Thomas Aquinas College President inaugurated
Santa Paula News
Published: March 12, 2010
On Saturday, February 13, 2010, Dr. Michael F. McLean was inaugurated as the fourth president of Thomas Aquinas College.
The day began with a Mass of the Holy Spirit at 10:00 a.m. in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. The ordinary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was the principal celebrant; Bishop Thomas Curry of the Santa Barbara region concelebrated the Mass along with a number of priests from Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties as well as some of the college’s graduates who have entered the priesthood.
The mid-day installation ceremony, at which Cardinal Mahony presided, was also held in the school’s new chapel. Extending greetings to Dr. McLean and the college was President Christopher B. Nelson of St. John’s College, Annapolis; Dr. John P. O’Callaghan, president of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame; Brother Mel Anderson, F.S.C., president emeritus of St. Mary’s College of California; and Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M, president of The Catholic University of America.
Following these speakers, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr. R. James Wensley, charged Dr. McLean with the duties of his new office and then invested him as president, bestowing on him the president’s silver chain of office. Dr. McLean then made a profession of faith and took the Oath of Fidelity, making public his intention that both he and the college he now leads will remain loyal to the Holy Father and faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Mahony followed with an Episcopal Greeting, after which Dr. McLean gave the inaugural response.
As a sign of the way in which a president is selected at Thomas Aquinas, Dr. McLean processed and was seated with the faculty at the inauguration ceremony until the past presidents of the college, Dr. Ronald P. McArthur and Mr. Peter L. DeLuca, called him forward to be installed as president.
Explained Mr. Wensley, “The Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College is, perhaps, unique in being directed by our polity and by-laws to appoint a president from among the teaching faculty of the college. This method was established in the late 1960s by our founders in an effort to ensure that, down through the generations, Thomas Aquinas College would maintain the unique character of its academic program, its discipleship to the Church’s Universal Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, and its authentically Catholic character. The founders were convinced that no one could better achieve these goals than a tutor who had devoted his life to implementing the mission of the college on a daily basis in our classrooms.” Mr. Wensley added, “In fact, the polity also requires the president to continue teaching at least one class, even as the leads the college.”
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