.png?mask=1)
The Common Doctor for the Common Good
Over the centuries Thomas Aquinas has been called a common doctor due in part to the profundity of his writings across many disciplines. Catholics are not alone in this assessment, as Protestants today are recognizing that Aquinas is a reservoir of wisdom.
It is time for a fresh ecumenism, one in which we gather around Aquinas and together face outward, equipped by our common doctor to answer the challenges of our day. We believe that Aquinas’ theological approach to philosophy and theology merits retrieval during times of severe societal division leading to cultural anomie. It is time we rally around Aquinas’s First Principles to respond to a culture suspicious of God and the goodness of his creation.
Aquinas KC deploys this Thomistic style & strategy to unite Protestants and Catholics in a search for common ground for the common good. To that end, Aquinas KC is a school for catechizing one another in the Thomistic way in our secular age.
In the years ahead, Aquinas KC will create several new interventions, including Thomistic Fellowship Circles, an annual conference, and more.
2026 Conference
The Happy Life—Human Flourishing and the Search for God
The inaugural conference for Aquinas KC will launch October 17th, 2026. Aquinas KC will be hosted by Donnelly College in Kansas City.
Conference Speakers
Dominic Legge, O.P., president of the Dominican House of Studies. Previously, he was the director of the Thomistic Institute.
Matthew Barrett, research professor of theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary and previously the McDonald Agape visiting scholar at the Dominican House of Studies and the Thomistic Institute.
Include your name and school/church/ministry affiliation. Proposals are due by July 1st.
Who is recommending Aquinas KC?
“Aquinas is rightly said to provide a common grammar for Christian doctrine in the west. His philosophical and theological reflections allow us to name the central realities of Christian faith, and on a practical and spiritual level, they provide us with ballast in the midst of the storms of life. They teach us to love God and neighbor truly in accord with the life of the Spirit and the virtues. Developing a conversation around the teaching of this common doctor in an ecumenical context today is both visionary and promising.”
“We shan't be able to talk adequately about the common good unless we have two things clearly in place — a clear vision of the shared orientation of human existence towards communion with the Trinity and an equally clear vision of how this implies a radical communion with all other human beings. The great architecture of St Thmoas's thinking
provides abundant resources for exploring and deepening our grasp of these truths. Torn as we are these days between mechanistic pictures of human behaviour on the one hand and rootless voluntarism and individualism on the other, we badly need a philosophy and theology that show us where we are properly at home as human beings - quite simply, as finite, unique, and precious intelligences, invited to find the fulfillment of that intelligence in loving interdependence. St Thomas, inheritor not only of Augustine but of the Greek Fathers, devotes all his exceptional genius ultimately to the task of laying out the journey to this being at home with God, with God's world, and with ourselves.”
"The Christian church has two thousand years of reflection on what it means to be human, how we live together, where we came from
and who God is. In difficult times, it is of great value to draw on the wisdom of great thinkers from the Christian past to help navigate the complexities of the modern world. This initiative, drawing on the remarkable achievement of Thomas Aquinas, with his grand vision of nature and grace, and how they help us understand our world, will be a gift for all churches as they seek to witness to Christ in our day.”
"Aquinas's clear and systematic approach to thinking provides an incredibly helpful framework for working through key questions facing us today. Anyone wanting to think through today's hard questions will benefit from engaging the clear thinking of Aquinas"
Anna Halpine, Founder, World Youth Alliance
"Aquinas KC is an amazing initiative about bringing Catholics and Protestants together through the theology of Thomas Aquinas to meet, pray, reflect, and study together the divine mysteries that Aquinas dedicated his life to helping others grasp with increasing insight and greater devotion. "
"As the Church is confronted with aggressive secularism and religious totalitarianism, God is drawing orthodox Protestants and Catholics together. One such meeting place is Aquinas KC, an ideal venue for exploring how a theological giant can help the Church understand its deepest roots, both philosophically and biblically."
