February 3, 2012

Aquinas ‘poised to play important role,’ says bishop

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register

Photos by Rick Musacchio

Dominican Mother Anne Marie Karlovic, O.P., places a medallion of office on Sister Mary Sarah Galbraith, O.P., at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, on Jan. 26 during her installation as the new president of Aquinas College.

Sister Mary Sarah Galbraith, O.P., was installed as the 11th president of Aquinas College during a Mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation on Jan. 26, and quickly followed that with the first meeting of the college’s new President’s Advisory Council the next day.

Membership on the council includes clergy, academics, entrepreneurs, health care professionals and Catholic communications and educational leaders from across the United States and Australia, where the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, who own and operate Aquinas College, started a mission after World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.

The council launched its work with discussions of the vision and plans for Aquinas, including the addition of master’s degrees in nursing education and teacher education, offering for the first time student housing, and the future construction of a health sciences building, residence halls and a student life center.

“After 50 years, Aquinas College wishes to renew its commitment to be at the service of the Church and the world,” Sister Mary Sarah said. “Aquinas College has an important role to play in the New Evangelization. The President’s Advisory Council will assist us in defining that role in a national context and connecting us to the resources that are needed for a full flourishing of programs, including residential life and new degree offerings.”

“I think it’s poised to play an important role in the future of Catholic health care and teaching by way of training our future health care leaders and teachers,” Council member Auxiliary Bishop James Conley of Denver said of Aquinas.

Catholic colleges and universities can play an important role in the New Evangelization that has been a priority of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, by engaging the culture and bringing to it the church’s message of the dignity and sanctity of the human person, Bishop Conley said.

Photo by Maggie Musacchio

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia greets Dominican Sister Mary Sarah Galbraith, O.P.

Through its academic programs in nursing, teacher education, business and liberal arts, the college can give its students an understanding of the Church’s teaching on natural moral law that they can bring with them into their professional lives, said Council member Marie Hilliard, director of bioethics and public policy for the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.

“The concept of the dignity of the human person … has to be foundational” in the various professions, she said.

“The contribution we can bring to the national conversation is vital,” Bishop Conley said of the church and its institutions, such as colleges and universities. “In a sense we’ve been intimidated to keep it private.”

Kurt Gelke, president of NewPath Learning in Rochester, N.Y., which publishes supplemental educational materials, hopes to use his business experience to help Aquinas. As someone who has started several companies, Gelke is “used to fielding problems about growth and that’s what they’re doing,” he said. “I was so impressed with what they’ve done here with really not a lot,” he added.

Challenges facing the college include expanding and improving its facilities and increasing fund-raising, Gelke said. As a council member, he hopes to “help people understand this wonderful treasure is here.”

Father Dexter Brewer, right photo, a vicar general of the Diocese of Nashville, witnesses the signing of the “mandatum,” or authorization to teach, by Sister Mary Sarah at the Cathedral during her installation as the new president of Aquinas College.

Sister Mary Sarah said earlier that plans to offer in the near future on-campus housing for the first time could change the nature of the college and broaden its appeal to more students from outside Middle Tennessee.

David Daintree, president of Campion College in Sydney, Australia, and Daniel Hill, the director of campus ministries for the Archdiocese of Sydney and the former master of residents at Campion, hope to use their experience to help Aquinas develop a unique program for housing. Both are members of the President’s Advisory Council.

In Australia the residence houses on college campuses are smaller and offer a higher level of pastoral care for the students. At Campion, faculty members live in the houses and serve as tutors “in the sense of being a tutor for life,” Hill said.

“It brings a surer sense of security,” Daintree said. “You’re grounded in what you’re meant to be doing as a student.” Students perform better academically and the attrition rate is lower, he added.

Daintree and Hill are confident the Australian model for residence life can work at Aquinas, they said.

“If the school has programs that form Catholic leaders it will be attractive to people across the country,” said Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M., of Philadelphia, who is a member of the Advisory Council.

Archbishop Chaput was the homilist and main celebrant at the installation Mass, stepping in for Nashville Bishop David Choby who was in Rome for an ad limina visit along with other bishops from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Joining Archbishop Chaput on the altar for the Mass were Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa in California and Bishop Conley, all members of the Advisory Council, as well as several priests and deacons from around the country.

“The best gift any college can give to the broader society is well formed human beings, good people who have a desire to do good in the world,” Archbishop Chaput said during his visit to Nashville.