Sophomores in the Eternal City
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Ends and Faculty Contribute Journalist Endows Beginnings to Book on Catholic TMC Scholarship TMC seniors depart to Economics Washington opinion ringing words by leading Two TMC professors help leader Robert Novak scholars and a prominent rediscover the Church’s creates scholarship fund entrepreneur social teaching for inner city youth Communitas THE MAGAZINE OF THOMAS MORE COLLEGE Sophomores in the Eternal City Also in this issue: Answering the Pope’s Call to Catholic Educators Professor Blum on Natural History Student Poetry Showcase Pilgrim College, Pilgrim Church BY DR. JEFFREY O. NELSON To navigate these “labyrin- Our current faculty continue thine ways,” one needs the in- to grow as scholars and authors; ternal compass that comes with Professors William Fahey and a fully humane education, yet Christopher Blum recently con- no one can achieve that fullness tributed to a new anthology on unless he is oriented toward Catholic social teaching (p. 3), President Nelson discusses the work God. Teaching students to look while our Writer-in-Residence of the College with Francis Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Congregation to this North Star, magnetizing John Zmirak has published a for Divine Worship and the their souls with a love of beauty, theologically-inspired graphic Discipline of the Sacraments truth, order, and freedom, is the novel (p. 7)—and I successfully task of the Catholic educator. completed my doctoral studies s an academic year ends This has been a year of on Edmund Burke at the Uni- and our students depart, growth for the College. Our versity of Edinburgh. A th my thoughts turn to pilgrim- Rome program, now in its 25 Most importantly, our stu- age. Each student comes to year, will expand to two se- dents persevere, excel, and Thomas More College along mesters and move to a tranquil achieve. We highlight their lit- the road to some place else. campus in Rome maintained by erary attainments in our first Our school is a way station, monks from the Middle East. selection of student poetry like one of those “hospitals” of In this issue, our recent Rome from the College’s “Writing the Knights of St. John (now sophomores offer meditations Workshop”(p. 22). the Knights of Malta). Hence on the meaning of their own No pilgrim can travel alone. the word “hospitality.” Roman pilgrimage (p. 12). We lean on each other, and bear Viewed in the light of eterni- We are proud to add two new each other’s burdens. I depend ty, every place on earth is but a and talented people to Thomas on input, feedback, and support rest stop on man’s journey. The More College: political philoso- from the College’s many well- Catholic philosopher Gabriel pher Walter J. Thompson from wishers—from those near and Marcel described man as homo the International Theological far who wish to walk the same viator, the wayfarer. The great Institute in Gaming, Austria, pilgrim path. Southern writer (and convert) and painter David Clayton, Walker Percy explored the tor- who will join us as Artist-in- tuous paths we moderns take to Residence and set up his studio Jeffrey O. Nelson, Ph.D. the Eternal City. on campus (p. 2). President Communitas | staff Jeffrey O. Nelson, Ph.D., Publisher Contributing Photographers: Contact Communitas at: John Zmirak, Ph.D., Editor Tony Assaf, John Barger, Mark Thomas More College of Liberal Arts Hieronymus, Sarah Sheehan Charlie McKinney, Assistant Editor Six Manchester Street Contributing Writers: Merrimack, NH 03054 Carolyn McKinney, Art Director Elizabeth Black, Prof. Christopher Blum, [email protected] Paige E. Scarlett, Copy Editor Stratford Caldecott, Prof. Paul Connell, (800) 880-8308 Prof. William Fahey, Teddy Sifert contents 18 16 2 More Top Talent Comes to Thomas More College 3 Thomas More College Faculty Contribute to Book on Catholic Economics 5 Alumnus Artist Welds Innovation and Tradition 6 Top TV Journalist Endows TMC Scholarship Fund for Inner City Youth 7 Writer-in-Residence Publishes Graphic Novel 8 COVER STORY Sophomores in the Eternal City: Thomas More College 8 Students in Rome 14 Learning the Truth by Meeting Christ: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s Address to Catholic Educators Front cover: Thomas More College 16 On Natural History: A Hands-On Approach to students attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica during Holy Week. Learning about the Creation Above left: Professor Paul Connell explains the theological significance of the 18 FEATURE cupola to students in Rome. The End of the Beginning: Leading Scholars Exhort Above middle: Graduating seniors wait Thomas More College Students to Greatness to collect their diplomas. Above right: Students studying the 21 FEASTS AND SEASONS structure of creation by handling nature. Padre Pio: Warning … Soul Reader! 