By Cassandra Taylor, Publications Assistant
On Saturday, May 16, the Thomas More College community gathered for the Commencement exercises of the Class of 2026. The College’s twenty-one new graduates will now “seek truth and share it joyfully with the world” as alumni who have been prepared to embrace their vocations and occupations.
The morning began with the traditional Baccalaureate Mass, which was celebrated by the Very Rev. Dr. Joseph Hamilton, Rector of the Domus Australia in Rome. Fr. Hamilton has become a friend of the College and its students by serving as the Latin instructor during the Rome semester. As a token of their love and appreciation, the students gave Fr. Hamilton a set of beautiful vestments for the occasion.
In his homily, Fr. Hamilton spoke on the importance of friendship—so important to the life and spirituality of the College’s patron, St. Thomas More. “The friendships you have formed here, friendships rooted in truth and in faith, are among the greatest gifts you have received,” he preached. “Cherish your friendships, sustain them, work on them. They will carry you through more than you now realize.”
“The last time we all celebrated Mass together, you were pilgrims in Assisi,” Fr. Hamilton continued. “This morning, you stand on the threshold of life and vocation. You cannot change the world you have received, but you can shape the world that you will pass on. Remain faithful to the Gospel, remain faithful to the Catholic Faith, remain faithful to one another and to all you have received here in ‘Little Rivendell,’” he said, referring to the College. “If you live this way, then the world you leave your children will indeed be better than the one you have inherited. And that is a noble task, a worthy calling on this, your day of graduation.”
The Baccalaureate Mass was concelebrated by the Rev. Marc Crilly, OSB, Abbot of Saint Benedict Abbey (Still River, MA), who was accompanied by Brother Joachim Sanderson, OSB. The monks of Still River Abbey, dear friends of the College, offer Mass on campus weekly and are often represented at Commencement.
The day continued with the graduation exercises. As one of the final formal acts of his seventeen-year tenure, President William Fahey bestowed honorary doctorates on two longtime friends of the College, Glenn and Virginia Arbery. Both are current faculty members of Wyoming Catholic College who formerly taught at Thomas More. Glenn Arbery, PhD, taught literature at the College from 1986 to 1997, while Virginia Arbery, PhD, served on the faculty and as the Director of Admissions from 1986 to 1993.
Dr. Glenn Arbery’s memories of his family’s time at Thomas More College—from past faculty members to alumni to Ambrose, the campus’s beloved apple tree—featured heavily in his Commencement address. “The years that we spent at Thomas More in the prime of our lives bound us forever to its destiny,” Dr. Arbery reflected. “This bond makes this occasion all the more beautiful for us, not so much in being honored as in honoring this College and rejoicing in it.”
“You graduates, I’m sure, already recognize how extraordinary your education at Thomas More College has been,” said Dr. Arbery. “You’ve encountered the greatness of the tradition, and I know you understand what T.S. Eliot means when he says that tradition cannot be inherited. If you want it, you must obtain it by great labor…. Part of the meaning of your Commencement today is a new beginning of this great and joyful labor. You do not set aside an education like this one as something you leave behind, something you did in your youth, but you begin to deepen it and live within it as you enter a world not so much in need of what you know, but of who you are.”
As the day marked President Fahey’s last Commencement in office, and with President-Elect Matthew Walz in attendance, Dr. Arbery concluded with well wishes for the future. “May Thomas More College be blessed in this moment of transition, both of this class into the greater world and of the presidency into the capable hands of Dr. Matthew Walz. We are proud of Thomas More College and proud to stand here in this sacred moment on this remembered ground.”
After the diplomas and hoods were given to the graduates, President Fahey took the podium to give one last presidential charge. “My charge for you is simple: Abide. Abide in our Lord. Bear fruit by remembering the source of all that is true and good and beautiful. And then share those riches with the world.”
“It is the last austere act of the austere office of this college president to remind you of an irreducibly hard point of Latin grammar,” concluded President Fahey. “You are no longer studentes, students, ones studying, a present participle. You are about to become alumni, ones nourished, a past participle. It is irrevocable and it begins now. God bless you, Seniors. Remember the truth. Desire the truth. Know the truth. Rejoice in the truth. As you do, so remain in Christ until, after our various pilgrimages, we will end our journey—and with our patron, we will merrily meet in heaven.”
Senior Thesis Titles
Johnny Anderson
“The Quest for the Holy Whale: Chivalric Romance in Moby-Dick”
David Arias
“Friendship in Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas”
Logan Basta
“‘Behold Thy Mother’: An Examination of the Scriptural and Patristic Roots of the Unity of Christ and Mary”
Paul Bundy
“Qui plantavit curabit: On Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children”
Kevin Conner
“The History and Nature of Statistics as a Science”
Daniel Cook
“The Golden Mean of Politics: The Balance Between Competing Political Anthropologies”
Gavin Farinholt
“Our Catholic Martyr: Defending St. Thomas More’s Saintly and Catholic Character against the Claims of Socialist Historian Karl Kautsky”
Emilie Gaeta
“Isabella Regina Catholica: A Defense by Inquiry of Queenly Virtue and the Virtues of the Queen of Heaven”
Catherine Gath
“‘Let No One Ignorant of Geometry Enter Here’: An Exploration of Mathematics in Education”
Mary-Grace Grinstead
“Saint Therese of Lisieux, Disciple of Love: An Extraordinary and Universal Exemplar for the Gospel Message”
Kathrin Hahs
“Western and Eastern Dream Traditions in Satoshi Kon’s Paprika”
Wynonah Hogan
“To Sit in the Shade of an Oak: Challenges to Complete Friendship in the Digital Age”
Miriam Meilaender
“‘And to those who love God…’: A Thomistic Exploration of God’s Providence and How All Things Work for Our Good
Therese Potvin
“‘We See in a Mirror Dimly’: Imagination as a Path to the Divine in the Western Tradition”
Helen Presberg
“Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground: A Source of Hope for the Age of the Underground, A Literary Chiaroscuro”
Tynan Roth
“Man’s Use of Technology and His View of God”
Sofia Seidl
“The Romantic Foundations of German Nationalism”
Anastasia Shanahan
“Human Dignity: The Reality Underlying Relationships”
Jacinta Sigaud
“Sacramental Realism and the Redemption of the Body in Kristin Lavransdatter”
Xavier Summers
“Pilgrimage: An Analogy for Life”
Anna Yost
“The City and the Complete Life: A Defense of Traditional Cites as the Cure for Reductionist Materialism”
For further reading:
Glenn Arbery to Deliver 2026 Commencement Address at Thomas More College
