Important Milestones
2005
Aquinas Lecture Series 2005
Germain Grisez
Flynn Professor of Christian Ethics,
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md.
The
Restless-Heart
Blunder
Jan. 27, 2005
7:30 p.m.
Cullen Hall
4001 Mt. Vernon
Free and open to the public.
For details call 713-525-3592.
Well-known Catholic ethicist Germain Grisez of
Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md., will
deliver the 2005 Aquinas Lecture “The Restless Heart
Blunder” sponsored by the University of St. Thomas’
Center for Thomistic Studies. In his lecture Professor
Grisez will address a difficult moral question. He
asserts that St. Augustine’s famous dictum – “Thou
hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till
they rest in Thee” – while true, is often incorrectly
understood.
Grisez will argue that everyone can, and most people sometimes do, choose something for the sake of an
end that they desire for itself, not for the sake of anything further, despite realizing that attaining that end
will leave them seeking still other ends.
Professor Grisez is author of numerous books and
articles on moral theology and Christian ethics, but
he is probably best known as a proponent of the
“New Natural Law Theory.” Professor Grisez answered
the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal
of Catholic moral theology with a massive four-volume series entitled: The
Way of the Lord Jesus, three volumes
of which have been completed:
Volume I: Christian Moral
Principles; Volume II: Living a
Christian Life Volume III: Difficult
Moral Questions.
The University of St. Thomas is a private institution committed to the liberal arts and to the religious, ethical and intellectual tradition of Catholic higher education.
2005
rev17996_UST
6/23/05
10:25 AM
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INSIDER • University of St. Thomas • Summer 2005 1
From China To Texas: From Li Bo to Laura Maroney
i Bo Yan grew up in the
disastrous Chinese Cultural
Revolution. Her parents
dreamed of a better future for their
daughter. They named her Li Bo,
which literally means “stand on top of
the wave” or “gone with the wave to
survive.” After the 10-year nightmare
of political isolation and repression
was over, Deng Xiao Ping, a
reformer, became the leader of China
in 1978. George H.W. Bush came
to Beijing in 1974 as chief of the
U. S. Liaison Office in the People’s
Republic of China. By 1988, he was
president. Always a friend of China,
Bush and the policies he embraced
endeared people like Li Bo, who
found their way to the United States
because of the warming relations
with the West.
She had earned a BA in English at
a university in Shanghai, spent two
years preparing for the admission tests
for graduate business school and two
more years getting a visa.
“All I had when I left China was
a small, brown suitcase and $200
for a trip halfway around the world
to a country where I knew no one,”
Li Bo said.
This woman is not easily discouraged.
She adopted Laura as her English
name. When Laura reached Los
Angeles in 1993, she still had a rough
road ahead of her before finding a new
home at the University of St. Thomas.
The University of California at LA
was too expensive for one who supported herself by baby-sitting and
waiting tables. She eventually bought a
car and landed in Houston. On her
first trip to the University of Houston,
she took the wrong interstate and
found herself approaching Beaumont.
“It was one more thing that made me
feel that I was just a little Chinese girl
in a huge country where it seemed no
one cared for me,” she said without a
hint of self-pity. Laura attended UH
for one semester but felt all alone
there. One day, quite by acci-
L
dent, she drove past the University of
St. Thomas. “I immediately felt the
warmth of UST,” she recalled.
She was sent to International
Students’ Advisor Deacon Richard
Glor, now retired. Scores of international students have heart-warming
stories about Glor, and he about them.
“He treated me with enormous respect
and kindness,” she recalled. “He was
the first person in the United States
who was concerned about my wellbeing and that I lived in a terrible
$200-a-month apartment. He was not
like the others; he just said, ‘Well, let’s
just see how we can help you here.’”
She later met Dr. Yhi Min Ho, now
retired dean of the Cameron School of
Business. “He accepted me unconditionally for the MBA program. He’s a
very wonderful man,” she said.
Laura joined the vast army of international students who, at one time or
another, found themselves working for
Glor. She worked for him on weekdays, and she worked as a waitress at
Fu’s Garden. “I did not have a weekend to myself for three years,” she
said, simply as a matter of fact. During
her studies, she attended two classes
with Michael Patrick Maroney. They
began seeing each other outside of
class. Glor, the paternal counselor,
made sure that Michael was acting in
Laura’s best interests. “Richard was
like a father to me,” she recalled. “He
treated us international students like
his own kids.” Laura credits Cameron
School of Business Professor Anne
Davis as being the matchmaker,
because she put Laura on a project
team with Maroney.
