to remain faithful to Him in this new venture of "faith seeking
understanding," despite our human frailty. In many ways, Thomas
Aquinas College is bearing good fruit for the Church, and this is
perhaps nowhere more clear than in the relatively large number of
vocations to the priesthood and religious life to be found among
our graduates.
Since our inception, a steady 11% of our alumni have pursued a vocation,
and though Thomas Aquinas College is only this year celebrating
its 35th anniversary, there are among our approximately 1700 alumni
42 priests, 20 fully professed religious, and 40 seminarians, four
of whom will be ordained to the priesthood this spring.
These numbers are extraordinary, especially for a co-educational
institution such as ours, founded and administered as it is by laymen.
Moreover, Thomas Aquinas College has achieved an international reputation
for genuine academic excellence with its classical program of liberal
education that spans the liberal arts and sciences. Thus, while
the curriculum is ordered to the architectonic disciplines of philosophy
and theology, it includes also four years of rigorous mathematics
and science-not the typical fare of those preparing for a vocation.
The question, therefore, arises: What accounts for this generous
response to God's call by so many Thomas Aquinas College alumni?
As our dear friend and Commencement Speaker in 2004, Cardinal Francis
Arinze, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, recently said, "As to the origins
of a priestly or religious vocation, only divine providence can
fully analyze it." God works directly in the hearts and souls
of our young people to call them and to help them respond generously
to His call.
Yet, as Cardinal Arinze goes on to acknowledge, there is also a
human dimension to every vocation for which an accounting can be
given. In his own case, while acknowledging the inherent mystery
of God's call, he credits his vocation in part to the inspiring
example of a holy priest, recently beatified, for whom he served
Mass as a young boy.
Understanding, then, that our human efforts at Thomas Aquinas College
to encourage vocations in our students are dispositive in nature,
I was happy to be asked to give this accounting of the human ways
in which Thomas Aquinas College encourages vocations to the priesthood
and religious life among our alumni. While aware that our unique
curriculum and the vibrant spiritual life of our community must
surely play a role in the discernment of vocations at the College,
I decided to contact some of our alumni priests and religious to
find out from them directly what influences at their alma mater
they considered significant in discerning and responding to God's
call, and I have included their remarks where appropriate.
A Genuinely Catholic Curriculum
Intent on passing on to young people what is best in our Western
intellectual heritage, our founders established a program of studies
composed exclusively of the "Great Books," the seminal
works in the various arts and sciences. We read only the original
texts of the greatest thinkers, both ancient and modern, who have
penetrated deeply into the nature of reality. In addition, in order
to best engage the minds of our students in the learning process,
all of our classes are conducted in the Socratic method in which
students, under the guidance of faculty members, wrestle directly
with the texts at hand. Though minor alterations have been made
over the past 35 years, our program is essentially unchanged from
the 4-year, fully-integrated curriculum established by our founders.
Our founding document, A Proposal for the Fulfillment of Catholic
Liberal Education, though published in 1969, anticipated in many
ways Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution promulgated
in 1990 by Pope John Paul II. In that document, our late Holy Father
called for a renewal of the genuinely Catholic character that had
at one time been the boast of Catholic colleges and universities
throughout the world, reminding them that "A Catholic University's
privileged task is to unite existentially by intellectual effort
two orders of reality that too frequently tend to be placed in opposition
as though they were antithetical: the search for truth, and the
certainty of already knowing the fount of truth."' Twenty years
earlier, our founders had proposed and established Thomas Aquinas
College to accomplish this "privileged task" by ensuring
that the Catholic faith would not be simply one of many features
of campus life, but the defining feature, genuinely formative not
only in the spiritual and moral life of the College community, but
in its intellectual life, as well. As our founding document explains,
"Contrary to what is often assumed, liberal education does
not take place in spite of or even apart from the Christian faith.
Rather, the Christian student, because of his faith, can be liberally
educated in the most perfect and complete way."
As a consequence, theology is given pride of place in our curriculum,
and all the disciplines we study arc ordered to it. In our theology
tutorials, our young men and women study the Scriptures, they read
the original works of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church,
and they are especially formed by the writings of St. Augustine
and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Moreover, as Ex Corde instructs us and our own founding document
lays out, Thomas Aquinas College takes as a fundamental principle
that there exists a complementarity between faith and reason: that
far from being an impediment to "academic freedom," the
Faith is our surest guide in the intellectual life. Our Lord, Himself,
tells us, "If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples;
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."'
