On Saturday, February 16, 2008, the Reverend Richard A. Peddicord, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.D., was installed as the seventh President of Aquinas Institute of Theology.
The installation began at 10 a.m., with an Academic Convocation and Morning Prayer at Saint Pius V Catholic Church, 3310 South Grand Boulevard. The Very Reverend Allan White, O.P., Prior Of the Province of England addressed the assembly.
At 7 p.m., the installation ceremonies resumed with Mass at Saint Pius V Catholic Church, followed by a reception at Aquinas Institute of Theology at 23 South Spring Avenue.
About Father Peddicord
The Reverend Richard A. Peddicord, O.P. Ph.D., S.T.D., is Professor of Moral Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology and has been a member of the faculty since 1994.
A native of Howell, Michigan, Father Peddicord is the son of Wilfred A. Peddicord and the late Shirley Anne (Legault) Peddicord. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan with a major in History and a minor in French. He entered the Order of Preachers (“Dominicans”)—Province of Saint Albert the Great—in 1980 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1986. He received the Master of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees from Aquinas Institute and the Ph.D.-S.T.D. in moral theology from St. Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.
Father Peddicord’s first assignment was to Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. He taught theology and French and served as the Chair of the theology department. While pursuing his doctoral studies, he served as adjunct instructor in theology at St. Paul University and adjunct instructor in philosophy at the Collège Universitaire Dominicain.
In addition to his academic ministry, Father Peddicord has served his Dominican community as Prior of St. Dominic Priory (St. Louis) and as Master of Students for the Province of Saint Albert the Great. He is currently a member of the Provincial Council. He regularly celebrates the Eucharist and preaches at St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis and the Loretto Center in Webster Groves.
Father Peddicord has written books on the relationship between Catholic social teaching and Catholic sexual morality and on the life and legacy of the Dominican theologian Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange. He edited a festschrift in honor of Father Benedict Ashley, O.P., Aquinas Institute’s first president. He has also written a volume on his French-Canadian ancestors. His articles and reviews have appeared in Angelicum, St. Austin Review, Review for Religious, Horizons, The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics and Signatures.
Father Peddicord is a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Society of Christian Ethics.
###