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October 20, 2023
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of Thomas Aquinas College’s founding president, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, on October 17, the College honored its pater patriae with sung Requiem Masses on both coasts.
In California, Rev. Hildebrand Garceau, O. Praem. (’78), a student from the College’s earliest years, offered Mass at 11:15 a.m. in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, assisted at the altar by current students. Giving voice to the solemn, ancient chants was a schola composed predominantly of alumni tutors, including Dr. Gregory Froelich (’83), Dr. John Nieto (’89), Dr. Marco Emerson (’97), Dr. Jared Kuebler (’03), and Dr. Peter Knuffke (’04), many of whom studied with Dr. McArthur during their own student days.
In his homily, Fr. Hildebrand reflected on the College founders’ commitment to reviving the tradition of Catholic learning in the United States, which came to fruition at TAC and in thousands of alumni throughout the world. “Today at this altar, we offer the one perfect sacrifice for a man who pioneered this renewal of Catholic education at this college,” he said. “In gratitude to God, we pray for the leaders who have passed from this life in godliness. We pray for their eternal rest.”
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In New England, meanwhile, Head Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey offered the Requiem Mass at 4:45 p.m. in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel. As in California, the Mass was elevated by the choir’s hauntingly beautiful renditions of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. Solemnly vested in traditional black, Fr. Markey concluded the Requiem with a special memorial blessing.
The two liturgies were fitting commemorations of Dr. McArthur, a man who, in the words of Anne S. Forsyth (’81), “gathered together a small band of tutors, students, governors, and benefactors to do the impossible.”