In all our studies, therefore, the Faith is brought to bear as a
guide in the endeavor to understand by human reason the truth about
nature, man, and God.
That our academic program plays a part in cultivating vocations
is attested to by many of our alumni priests and religious. Nearly
all of our priests have commented that the College instilled in
them a love of theology. Some cite Scripture and works of St. Augustine
such as the Confessions and the City of God as instrumental to their
discernment of a vocation, and many state that their studies of
St. Thomas' Summa Theologiae have played a role in their awareness
of and response to God's call, particularly his articles on Christ,
His Passion, and the sacraments.
One graduate is a contemplative Benedictine priest at Clear Creek
Monastery in Kansas, having been asked by his superiors at the Abbey
of Fontgambault to help establish this new foundation. He speaks
about our academic program and its influence, saying:
Many classes and readings had a deep effect on the seriousness
of my life and the desire to serve God. Among them, I could list
the junior year philosophy class on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
which helped me to see, naturally speaking, what life was about
and what was worth striving for. Another lasting influence was the
strong `contemplative' orientation of the curriculum and the educational
philosophy at the College, that is, the insistence above all on
what is sought for itself and not for the sake of anything else.
Exposure to St. Thomas' theology of God in the prima pars of the
Summa in my junior and senior year, really oriented my thought,
and also reached the heart. St. Augustine's Confessions also had
a great influence on me, even more directly on the heart and will.
Another graduate, the superior of his Benedictine abbey in Wisconsin
who not only converted to the Catholic faith while a student at
the College, but subsequently discerned his vocation to the priesthood
here, says, "The unique integration of the curriculum at Thomas
Aquinas College guided me in a comprehensive manner in the mysteries
of our faith and of human understanding."
Yet another, a sister in the Societas Sororum a Sancta Cruce in
Rome says generally of her years in our academic program, "Thinking
about God helped me to grow in a love for prayer, in the desire
to speak with God, with Jesus, in particular."
Still another graduate priest shares this memory of his experience
of the integrated nature of our academic program:
There was a single day during which we looked at a single reality
in three different classes from three different angles-mathematics,
science, and theology. I was so excited to see with marvelous clarity
that the truth is one. This was contrary to the world's point of
view (that there are really two opposed `truths,' one seen by faith
and one by science). I was thrilled.to see at Thomas Aquinas College,
more and more clearly, how the one God is author of all truth-and
He never contradicts Himself.
He goes on to say:
The whole body of the curriculum at Thomas Aquinas College
teaches the solid truth given to men by God-through reason and most
especially through Revelation. That firmness of truth laid the groundwork
for my priestly vocation in which I share the truths of the Faith
with others from deep personal conviction.
Another alumni priest, a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the
Most Holy Trinity, comments on the Socratic discussion method used
in all of our classes, saying:
The journey of seeking understanding in those matters of nature
and faith at Thomas Aquinas College brought about an awareness of
the graces derived from working in communion with others. Those
fine mentors and peers at the College inspired me to realize that
serving the Church was an ongoing process of refining and perfecting
what I had first come to learn there, while accepting the sacrifices
necessary to realize it.
Yet another graduate who is now a priest of the Legionaries of
Christ in Georgia, explains the impact on his ministry of acquiring
sound intellectual skills through his training in the Socratic method:
What I received at Thomas Aquinas College helps me nearly every
day as a priest. Since my years there I have acquired two graduate
degrees-one in philosophy and the other in theology, studying for
more than five years in one of the best pontifical universities
in the world. Yet, what I most rely on now is what I learned at
Thomas Aquinas College: How to break things into principles and
present them in an easily understandable way. I use this mostly
in spiritual direction, helping with difficult moral and family
issues, but also in all the homilies and talks that I give. There
is a little piece of Thomas Aquinas College in every conference,
homily, meditation, and retreat I preach. I could not do what I
do now without that experience. I will forever be grateful for that
gift.