They graduated with MBAs,
Michael in 1995 and Laura in 1996.
When the Chapel of St. Basil was
completed in 1997, Michael and Laura
became the first couple to wed there.
Glor performed the ceremony. In
January 2004, Laura gave birth to
twins, a boy and a girl. Glor baptized
them. Laura is presently approaching
the end of her journey to U.S. citizenship and about to begin the nearly
year-long journey to becoming a
Catholic. Glor had something to do
with that, too, one suspects.
Laura is grateful for the welcoming
reception she got at UST. “He [Glor]
married most of us and is like a father
to watch us grow. When we were in
our last semester, he would shoo us
out and make us get jobs. He wanted
us to be successful in the real world,”
she said.
Laura wants to give back to UST
and is in the early stages of a project
involving a Chinese photojournalist
and film maker. “I want to show
international students and parents
around the world that UST is a warm
and welcoming place where students
are safe and cared for,” she said.
“Most parents want their children in
places where they will be cared for.”
She also wants to meet the former
president Bush she admires so much
for his diplomacy and policies that
made it possible for her to come
to the United States. Now that she
is riding a wave of comfort and
economic security, she will very
likely get her wish.
– Tom Overton
Li Bo Yan ’96 (Laura Maroney) and her trusted friend Richard Glor.
Celebrating 25 Years of Thomism,
continued from page 1
noble family who wanted to see their brilliant son as the abbot of a wealthy monastery, like Monte Cassino, not a
member of the new mendicant Order of Preachers (Dominicans) pledged to a rigorous form of poverty. Thomas
prevailed, however, becoming the greatest scholar of an age renowned for its scholarship. St. Pius V proclaimed St.
Thomas a Doctor of the Universal Church in 1567. In the Encyclical Aeterni Patris, of 1879, on the restoration of
Christian philosophy, Pope Leo XIII declared him “the prince and master of all scholastic doctors” and later
designated him patron of all Catholic universities, academies, colleges, and schools. John Paul II in his encyclical
Fides et Ratio says of Thomas Aquinas, “In him, the Church’s Magisterium has seen and recognized the passion
for truth; and, precisely because it stays consistently within the horizon of universal, objective and transcendent
truth, his thought scales ‘heights unthinkable to human intelligence.’”
Publish and Thrive!
The success of the Center is, in large part, a function of the excellence of its faculty, who are very active in
professional organizations and in scholarly publishing. Dr. Sommers serves on the Executive Council of the
American Catholic Philosophical Association, whose annual meeting the Center hosted here in 2003.
Dr. R. Edward Houser has been instrumental in making the International Congress on Medieval Studies in
Kalamazoo a “magnet” for Thomists from all over North America, bringing together well-established scholars
and younger, promising faculty. Recently, two Center faculty members have been Visiting Fulbright Professors:
Dr. John F.X. Knasas at the Vilnius Pedagogical University and the University of Vilnius in Lithuania (Spring
2004) and Dr. John Deely at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria (Spring 2005).
The display case in the entrance to Sullivan Hall is filled with books published by the Center and its faculty,
including Dr. Tom Osborne’s The Love of Self and Love of God in 13th Century Ethics (Notre Dame, 2005).
Two books in the Center’s Thomistic Studies series at Notre Dame Press will appear this fall: Laudemus viros
gloriosos: Essays in Honor of Armand Maurer, CSB, R. Edward Houser, editor, and Benedict Ashley, The Way
Toward Wisdom: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics.
2005
history, literature and law.
Aquinas Lecture Series 2006
2006
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.
Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, Fordham University
The
Apologetics
of St. Thomas Aquinas
Feb. 21, 2006
7:30 p.m.
