Mission

Mission Statement

Centered on Jesus Christ and rooted in the charism of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, Aquinas College aspires to the formation of leaders in education and in the liberal arts for service to the Church and the world. Through an intentional integration of faith and reason, Aquinas College offers academic programs and formation opportunities to engage learners intellectually, spiritually, and professionally for personal growth in virtue and the transformation of culture. Inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas’s contemplative study and apostolic zeal for God’s glory and the salvation of souls, Aquinas College joyfully embraces the Dominican mission to preach the Gospel in truth and charity.

Vision

To form joyful witnesses of Christ sent forth to teach and preach in Truth and Charity for the salvation of souls and the transformation of culture.

At Aquinas College, we have the unique privilege of providing the intellectual and professional formation of the young sisters of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. By providing an education in the liberal arts that encourages a deep formation in the teaching charism of the Nashville Dominicans, Aquinas College fulfills its primary goal, to prepare these sisters to bring Christ into the schools in which they will serve.

This program of studies extends yet further, in the invitation to lay students to also take part in the same formation being provided to the young sisters of the Nashville Dominicans. In this, we allow the beautiful and rich overflow of our educational program to be given to others who share in our vision, providing a means for lay students to receive the same high quality intellectual and professional formation that the sisters are privileged to receive. Through this formation in the Dominican tradition, Aquinas College prepares its students to be teachers and leaders in schools and communities.

Aquinas College has also been entrusted with providing intellectual formation for the first-year seminarians of the Diocese of Nashville. We form teachers and preachers according to our St. Cecilia Dominican charism, a charism that can be characterized by joy, simplicity, charity toward one another, and a fervent zeal for souls.

Core Principles

Our core principles are derived from the Catholic and Dominican moral and intellectual tradition.

• The dignity, freedom, and flourishing of every human person as made in God’s image
• The complementarity of faith and reason as the basis for academic community
• The prudent stewardship of God’s individual and communal gifts

Aquinas College Goals

1. Provide academic programs in education and in the liberal arts that foster the intellectual and moral virtues, professional excellence, and integration of faith and life.
2. Provide services and support that facilitate academic progress, inquiry, and achievement.
3. Cultivate a student experience directed toward the formation of the whole person in virtue, wisdom, maturity, and Christian friendship through social, spiritual, and academic activities.
4. Provide opportunities to engage with the local and broader communities, especially in endeavors related to cultural and intellectual interests, continuing education, catechetics, and faith formation.
5. Steward the gifts and resources entrusted to the College to advance its mission.