Lastly, one graduate priest comments more generally on the efficacy
of our academic program:
I would have to say that by presenting me with the opportunity
to receive a liberal education ordered to apprehending the truth,
and by standing as an example of an uncompromising effort to approach
Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life without accepting any
substitutes, the College's program of studies stands as a beacon
calling all of its students to serve God unselfishly in whatever
way He has in store for us. In my case, the abilities, the confidence,
and the knowledge I received during my time at the College, helped
me to accept the call of Christ to serve Him as His priest.
These reflections of our graduates are a compelling testament to
the power that a genuinely Catholic and rigorous program of studies
has to influence young people at their very core and dispose them
to seek and respond to God's will in their lives.
An Institutional Bias toward the Priesthood and the Religious
Life
While our faculty is composed almost entirely of married men who
have embraced Catholic family life as their vocation, there is nonetheless
a tacit but firm understanding among them and throughout the Thomas
Aquinas College community that the priesthood and the consecrated
life are the highest callings. Our chaplains are esteemed as our
greatest treasures, for they are vessels of grace for us through
their celebration of the Mass, the hearing of our confessions, and
the spiritual direction they selflessly provide. Not surprisingly,
then, many of our alumni priests and religious cite the example
of our chaplains and their spiritual direction as pivotal in their
growing awareness and response to their vocations.
One of them, who was elected this past summer as Superior General
of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, offers this reflection:
The example of the chaplains and their sacrifices for the lives
of the students was very impressive. Most young men do not realize
what a priest even does, that he has a life beyond the 10:00 a.m.
Sunday Mass, but our chaplains certainly demonstrated to me that
theirs was entirely a life of prayer and sacrifice.
The College chaplains provide discernment days or weekends for
the student body, at which representatives from various religious
orders and dioceses around the country introduce students to their
particular charisms in the priesthood and consecrated life. These
events, open to both men and women, are very well-attended. They
also sponsor an acolyte training program, in which many of our young
men participate. In addition, they hold retreats annually at Thanksgiving
and Easter, to give students the opportunity to grow in their faith
and to listen to God's voice.
To highlight for our students, alumni, friends, and benefactors,
the esteem in which we hold the priesthood and religious life, we,
for some years now, have featured graduates in our newsletter at
the time of ordination or final profession. Moreover, as President
of the College, I have made it a point to attend, whenever possible,
the ordinations of our alumni priests. It is edifying indeed to
witness the anointing with oil and solemn laying on of hands, and
words fall short in conveying the tremendous pride and gratitude
I have each time I receive the Holy Eucharist from the hands of
a former student.
An Atmosphere of Peace and Serenity
In 2005, Thomas Aquinas College reached its maximum enrollment
of 350 students, for which we maintain a teaching faculty of 35.
While the demand for our program is rising, and our waiting list
begins earlier each year, we intend to remain at this relatively
small size in order to ensure the College is a true community of
friends who share a common life, animated by a love of the truth
and of Christ's teachings.
Overall, our aim is to preserve an atmosphere of peace and serenity
on the campus so the life of the mind can thrive and God's call
can be heard in the stillness of the heart. Our Holy Father recently
spoke to members of the International Theological Commission at
the Vatican about the value of silence and contemplation, which
he said, "have a purpose: they serve, in the distractions of
daily life, to preserve permanent union with God. This is their
purpose: that union with God may always be present in our souls
and may transform our entire being."6 The College's rules of
residence, therefore, have been established to help students live
an orderly life, free from unnecessary distractions. For example,
there are reasonable curfews and a dress code during the week for
classes and meals. In addition, alcohol consumption on campus is
prohibited as is visitation in the residence halls by members of
the opposite sex.
Against this backdrop, there are a variety of recreational activities
for students, as well as opportunities to develop their talents
in some of the performing arts. In addition, there are social events
held throughout the year, and there is a great deal of good-hearted
fun among the students and between the students and faculty.
One graduate religious comments on how living in the Thomas Aquinas
College community helped prepare her for religious life:
The small classes at my alma mater stimulated cordial friendships-friendships
for life-among classmates, which created a community spirit. These
open, pure, and free relationships were a support in choosing my
life calling. A religious has to be free from the need of one particularly
intimate relationship, which leads to marriage. She must be able
to say, "GOD alone is enough for me!" But she must also
be normal, loving, and able to live in relationship with others,
both men and women. The community spirit at the College was very
helpful to me in growing towards this sort of maturity of spirit
and in developing loving but free relationships. This was an important
preparation for religious life.
