Holy Hoops Game - Quincy, IL - Fr. Ralph sends grettings!!!

Quincy Fire Deparmtent



IL State, Adams County Sheriffs and Quincy Police Departments.

EMS, Adams County, Quincy, IL



Sargent Adams Yates, QPD and Brother Ed, OFM (Law-Enforcement winners for 2013)




A belated Christmas message from Father Ralph Parthie, OFM

I wish all of you the absolute best on this holy feast of the Nativity! In a world that needs hope, to know that God loves us so much as to be one like us means all the difference. You are all in my prayers. Let's keep he Christian people in Syria and South Sudan, as well as all those touched by violence in so many places close to our hearts. We have so much and need to be so grateful. Others are suffering so deeply. 

 Peace and all good

  Ralph

Happy Days Past

Happy Mardi Gras!

Alex - our friary pal RIP!

Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas January 28

Thomas Aquinas, OP (/əˈkwaɪnəs/; 1225 – 7 March 1274), also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian^[3][4] Dominican friar and priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the "Doctor Angelicus", "Doctor Communis", and "Doctor Universalis".^[5] "Aquinas" is from the county of Aquino, an area his family held land in until 1137. He was born in Roccasecca, Italy.

 

He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of Thomism. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived in development or refutation of his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many currents in the Church of the time,^[6] Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle — whom he referred to as "the Philosopher" — and attempted to synthethise Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.^[7] The works for which he is best known are the Summa Theologica and the Summa contra Gentiles. His commentaries on Sacred Scripture and on Aristotle are an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns which form a part of the Church's liturgy.^[8]

 

Thomas is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church and is held to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works was long used as a core of the required program of study for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well as for those in religious formation and for other students of the sacred disciplines (Catholic philosophy, theology, history, liturgy, and canon law).^[9]

 

Also honored as a Doctor of the Church, Thomas is considered the Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. Pope Benedict XV declared: "This (Dominican) Order ... acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored with the special praises of the Pontiffs, the master and patron of Catholic schools."^[10]