Campus Hosts Retreat for Classical Educators

Catholic school superintendents from across the nation recently gathered in Ventura County, California, for the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education’s (ICLE) annual Superintendent Summit and Retreat. As part of the event, they spent a day on Thomas Aquinas College’s California campus, receiving a glimpse of the College’s program of Catholic liberal education in action. 

The group of 18 arrived in the morning for a Lenten retreat, reflecting on the season of fasting and prayer and the Jubilee Year, then attending Mass and Adoration in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. “We were all struck by the spectacular natural setting and architecture,” said ICLE’s executive director, Elisabeth Sullivan. “It is the ideal setting for true scholé and deep prayer — a place that prompts the mind and heart to be lifted up to God.”

In the afternoon, attendees ate lunch with students, received a tour of campus, and participated in a seminar discussing selections from A Proposal for the Fulfillment of Catholic Liberal Education, the College’s founding and governing document, led by President Paul O’Reilly and tutor Dr. John Finley. “The seminar generated insights and excitement about the nature of the education that ICLE aims to recover at the K-12 level,” said Mrs. Sullivan. “TAC’s rich culture gave witness to the fruits of a deeply human education in a faith-filled community.” 

At the end of the day, the group convened for dinner in St. Patrick’s Coffee Shop. Most attendees had never visited the College before and were thrilled to witness for the first time the College’s Discussion Method at work in its classrooms, as well as its thriving Catholic community. “TAC’s California campus is a hidden gem,” remarked Mrs. Sullivan. “Our guests were truly impressed by the environment, but even more so by the articulate, mature students they met.”