22 Student Poetry Showcase: Original Verse from Thomas More College Students 24 Spring 2008 Lectures and Events in Review More Top Talent Comes to Thomas More College This autumn, Prof. Walter J. Thompson joins ular lecturer at the Institute’s residential weekend the faculty at Thomas More College after more classes. David also writes for the College’s journal than a decade of distinguished service at the In- Second Spring, and has been an occasional feature ternational Theological Institute (ITI) in Gam- writer for The Catholic Herald newspaper in Lon- ing, Austria. While studying political philosophy don. Mr. Clayton will be establishing a studio at at the University of Notre Dame, Prof. Thompson Thomas More College that will be open to students was invited by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn to interested in furthering their own artistic skills, assist in the founding of the ITI, a papal institute and in deepening their appreciation of the connec- for the study of philosophy and theology. He has tions between beauty and humane education. served as the Institute’s Vice-President and as its Academic Dean. Prof. Thompson was one of the chief architects of its curriculum, which seeks to renew the study of theology by focusing on Holy Scripture, the Magisterium, and the Fathers and Doctors of the Church from both East and West. In his many years of teaching through the curricu- lum, Prof. Thompson himself read and re-read his favorite writers—from Augustine and Athanasius to Dante and John of the Cross. Thomas More Col- lege students will not be surprised to find him to be yet another professor with a particular love for the Iliad, Plato’s Republic, the Divine Comedy, and the stories of Flannery O’Connor. Nor is it odd that a former student of Fr. James Schall, S.J., at George- town University should relish the novels of P.G. Wodehouse. The Thomas More College commu- nity welcomes Prof. Thompson, his wife Ruth, and their seven children. David Clayton will join the College communi- ty in the 2008-2009 academic year as its first Artist- in-Residence. Mr. Clayton is an Oxford graduate and Catholic convert who studied Materials Sci- ence and then took a graduate degree in Engineer- ing. He is trained as an artist in both the Byzantine iconographic and Western naturalistic traditions, which he studied intensively in Florence. He has won commissions on both sides of the Atlantic, in- cluding a five-foot cross that hangs over the altar at Pluscarden Monastery in Scotland, and an icon of the Sacred Heart commissioned by the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, England. He designed the program for ResSource School of Art (Ox- ford, England) and is an illustrator of several of the books in a new catechesis series. He worked closely with staff at the Maryvale Institute in the design of their theory-of-art course, and he served as a reg- David Clayton (top) and Walter J. Thompson and family (bottom) 2 Communitas Thomas More College Faculty Contribute to Book on Catholic Economics Two members of Thomas More College’s fac- Everything set down ulty, Provost William Fahey and Professor of Hu- here finds its cause in the manities Christopher Blum, joined other distin- old man, for they did not guished writers by contributing essays to a newly slaughter hogs when I was published volume that re-examines the modern a boy in Hudson, Ohio. economy in light of Catholic social teaching: Be- My friend, our host, had yond Capitalism & Socialism: A New Statement of lived his early life in one of an Old Ideal, edited by Tobias Lanz. Maryland’s first planned Echoing the 1930 agrarian manifesto I’ll Take communities. As the old My Stand by “Twelve Southerners,” Beyond Capi- will remember, butcher- talism & Socialism lists as its authors “Twelve ing sessions normally fall Catholics.” Other eminent contributors include between early December Dale Ahlquist, President of the American Ches- and February. The ex- terton Society (also creator and host of the EWTN act date varies slightly, television series, “G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle sometimes by region, but of Common Sense”); Gary Potter, a founding edi- behind the region is typi- tor of Triumph magazine; Aidan Mackey, founder cally religion. Catholics of the Distributist Society; and many other wide- tend to slaughter pigs near the Feast of Saint Nich- ly-published writers on economics and social olas. An early December slaughter gives one just questions. A must-read for Catholics interested in enough time to hang hams in one’s chimney and economic questions, this book offers answers that have the meat smoked by Christmas. Such chim- may surprise and will certainly intrigue believers neys are rare today, now that function and beauty all across the political spectrum. have been divorced. In Virginia, the original har- Rather than describe their contributions, we vest feast of St. Martin marked the earliest point prefer to offer excerpts from Professors Blum’s of slaughter.