A new house of transformation in Santa Paula
by Mike Nelson
The Tidings
(March 13, 2009)
 A
picture-perfect day offered an ideal backdrop for the March 7 dedication
of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel on the campus of Thomas
Aquinas College.
More than 500 supporters, benefactors and friends of the 340-student
liberal arts college joined students, faculty and staff to celebrate
at the campus located in the hills north of Santa Paula in central
Ventura County. The dedication capped an eight-year financing and
building process toward realizing the dream that materialized in
the $23 million, 15,000-square-foot chapel --- the most prominently
situated and most elaborate of the 38-year-old campus' structures.
Cruciform in shape, the chapel combines Spanish Mission influence
with elements from the Catholic Church's tradition of sacred architecture.
A 135-foot bell tower, a dome rising 89 feet over the sanctuary,
floors and columns of Italian marble, and a detailed limestone façade
are among the design features.
Designwise, the chapel provided "a great challenge,"
admitted project architect Duncan Stroik, professor of architecture
at the University of Notre Dame. The college requested that the
chapel contain a dome, columns (for earthquake preparedness), a
baldacchino (canopy over the altar) and other particular features.
But, Stroik added, "it is an honor to design a house of God,
a chapel that is traditional yet innovative, a chapel that speaks
to the past, present and future of our faith. My hope is that this
chapel will be a light on stand, placed in this city on a hill."
In pre-Mass ceremonies, Maria Grant, chair of the College's board
of directors, expressed gratitude to all involved in bringing the
chapel to reality, especially college president Dr. Thomas Dillon.
"There would be no chapel," she declared, "without
Tom Dillon."
In his remarks, Dillon noted that the chapel incorporates four
distinguishing marks: beauty, grandeur, prominence and tradition.
"This new chapel," he said, "will speak to all who
come, announcing that Christ is the center of all we do, and that
we will always give our very best to God."
Cardinal Roger Mahony, presiding at the dedication Mass, noted
in his homily "a providential link" between the new chapel
and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The three Scripture
readings (from Nehemiah, Ephesians and Luke) were identical in both
dedication liturgies.
Most significantly, the cardinal said, the Scriptures speak to
the importance of God's Word and the presence of his Son Jesus,
both found in "this beautiful sacred space."
"An encounter with the Word of God brings about dramatic transformation,"
the cardinal said, pointing out that in the reading from St. Luke's
Gospel --- the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who climbed
a tree to see Jesus --- "the Word of God stands in their midst."
Zacchaeus, the cardinal pointed out, is so transformed by his encounter
with Jesus that he promises half of his wealth to the poor.
"This sacred space will provide the opportunity for those
who enter it to listen to God's word, and to meet the Son of God
in the Eucharist, to be transformed," Cardinal Mahony said.
This opportunity for transformation, he added, will be available
"to all generations of students who come here to be inspired
by the Word and to receive the presence of the living Jesus.
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