Promotion Sign – Photo by John Petty
By John Petty, Catholic Editor
On Feb. 28, Aquinas College Catholic Studies hosted the Symposium on the True, Good, and Beautiful.
Reflecting on the Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of the transcendentals (truth, goodness and beauty), students and faculty presented their own personal and unique reflections of the transcendentals in their experiences.
“The true, the good and the beautiful are important because everything that is true, good and beautiful will run our eyes upon Jesus Christ,” senior Ryan Maddock said.
Set up in Donnelly – Photo by John Petty
The Symposium began with a 9:00 am Mass celebrated by Bishop Walkowiak. In his homily, Walkowiak reflected on Mary’s title of Seat of Wisdom, and related Christ as Wisdom Incarnate to the transcendentals. Furthermore, Dr. Kelly Ford and the Aquinas College Chorus provided liturgical music for the Mass. Following the Mass, Bishop Walkowiak and the congregants made their way over to Donnelly for the first round of presentations.
Senior Anastasia Benstead began the first round by giving a slideshow presentation about identical twins, drawing off of her experience from having an identical twin herself. Benstead began by describing the biological phenomena of identical twinsthen, in collaboration with her sister, spoke of their own personal experiences.
Senior Maria Hillary and Senior Sarah Evon together presented a duet of Shubert’s Ave Maria, with Hillary performing the vocals and Evon playing the Harp.
Along with the live presentations, there was an art gallery that displayed the works of several Aquinas students. A viewing of the art pieces occurred after an intermission between presentations.
Symposium Art Gallery Pieces – Photo(s) by John Petty
Sister Maureen Geary, O.P. presented a slideshow presentation of her time in Ireland, and spoke about her experiences there with the friends she conversed with. She connected a lot of her experiences in Ireland with the difficult state of the world.
Junior Noah Morris presented on the relationship of the transcendentals and his endeavors as a music education student. Morris emphasised the different understandings of Greek terms in relation to arriving at the specific transcendentals.
“I deeply enjoyed the opportunity to deeper delve into a previous project and highlight the clearer correlations to the transcendent,” junior Noah Morris said.
Former Writing Center Co-ordinator Julie Bevins made an appearance as she sang her rendition of the Magnificat from the Bible.
Junior Zoebelle Bean presented on her experience writing and selling short poetry in order to fund her Ireland trip, emphasizing creativity.
“I enjoyed presenting for the Symposium because I feel like I do a lot of crafts that I don’t get a chance to share with everyone a lot of the time, so getting a chance to do that in a leisurely, academic way is a lot of fun to me,” junior Zoebelle Bean said.
Sophomore Trista Cridler gave a presentation on the relationship between labor and leisure in which she drew a lot from famed theologian Josef Pieper, speaking of the importance of play in a busy society.
Fr. Jordan DeGuire, O.P. concluded the symposium presentations by presenting on the music of one of Rosalía’s recent albums, speaking of the influence of female mystics in some of her lyrics.
“All of the presentations ultimately revealed the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ, Himself. Nothing is more beautiful than knowing the truth and goodness of God,” said Maddock.
The Saint 