In the early hours of January 29, 2010, the morning following the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the world lost one of its finest Thomistic philosophers. And Thomas Aquinas College lost one of its most loyal champions 和 dearest friends. Dr. 拉尔夫·麦金纳尼——老师, 导师, 小说家, 丈夫, 7个孩子的父亲, gr和father of 17 — died at the age of 80 from esophageal cancer.
The director of the Jacques Maritain Center 和 the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, 他也是迈克尔·P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, Dr. McInerny was profoundly influential both in academia 和 in the broader culture. In the half-century since joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1955, he published more than two dozen scholarly books 和 edited an acclaimed series of translations of St. 托马斯·阿奎那的评论. He also wrote more than 80 popular novels (most famously the Father Dowling 和 Andrew Broom mysteries), 共同创立的 危机 和 天主教的档案 magazines, served on President George W. Bush’s Committee on the 艺术 和 Humanities.
Dr. McInerny’s longtime relationship with Thomas Aquinas College was as multifaceted as was his career. 就像学院的创始人一样, he was a student of the late Thomist Charles De Koninck at Université Laval in Québec. Later, he was an educator of the College’s tutors, 10 of whom — 包括 late president 托马斯·E. 狄龙总统 Michael F .. 麦克莱恩 , 布莱恩·凯利院长 — studied under his tutelage at Notre Dame. He was also an ardent backer of the College, speaking at Dr. 狄龙’s inauguration in 1991 和 serving on its Board of Governors for nine years. And he was a guiding light for its students, coming to campus regularly to deliver lectures, 包括, 2009年春天, when he presented the talks that he originally gave at the University of Glasgow in 1994-95 as part of the highly prestigious Gifford 讲座s.
Upon retiring from the Board of Governors 和 becoming an emeritus member in 2002, Dr. McInerny remarked: “Short of the College of Cardinals, there is no college I hold in higher esteem than Thomas Aquinas. From its founding to its present flourishing, it has been truly a source of hope that young Catholics will see the life of the mind 和 the life of the spirit as two sides of the same coin. That hope has been fulfilled for decades. There is no stronger argument for Thomas Aquinas College than the magnificent young women 和 men who have graduated from there 和 as priests, 宗教, laypeople spread the influence of their education through the nation.”
Of course, the admiration was entirely mutual. 作为导师 Dr. 格雷戈里·弗洛利奇(1983年)是博士之一. McInerny’s former graduate students, 笔记, “拉尔夫McInerny exemplified the virtue of discipleship, 这在现代学术界是罕见的. Whether attending daily Mass to ‘meet his maker,他喜欢这么说, or inspiring confidence in his students to learn directly from St. Thomas, Ralph cheerfully deflected attention away from himself to another mightier than he.”
In 1985, the College awarded Dr. 麦金纳尼的最高荣誉是 St. 托马斯·阿奎那奖章, for his fidelity to the Church 和 his unfaltering work on Her behalf. Dr. McInerny had planned to attend the inauguration of new Thomas Aquinas College president Dr. Michael F .. 麦克莱恩 in February, but as his former student 和 the College’s current dean, Dr. Kelly, observed, “the Good Lord had other plans.相反，博士. McInerny’s successor as director of the Jacques Maritain Center, Dr. 约翰P. O’Callaghan, came in his place 和 relayed that Dr. McInerny regarded the College as “one of the last, best hopes for genuine Catholic education in the U.S.的确，也许在任何地方.”
Dr. O’Callaghan also shared a heartening anecdote about Dr. 麦金纳尼最后的日子:“拉尔夫, 大家都知道, 是个作家, a writer to the end he remained,他说. “就在他死的前一天, he asked for a piece of paper 和 scribbled on it, “我把我的灵魂交托给上帝.“我自己的嫂子, 听到有人说, ‘It is perhaps the single most important thing he ever wrote.’”
(Thomas Aquinas College 新闻letter, Spring 2010)