There are two additional aspects of our community life that, except
for our graduates telling me, I would not have known were such powerful
influences as they discerned a calling to the priesthood and religious
life. The first is the faithful witness our faculty members give
in serving God as lay people. One graduate priest explains it this
way:
It must be pointed out how a young man can be impressed by
a whole staff of teachers adhering first to the Church's teaching
and living in accordance with their faith, especially when coupled
with the serious pursuit of things intellectual. I assure you this
was extremely good for me.
Another provides this comment:
I would have to say that all of the faculty were helpful to
me in discerning my vocation to the priesthood. By sacrificing themselves
to provide the best kind of education possible for the students,
the faculty and administrators provided a stellar example of the
Christian life as it ought to be lived.
It seems that the good example given quietly by Catholic lay men
and women in itself fans the flames of our students' love for Christ.
As one alumni priest recounts:
I always admired Dr. for his gentleness and for the way he would
spend time before the Blessed Sacrament after classes before his
long drive home. All of us admired another tutor and one of the
chief executives of the College; we were especially edified to see
him taking time to go to daily Mass and sometimes attending devotions.
One of our faculty members, a married man with four children, while
yet in his early 30s died an untimely death from brain cancer. He
was a particular source of inspiration both in the classroom and
in his daily life. Recalls one of our alumni priests:
I was very moved by the honor he had for the vocation of husband
and father. This genuine witness of Christian devotion to family
life made it easier for me to respond to a religious calling. This
particular faculty member's constancy, cheer, and peace while approaching
the gates of eternity helped me see that there was something beyond
life to live and die for, something greater than myself.
The other beneficial influence-cited by nearly every alumni priest
and religious I contacted-was the example and support they received
from their own classmates and peers. At a time when so many young
people are subjected to the coarseness of our modern culture and
to a seemingly all-pervasive relativism that ends in cynicism, we
are blessed to have at Thomas Aquinas College wonderful young people
who remain hopeful and optimistic. With their own high aspirations
and a love of the truth that is nurtured daily in our classrooms,
they truly inspire one another to seriously consider lives of poverty,
chastity, obedience, and whole-hearted sacrifice for the love of
Christ.
One of our alumni priests recounts a galvanizing moment with some
upper classmen that occurred after he had been at the College for
only two weeks:
Early morning Mass had just been said, and I was walking afterwards
with a few older students. The conversation turned to Fatima, perhaps
because we had just finished the Rosary after Mass. It was then,
more than any other moment in my life, where my soul was placed
before a momentous decision: whether to open my heart to all this
"culture" coming to it from all directions — I had
a presentiment that this could have far-reaching repercussions —
or to draw back and remain aloof from the obvious piety and goodness
of so many of the older students. Thanks to God's grace, I was given
to open up!
Another speaks more generally about the influence of his fellow
students saying:
Almost all of the students at Thomas Aquinas College were serious
about their spiritual life. It was very easy in this kind of peer
group not only to recognize but cultivate a vocation to serve God.
Everyone was supportive of those who were even considering a call.
The general maturity of the student body and their dedication to
the Catholic intellectual tradition of education and the pursuit
of virtue was like an oasis for someone wrestling with seeking God.
A number of graduates who are now priests speak of having dated
while at the College, and describe how at that time, they seriously
contemplated marriage to a particular classmate. I was edified to
learn that in a number of these cases, the young women involved,
while hoping for marriage, nevertheless encouraged — and in
one case, even suggested — that the young men pray and consider
carefully whether God might be calling them to serve Him at the
altar. Here is one graduate priest's recollection:
We had been dating for some time, and talking about marriage
and a family, when my girlfriend stunned me by asking if I had considered
a vocation to the priesthood. She was certain that her vocation
was to marriage, but she wanted me to be equally certain of mine.
That prompted me to ask God about it, to pray about it, and to ultimately
follow His will for me. For this I am eternally grateful. Often,
when I tell of my girlfriend's part in my vocation, not a few people
are amazed at her generosity and true Christian love.