Jones Hall
3910 Yoakum
Free and open to the public
Parking: Moran Center,
Graustark and W. Alabama
Contact: Pam Butler at 713-525-3591
or visit www.stthom.edu
Educating Leaders of Faith and Character
St. Thomas Aquinas was not directly engaged in
disputes with non-Christians, but in his Summa
contra Gentiles he gives principles to be used for
such disputes. The lecture will summarize the
main elements of his method of establishing the
credibility of the Christian religion. Then some
attention will be given to the viability of the
method today, including current objections to the
Thomistic proofs for the existence of God and to
the biblical miracles. Some consideration will be
given to new apologetical approaches.
Avery Cardinal Dulles, a native of
Auburn, N.Y., and a Harvard
graduate, has authored more
than 700 articles and published
22 books. He entered the Jesuit
Order, was ordained a priest in
1956 and was awarded his doctorate
in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University
in Rome in 1960. He served on the faculty of
Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974. Pope John
Paul II appointed him a cardinal in 2001.
2006
Dr. Mary Catherine Sommers bestows the very first Order of St. Thomas Medals on Avery Cardinal Dulles and George Strake
2007
2007
Sponsored by
CENTER FOR THOMISTIC STUDIES
UNIVERSITY of ST. THOMAS
Special thanks to the following:
2007 AQUINAS LECTURE
Dr. Robert Ivany
Ms. Pamela Butler
Mr. Ken De DeDominicis
Mr. Scott Galeki
Ms. Marionette Mitchell
Ms. Eileen Perkins
Mr. Howard Rose
Ms. Sandra Soliz
Practical Reasoning
after the ‘Fall’
For more information about the Center for Thomistic Studies please contact:
Dr. Mary Catherine Sommers, Director
Center for Thomistic Studies
University of St. Thomas
3800 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006
713-525-3591
[email protected]
www.stthom.edu
John M. Rist
Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
Visiting Professor, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome
Tuesday January 30 at 7:30 PM
Cullen Hall
Educating Leaders of Faith and Character
Pavlo Sodomora
Fulbright Scholar Program
2007-2008 Visiting Scholar
Associate Professor
Danylo Halytsky
Lviv National Medical University
Ukraine
Sponsored by: Dr. John Deely
Project: Problems in rendering philosophical terms into Ukrainian (based on
works of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine)
Class Taught: PHIL 6393-St. Thomas and St. Augustine: A Comparative Reading
Colloquium: February 14, 2008, Ukraine: Historical and Philosophical Sketches
Center for Thomistic Studies Welcomes Fulbright Scholar Kalevi
Kull
10/9/2008
Fulbright Scholar Kalevi Kull, professor in biosemiotics, and head of the Department
of Semiotics at the University of Tartu, Estonia, is visiting the Center for Thomistic
Studies at University of St. Thomas this semester.
His home base, Tartu University, is one of the major centers in the field of
semiotics. Kull’s fields of interest include biosemiotics, ecosemiotics, general
semiotics, theoretical biology, history and philosophy of life science. His publications
include a number of papers in the journals Semiotica, Sign Systems Studies,
Biosemiotics, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, European Journal of Semiotics, and
edited volumes, including “Jakob von Uexküll: A paradigm for semiotics and
biology” in Semiotica (2001). He is an editor of the journal Sign Systems Studies
since 1998, and a book series co-editor at Mouton de Gruyter. He has been one of
the founders of the Jakob von Uexküll Centre. He is an honorary member of the
Semiotic Society of America, of which he is the 5th Sebeok Fellow.
The Center for Thomistic Studies is an active participant in the Fulbright Program.
Two Center faculty members have been Visiting Fulbright Professors, Dr. John F.X.
Knasas at the Vilnius Pedagogical University (VPU) and the University of Vilnius
(VU), Department of Philosophy of Lithuania in spring 2004 and Dr. John Deely at
the New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria in Spring 2005. In addition, the
Center hosted Fulbright Scholar Dr. Pavlo Sodomora, associate professor in the
Latin Language Department, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv,
Ukraine in 2007-2008.
THE SEMIOTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA, OCTOBER 16–19, 2008
SPONSORED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ST THOMAS, HOUSTON
COUNTRIES REPRESENTED
1. ARGENTINA:
Manuel Libenson Department of Communication, Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE).
2. BELGIUM:
Mark Reybrouck, Section of Musicology, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
3. BRASIL:
Irene Machado, PhD., School of Communications and Arts, University of San Paolo, Brazil; Scientific Editor of MATRIZes. Journal of the
Post-graduation Program on Sciences of Communication, University of San Paolo.
