For Immediate Release
January 19, 2006
Contact: Melanie McDonald, director of public relations, 574-284-4579

Symposium Focuses on Friendship

NOTRE DAME, Ind.—“Thomas Aquinas on Friendship” is the theme of the 9th annual Thomas Aquinas Symposium at Saint Mary’s College. The event takes place on Saturday, Feb. 4 beginning at 2:30 p.m. in Stapleton Lounge, Le Mans Hall. The symposium is free of charge and open to the public.

Keith J. Egan, The Joyce McMahon Hank Aquinas Chair in Catholic Theology Emeritus, Saint Mary's College, presents the symposium’s first lecture, “Eros and Friendship.” Thomas Aquinas, saint and doctor of the Catholic Church, identified true love of God as a kind of friendship with God.
Some have said that this approach to describing love of God best suits
our times, but that the more sensuous approach—called bridal
mysticism—is no longer suitable for that purpose. Egan intends to show
that bridal mysticism should not be dropped, but rather should be used
in creative tension with Thomas Aquinas' description of love of God as
friendship with God.

Following refreshments at 3:30 p.m., the program continues with the
lecture “Thomas Aquinas on Friendship: Cultivating Intimacy and
Emotional Integrity,” presented by Diana Fritz Cates of the University
of Iowa. Professor Cates' lecture will delve into Thomas Aquinas'
account of human friendship, reflecting on its contemporary relevance.
She will focus especially on what Aquinas can teach us about emotional
intimacy and the role that such intimacy plays in enabling friends to
pursue goodness of character in each other's company.

The Joyce McMahon Hank Aquinas Chair in Catholic Theology sponsors the
symposium with the support of the Saint Mary’s College Center for
Spirituality. For additional information, call 574-284- 4636.

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