2024 John Paul II New Evangelization Award Honoree
The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is their touchstone.
The Thomistic Institute began their campus chapters program in 2015, and it has now spread to more than 80 campuses across the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Mexico. These chapters are on-campus academic clubs formed and run by student leaders that collaborate with top-notch Christian intellectuals to develop lectures, events, and programs that are built on and explore the riches of the Christian intellectual tradition.
In addition to this, the Thomistic Institute organizes weekend-long intellectual retreats in Washington, D.C., around the U.S., and in the U.K. for university students. During these intellectual retreats, retreatants attend lectures with scholars, pray the Liturgy of the Hours, attend Mass, spend time in personal prayer, and enjoy meals and times of fraternity with the Dominican friars, TI staff, and other students. Outside of the academic year, students are given the opportunity to continue their intellectual and spiritual formation by participating in the numerous summer and academic programs hosted by the Thomistic Institute.
Besides their extracurricular programs on university campuses, the Thomistic Institute offers two full-ride scholarships each academic year for the MA program in theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Additionally, it has partnered with the Pontifical Faculty of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome to offer a Spring semester study abroad program for undergraduate students.
Beyond their work in the university, the Thomistic Institute has taken significant steps in promoting the Church’s intellectual tradition online. On YouTube, Aquinas 101 introduces viewers to the philosophical and theological world of St. Thomas Aquinas and the ways that his thought can help one engage with contemporary concerns. Aquinas 101’s animated videos are supplemented by online readings and lectures from the Thomistic Institute Podcast.
The Thomistic Institute was founded in 2009 by the current Rector Magnificus of the Angelicum, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. He completed his DPhil in Theology at the University of Oxford and his licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Dominican House of Studies. He is the author of the Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Catholic University of America Press, 2022). Since 2018, the Thomistic Institute has been led by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. He is an Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Dominican House of Studies, and completed his J.D. at Yale Law school, his licentiate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America, and his doctorate in Sacred Theology at the University of Fribourg. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2016).
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