Vicente Martinez Barrios, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasil.
Elisa de Souza Martinez, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasil.
Lucia Santaella, final plenary roundtable.
4. BULGARIA:
Veronika Azarova, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria.
Antoaneta Dontcheva, Plovdiv University, Bulgaria and Georgi Kapriev, Sofia University, Bulgaria.
5. CANADA:
David Lidov, York University.
Fernando Andacht, University of Ottawa and Mariela Michel, University of Ottawa.
Dejan Ivkovic, York University, Toronto, CA.
Maureen Connolly and Thomas D. Craig, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Stéphanie Walsh Matthews, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
Marc Champagne, York University, Toronto, Canada.
6. CHINA:
Xin Bin, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, P. R. China.
Ji Haihong, Nanjing Normal University.
Zhang Jie, Nanjing Normal University.
Yan Zhijun, Nanjing Normal University, China.
7. COLOMBIA:
Carlos E. Vasco, Universidad Distrital (Bogota) and Universidad del Valle (Cali, Colombia) and Adalira Sáenz-Ludlow, University of
North Carolina-Charlotte, co-author.
8. DENMARK:
Jesper Hoffmeyer, Copenhagen University, Denmark.
9. ESTONIA:
Kalevi Kull, University of Tartu & Institute of Zoology and Botany, Estonia.
10. FRANCE:
Anne Hénault, Université de Paris IV Sorbonne.
Noureddine Bakrim, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France.
11. GERMANY:
Elize Bisanz, Lüneburg University, Germany.
Rolf-Dieter Hepp, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Rita Sabine Kergel, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
12. GREAT BRITAIN:
Sara Cannizzaro, London Metropolitan University.
Deana Neubauer, London Metropolitan University.
Wendy Wheeler, London Metropolitan University.
13. ITALY
Augusto Ponzio, Dipartimento di Pratiche linguistiche e analisi di testi, Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere, Università di Bari.
Antonio Savorelli, Ph.D., Communikitchen Research, Imola, Italy.
Susan Petrilli, Bari University, Italy.
14. JAPAN
Yukihide Endo, Department of English, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Pref, Japan.
15. NETHERLANDS:
Gerard J. van den Broek, Central Archives Selection Agency (CAS) of the Interior Ministery, Haren, The Netherlands.
16. POLAND:
Piotr Jaroszynski, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.
17. PORTUGAL:
Isabel Marcos, New University of Lisbon.
18. RUSSIA:
Alisa Zhila, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia.
19. SINGAPORE:
Donald Favareau, National University of Singapore.
20. SWEDEN:
Henrik Uggla, Associate Professor of Brand Strategy Royal Institute of Technology Sweden.
21. TAIWAN:
Hsiu-chih Tsai, National Taiwan University.
Elena Yakovleva, Meiho Institute of Technology, Taiwan.
2008
Sponsored by
UNIVERSITY of ST. THOMAS
CENTER FOR THOMISTIC STUDIES
2008 AQUINAS LECTURE
Special thanks to the following:
Dr. Robert Ivany
Ms. Pamela Butler
Mr. Ken De DeDominicis
Ms. Marionette Mitchell
Ms. Eileen Perkins
Mr. Howard Rose
Ms. Sandra Soliz
Members of Phi Sigma Tau
Students of the Center for Thomistic Studies
Thomas Aquinas and the
Controversy Concerning Unity of
Substantial Form in Human Beings
For more information about the Center for Thomistic Studies please contact:
Dr. Mary Catherine Sommers, Director
Center for Thomistic Studies
University of St. Thomas
3800 Montrose Boulevard
Houston, TX 77006-4696
713-525-3591
[email protected]
www.stthom.edu
Msgr. John F. Wippel
Ordinary Professor in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic
University of America
Thursday January 31
7:30 p.m.
Cullen Hall
Educating Leaders of Faith and Character
Educating Leaders of Faith and Character
2008
The Order of St. Thomas bestowed upon the Center for Thomistic Studies co-founders, Rev. Victor Brezik, CSB and Hugh Roy Marshall
2008
Philosophy Faculty gathers to celebrate Fr. Brezik’s 95th Birthday