Reasons for Hope
Dear Alumni and Friends:
My first year as head of this venerable institution was filled with countless graces and this year is also proving to be a time of great blessings. It would be difficult for me to overstate my feelings of gratitude and hope at this moment in time.
I cannot help but think it providential that our Holy Father has declared that 2025 is a Jubilee Year with the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope.” This, I believe, provides a much-needed occasion to reflect upon the theological virtue of hope. St. Thomas Aquinas writes in his work Compendium theologiae, “… what is truly the virtue of hope is not the hope we have in ourselves, nor even in another man, but only in the hope we have in God.” What the Angelic Doctor wants us to understand is that we are not limited to our own resources when carrying out the work entrusted to us. Through hope, we are given the strength to endure challenges and hardships in the sure and certain knowledge that God accompanies us on our life path and gives us the requisite graces we need in order to accomplish our tasks. This is such a needful message in our world today. It is far too easy to be discouraged in this climate of bitterness and partisanship. We live in a society that seems to have lost its way at so many levels and in which confidence in our institutions is at a historical low. Hope adds to faith the grace to live in the confidence that God remains true to his promises and that no power can ultimately thwart His will.
It is my conviction that Theological College is called to be a sign of hope. As the seminary of the national Catholic University, the seminary is well-placed to be a reminder of the presence and action of God in our present moment. The solid intellectual formation we provide allows our men to fulfill the mandate we find in I Peter 3:15: “Be prepared to give reasons for your hope.” The many and varied pastoral opportunities afforded by the Archdiocese of Washington allows our men to be living signs of hope to people who so desperately need it. The friendship and support of the alumni and friends of Theological College have given me so many reasons for hope and it is my heartfelt wish that TC can be a source of hope for all of you.
In conclusion, dear alumni and friends, let us continue to pray for each other as this year continues.
Blessings,
Blessings,
Rev. Gladstone (Bud) Stevens, P.S.S.
Rector