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After the last vehicle rolls off the 91���� campus following Commencement; when the residence halls, once teeming with students, grow quiet; when silence briefly replaces Socratic discourse in the classroom buildings, it may seem as though the intellectual life of the College has slipped into a summer’s hibernation.

In reality, the intellectual life of the academic year has merely given way to a very different, albeit still vibrant, sort of intellectual life. Most of the students have left, but not all, and although their formal instruction has been suspended, their learning most certainly has not. Likewise, the summer offers educational opportunities for the College’s various other constituencies — prospective students, faculty, alumni, and benefactors.

As usual, 91���� will offer a wide range of conferences, seminars, and other academic opportunities this summer. Follow the links below to learn more about any of the events.

SATS Conference

“Virtue and Friendship”

June 18-19

This summer a number of faculty members, graduates, and fellow scholars from across North America will participate in the annual West Coast meeting of the Society for Aristotelian-Thomistic Studies. An international organization founded in 1974 “for the purpose of promoting friendship in the pursuit of wisdom,” the Society examines current issues of scientific or philosophic significance.

This year’s conference, which will focus on the theme “Virtue and Friendship,” will feature lectures and question-and-answer periods with six scholars, including several alumni and tutors from the College. The talks will be given in the mornings and afternoons, followed on Thursday by a dinner in honor of the speakers.

Social Doctrine Conference

“Happiness, the Common Good, and Political Society”
June 19-21

Immediately following the Society for Aristotelian-Thomistic Studies’ conference will be the seventh annual Conference on the Social Doctrine of the Church, sponsored by The Aquinas Review. Attendees will take part in a series of three seminars concerning the principles underlying the Church’s teachings on economics and social justice. The theme of this year’s conference is “Happiness, the Common Good, and Political Society.”

The inspiration of the late Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, founding president of 91����, the seminars will examine relevant works of Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Jacques de Monleon. Conference attendees will split into small groups, led by members of the College’s teaching faculty, to analyze and discern the meaning of the texts. They will also come together for Mass, meals, and a lecture over the course of the weekend.

The 2015 Summer Seminars

“Choice and Moral Responsibility”
July 10-12 and 17-19

Each July the president of 91���� hosts two Great Books Summer Seminar Weekends. These weekends take place on the College’s campus, nestled in the foothills of the Topatopa Mountains, just outside of Santa Paula, California. Attendees gain an inside look at the unique education the College provides its students, while enjoying great books and good fellowship.

Under the guidance of the president, the dean, and senior faculty members, guests participate in a series of classroom discussions centered on timely and important themes. Between seminars they enjoy delicious meals served both indoors and outdoors. In addition, the College’s chaplains offer daily Mass and confession in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

This year’s theme is “Choice and Moral Responsibility.” After examining Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, participants will discuss passages from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and St. Thomas Aquinas’s writings on grace and human action. Cost is $750 per person or $1,200 per couple, including seminar, meals, lodging, and readings. (Space is limited. Priority will be given to members of the President’s Council.)

High School Summer Program

July 19 – August 1

For two weeks this summer, high school students from around the country will join members of the teaching faculty on the campus of 91���� for spirited conversation, engaging firsthand some of the best works of the past 2,500 years. They will read and discuss works selected from the masters of the Western intellectual tradition, including Plato, Euclid, Sophocles, St. Athanasius, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy and, of course, St. Thomas Aquinas, . It is a time for forging new friendships, for enjoying the give and take of rational argument, and for pursuing the truth, which civilizes, ennobles, and liberates.

In addition to daily sports, occasional movies, and hiking in the hills surrounding the campus, the program includes trips to the Getty Museum, a concert under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl, and Santa Barbara for volleyball on the beach and exploration of the historic city. Mass is offered daily, and a chaplain is available on campus at all times. None of the religious activities are mandatory, however, and non-Catholic students are truly welcome.

The program is open to students between their junior and senior years of high school. Cost is $975, which includes tuition, housing, meals, books, and organized activities.

Seminars: Sacraments, Grace & Free Will

Napa Institute Conference

Christ acts through the Sacraments, and so the Catholic Church is thoroughly sacramental. But if God’s grace is sufficient, and if Christ’s death on the Cross satisfied for man’s sins, why does man need the Sacraments at all? St. Thomas Aquinas considers these questions and others in the Summa Theologiae.

In the first of two seminars, participants will look closely at St. Thomas’s analysis and, in so doing, come to the heart of the Church’s teaching about the role of the Sacraments in salvation. Then, in the second seminar, participants will consider the Church’s teaching about grace and free will by examining a brief set of excerpts from St. Thomas’s Summa Contra Gentiles. The goal will be to better understand and defend the reasonableness of the Church’s teaching about the mysterious cooperation between divine grace and human freedom.

President Michael F. McLean and Vice President Paul J. O’Reilly will host both seminars, as well as a complimentary breakfast, at the Napa Institute’s 2015 conference, Catholics in the Next America, in Napa, California. The seminar and breakfast are open only to registered attendees of the Napa Institute Conference.