A Vibrant Spiritual Life
The daily examination of the works of the greatest minds in our
tradition, along with focused reading of Sacred Scripture and the
works of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, awaken a love of
the central mysteries of the Catholic faith in our students. While
our primary mission is to educate these young people, we understand
that our wider mission is to help build souls for Christ by sowing
the seeds of intellectual and moral virtue. When God then cultivates
these seeds through the action of His grace, love for Christ and
the virtues flourishes in their souls.
For this reason, we have always cultivated a vibrant spiritual
life on our campus. Mass is offered three times daily in the College
chapel at times when no classes are scheduled so that all who wish
to attend may do so, and each is well-attended on a regular basis.
In addition, confessions are heard before and after every Mass and
at other times throughout the week. Eucharistic Adoration is scheduled
for several hours each day, followed by Benediction, and many students
daily pray the Rosary and Compline. Though all participation is
voluntary, a large majority of students regularly take part. In
fact, the students themselves have initiated many of the daily devotions
at the College.
The fruit of their participation in these devotions, in addition
to frequent attendance at Mass and reception of Holy Communion,
is that our alumni, having been nourished by the Giver of all good
things, go on to be generous themselves in responding to their vocations.
One graduate, now a diocesan priest in the diocese of Lincoln,
Nebraska, who teaches at St. Gregory the Great Seminary there, was
particularly struck by our Mass schedule, saying:
It is a small thing, in itself, but it had a profound impact
on me: The daily schedule at Thomas Aquinas College is arranged
so that during Mass times, there is no other scheduled activity
on campus. In this way, the College made it clear to me and my fellow
students that nothing was more important than the Mass.
The College also sponsors a volunteer student choir with a repertoire
that comprises both traditional sacred and secular music, as a well
as a chant Schola. At least one of our alumni priests has credited
his monastic vocation in part to his participation in the latter.
In Conclusion
Each of the 62 alumni of Thomas Aquinas College who are now priests
and fully professed religious, as well as the 40 alumni who are
currently preparing for the priesthood, have his or her own unique
story of God's call, the mysterious way that God planted a seed
in the heart and then cultivated it. Yet, just as in the natural
world some environments provide more fertile ground for seeds to
flourish, so it is, too, in the spiritual life. It is our experience
that there are a number of factors that render the soil of Thomas
Aquinas College rich and fruitful for vocations: 1) our institutional
fidelity to the Magisterium, 2) the rigorous study and discussion
of the most noble matters under the guidance of the teaching Church,
3) the example and ministry of our chaplains, 3) an ordered and
peaceful community life, 4) the example of devoted lay men and women,
and 5) the encouragement of like-minded friends.
Last fall, Pope Benedict XVI, in speaking about vocations, commented
on Our Lord's words in the Gospel of St. Matthew:
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask
the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his
harvest field."' Our Holy Father explained that in the final
analysis, it is God who works in the deepest recesses of the heart
to call forth vocations; the priesthood and religious life, he says,
are "not like other professions; we cannot simply recruit people
by using the right kind of publicity or the correct type of strategy.
The call which comes from the heart of God must always find its
way into the heart of man. And yet, precisely so that it may
reach into hearts, our cooperation is needed."' (emphasis
added)
In that spirit, Thomas Aquinas College pledges to continue its
cooperation in this most noble work of encouraging vocations to
the priesthood and the religious life so that through the ministry
of its alumni who respond generously to God's call, "people
will receive," as the Holy Father says, "what they hope
for: God's light and God's love."'
Biographical Sketch
For the past 35 years, Dr. Thomas E. Dillon, the President of
Thomas Aquinas College, has worked to advance and sustain Catholic
liberal education. Appointed to the College's teaching faculty in
1972, a year after its founding, he served as Assistant Dean for
Student Affairs from 1976 to 1981; he then served as Academic Dean
from 1981 until his appointment as President in 1991. Dr. Dillon
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Integral Liberal Arts from St.
Mary's College of California, and Masters and doctoral degrees in
philosophy from the University of Notre Dame.
This article originally appeared in Seminarium a publication
of the Office of Vocations in the Congregation for Catholic Education
in Rome, in the Jan-Mar 2007 issue.
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