President O’Reilly Talks of Troubles, TAC on Anchored Podcast

“When I left Ireland and came to Canada, I was 16 years old, and two things struck me: the amount of liberty that you have in North America and the wealth that is present,” reflects Dr. Paul J. O’Reilly, president of Thomas Aquinas College, in a new episode of the Classic Learning Test’s Anchored podcast. “It had an effect on me. That’s what I wanted. I wanted to be a wealthy man. That was my goal: pursue the Almighty Dollar, and I was accepted in a very good business school until the Lord, and then my mother, intervened.”

At his mother’s suggestion, a priest recommended that Dr. O’Reilly, whose family had fled to Canada to escape the Troubles in Belfast, spend a relaxing week in Southern California. “I fell for that trap,” Dr. O’Reilly laughs — and his life would never be the same.

“I visited Thomas Aquinas College in early 1980,” he continues. His initial thought, he admits, was “These people are very strange.” To be sure, they were “very good” and “extraordinarily kind,” but also unlike any college-age students he had ever met before. They were “very dedicated to their studies,” exhibited “real piety,” and just seemed “kind of weird.”

But his perspective would soon change. “I sat in on class, I met some of the faculty, and then I realized over four or five days that they weren’t strange at all. I was worldly,” Dr. O’Reilly concluded. “I was living for the world, and here was a place that was offering me something much more important, something perennial.”

Over the course of his 30-minute conversation with Jeremy Tate, founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test — as well as an enthusiastic champion of the College — Dr. O’Reilly shares his life story: how his family endured violence and persecution, how he unexpectedly became a TAC student, and how this journey would ultimately lead to his becoming a husband, a scholar, a father of 12, and the College’s president.

Dr. O’Reilly and Mr. Tate also discuss the history of Thomas Aquinas College and the nature of its program of Catholic liberal education. As an entrepreneur himself, Mr. Tate is especially fascinated by the example of the College’s own founders — Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, Dr. John W. Neumayr, Marcus R. Berquist, and Peter L. DeLuca — some of whom sacrificed tenured positions, and all of whom risked financial insecurity, to bring their vision to life. “It was a remarkable venture of faith,” says Dr. O’Reilly. “I thank God for those four men, because without them I don’t think we would have the renaissance in Catholic education that we now have.”

“I was living for the world, and here was a place that was offering me something much more important, something perennial.”

The College has flourished in the 52 years since its founders’ initial act of faith, nearing the completion of its California campus and the opening a second campus in Massachusetts in 2019. But its true legacy, observes Mr. Tate, remains the quality of its alumni. “Before ever going to campus, I would say, ‘TAC is my favorite college I’ve never been to,’ because I knew the curriculum and I knew graduates,” he adds. When speaking to those graduates, he often finds himself thinking, “You’re some of the most thoughtful people I’ve ever had a conversation with.”

Dr. O’Reilly also describes how the College’s academic program and, in particular, its use of the Discussion Method, engenders that thoughtfulness. “We demand that the students hold themselves accountable to the text,” he explains. “They can’t just simply express their feelings about it but must root their comments and considerations in the text.” Submitting ideas to the scrutiny of both a teacher and their peers trains students to express themselves clearly, to accept correction humbly, and to walk confidently toward the truth. Four years of such formation, Dr. O’Reilly notes, “produces graduates who are thoughtful, well-considered, and adaptive in their thinking.”

While a TAC education might not be for everyone, Dr. O’Reilly encourages all would-be college students to consider it, either by participating in the College’s High School Summer Program or visiting one of its campuses. “If it’s right for you, it will become very clear it’s right for you. If it’s not, that will also become clear, but you will not regret having done it.”