PARTNERS IN TRUTH

Religious beliefs shape - and are shaped by - people, events, and eras. Faith and wisdom are often not gained through epiphany or even years of intense study. Rather, the essential qualities are accumulated day by day - action by action - over the course of a lifetime.

St. Thomas approaches Christianity not as a set of abstractions but as a “lived experience” in a particular time and place. Theology can and perhaps should interact with current thinking in science, the liberal arts, and other areas of inquiry in the common pursuit of truth.

A fresh academic year renewed essential Basilian tenants as faith in action and increasingly relevant in turbulent times. And the high-impact St. Thomas stakeholders again fostered the dynamic relationship between spirituality and society. The Eagle House System was in full force for the latest Camp Aquinas, named for the institution’s patron St. Thomas Aquinas, the consummate union of sanctity and intellect. Designed and debuted in 2017 to provide a deeply positive impact on student intellectual engagement and well-being, the five-day immersion for freshmen is rooted in the Basilian credo Teach Me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge with a healthy mix of challenging team-building activities.

The bond that develops among the Eagle brothers during the engagement comes from the ability to shape people through community. To understand that an average academic student might be at the center of the social circle. Or that an acclaimed scholar might not be interacting with peers with compassion or humility. Or that one student who is struggling might need encouragement while another who is struggling needs to be briskly challenged. Every interaction matters and requires genuine trust.

The learning liftoff launched from Camp Cho-Yeh 75 miles north of Houston outside of Livingston. The Eagle contingent landed unglued to social media platforms and the latest viral TikTok trend, not surgically attached to smartphones, and not particularly caring whether future political courses are opting for continuity or chaos. Campus Ministry Director Andrew Quittenton and Dr. Grover Green ’04 tirelessly collaborated on the Camp Aquinas blueprint before deciding on the proper model for the St. Thomas mission. The two have emerged as an energetic and resolute momentum partnering with

Camp Aquinas serves as but one path for Eagle scholars to become wiser and stronger and more resilient one step and one day at a time. In one of his most famous letters to Lucilius, Seneca gives a simple prescription for the good life. “Each day,” he wrote, “acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes, as well and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day.”

What you read. Who you study under. The routine and rules you follow. How you treat someone. What you prioritize. The habits you cultivate. Day to day, practiced over a lifetime, this is what creates a Man of St. Thomas. This is what leads to a good life.

One of the essential characteristics of St. Thomas as an esteemed Catholic college-preparatory institution is to be a place of scholarship and teaching, studying the world that God created in the beginning, redeemed through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and calling back to Him in the end. Liturgical life in general and Camp Aquinas, in particular, are emphatically at the heart of the Basilian pedagogy. Lay people, religious, and students are all visibly committed to making God known, loved, and served.