Every year around the feast day of St Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican friars in Macao organize a Lecture in honor of the Angelic Doctor. This academic activity is normally held at the Faculty of Religious Studies of the University of Saint Joseph, in Macau, and it is open to the public.
This year 2019, Prof. Stephen Morgan, the Dean of the Faculty, was invited to deliver the lecture. Because of the Lunar New Year break, the lecture was postponed until the 21st of February. It took place in the conference hall of St Joseph seminary campus. The participants were mainly the professors and students of the Faculty of Religious Studies. Some interested guests were also present.
The program began at 11 a.m., with the singing of “the Lord Prayer by the participants. Then Fr. Edmond Eh presented the program and introduced the speaker, an expert and a fond admirer of Blessed John Henry Newman. In his talk, Pro. Morgan tried to establish a connection between the thoughts of St Thomas Aquinas and Newman. In fact, the topic of the lecture was formulated in these terms, Was John Henry Newman a Thomist? Was St Thomas a Newmanian? The issues raised by the one-hour-long lecture continued being discussed during the open forum that followed. The academic program came to an end with some words of appreciation towards the speaker and lunch served to all the participants.
This year commemoration was very meaningful, particularly for us Dominicans. It gave us also the opportunity to gather together and praise God who has made known to us His mercy and wisdom through the teachings of St Thomas Aquinas.Bros. Agostinho Mendonca and Stephen Lej Kapaw