"The significance of Thomas Aquinas' thought in addressing the contemporary challenges facing our culture—such as education, ecology, and interreligious and intercultural dialogue—is undeniable. His role as a revered teacher and longstanding authority within the Catholic Church extends beyond religious boundaries, as his ideas were not only responsive to the issues of his own time but also continue to inspire us today."
"The teaching of Thomas Aquinas has shaped not only the worldwide Church’s intellectual tradition but also its worship. I hope that this exciting initiative will have a significant impact on how the church loves and bears witness to Jesus."
“The writings of Thomas Aquinas are a great gift to the Christian church. Overflowing with biblical, philosophical, and moral insight, they provide a way forward for Christians today, as we seek to love God and our neighbour in relation to God. I commend wholeheartedly this initiative, confident that it will be a blessing to the church catholic, and nourishing of faith in and service to our common Lord."
%20(2).png?mask=1)
Thomistic Fellowship Circles
Thomistic Fellowship Circles (TFC) are at the heart of Aquinas KC. They are led by Senior Fellows of Aquinas KC and are modeled on (and adapted from) the Fellowships created by Jacques and Raissa Maritain in war-torn 20th C Europe as well as Karol Wojtyla’s “domestic churches” of Stalinist Poland. Aquinas KC is a French lay apostolate with a Polish upgrade.
These fellowships are domestic churches covenanted under the charisma of St Thomas Aquinas, taking his First Principles as their starting point. Part of Aquinas’s wisdom is the comprehensive nature of his theology written in multiple genres: biblical commentary, homilies and hymns, philosophy and apologetics, and theology itself. TFC are based on a five-year curriculum devoted to each of these genres.
TFC will embody a rule of life that will be a habitat for learning St. Thomas and sharing his wisdom with one another and with the world.
Details forthcoming.
Tory Baucum
After 30 years as an Anglican pastor and professor, Tory and his wife, Elizabeth, entered into full Communion with Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of KC in KS through the ministry of Archbishop Naumann. He became the founding director of Benedictine College’s Center for Family Life and the JPII Fellowship. In this setting they pioneered JPII inspired “domestic church fellowships” with outreaches to at-risk children in the public schools. This work was recognized at a Vatican sponsored forum at the U.N. in 2023. Later in 2023 the Polish Academy elected him to the Copernican Academy for his domestic church interventions to Polish Society, especially during the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
Tory’s and Elizabeth’s next intervention is an ecumenical Catechesis through Thomistic Fellowship Circles. A particular inspiration is the 20th century intervention of Jacques & Raissa Maritain. Aquinas KC is an adaptation of the Maritain’s invention as applied by the Polish Intelligentsia Circles that laid the groundwork for the Solidarity movement and the eventual over-throw of the Stalinist state apparatus. In essence, Aquinas KC is a French Catholic catechesis with a Polish solidarity upgrade.
Matthew Barrett
Matthew Barrett is Research Professor of theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary. He has also been appointed the McDonald Agape visiting scholar at Dominican House of Studies & the Thomistic Institute in Washington, D.C. He is theologian-in-residence at Anselm House at St. Aidan’s Anglican Church in Kansas City. He is the author of award-winning books such as Simply Trinity and On Classical Trinitarianism. He is currently writing a Systematic Theology as well as editing a five-volume series on Thomas Aquinas.
.png?mask=1)
Msgr. Stuart Swetland
Monsignor Stuart W. Swetland is President of Donnelly College. He was named a Prelate of Honor by St. John Paul II in 2000 and he has been awarded two honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters: one from Benedictine College and the other from Walsh University. Monsignor Swetland learned about Donnelly College while serving as the Vice President for Catholic identity and Director of Pre-Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg Maryland, where he also held the Archbishop Flynn Chair of Christian Ethics. He fell in love with Donnelly's mission and accepted the call to become its seventh president in 2014.
.png?mask=1)
Sponsored by
Follow Aquinas KC on social media