Each year my alma mater, Aquinas College of Grand Rapids, Mich., invites students, faculty, staff, and members of the munity to take part in a wide range of activities throughout the week of January 28th to celebrate the feast of our patron saint. Although this week officially bears the name of a celebration in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas, it is also a special time when members of the Aquinas munity celebrate the college’s heritage in the Dominican tradition. This heritage is preserved through the college’s relationship with the Dominican sisters at the Marywood Dominican center and the Dominican charisms of prayer, munity, and service.

During St. Thomas Aquinas week, the munity highlights each of the charisms in a special way through one or many of the various events that are organized. Fittingly enough, this year’s 21st Anniversary St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture will be given by Dr. Eleonore Stump of Saint Louis University called “The Problem of Suffering: A Thomistic Approach” on Friday, January 27 at 12:15 pm in the Wege Ballroom. Dr. Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University and author or editor of several books on Medieval philosophy, including Aquinas (2003), Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering (2010) and the Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas (2012). The lecture is free, open to the public, and is sponsored by Catholic Studies – which is directed by Acton University lecturer Dr. John Pinheiro.

The next lecture in the works for the Catholic Studies program will be the Fourth Annual lecture in the Catholic Studies Speaker Series at Aquinas College. This will be a special lecture on the Catholic intellectual tradition given by George Weigel on April 11, 2012. Visit www.aquinas.edu for more information about these and other lectures that will be hosted byAquinasCollege throughout the rest of the academic year.