Skip To Main Content
The Death of Pope Francis

Dear Members of the Aquinas Institute Community,

It is with profound sadness that we join the global Catholic community in mourning the passing of Pope Francis. Through his ministry as Shepherd of the Church, Pope Francis advocated for peace, human dignity, and synodal conversation that inspired us all to act in solidarity in the face of injustice, autocracy, and violence in our world. 

In prayerful gratitude, we remember Pope Francis’ profound legacy and influence on our lives and in our world. May we remember this great leader of our Church for his courage and witness to especially serve the least in our world.

In St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas,
Fr. Mark and the Executive Leadership
Aquinas Institute of Theology

Aquinas Receives New $1.25 Million Lilly Grant

Aquinas Institute is one of 170 organizations to receive a grant from Lilly Endowment's Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. The grant will allow Aquinas to establish the Aquinas Worship and Prayer Through Children's Catechesis Project (WPCC).

Aquinas President Fr. Mark Wedig, OP, emphasized, “Lilly Endowment’s funding of the Aquinas Worship and Prayer Through Children’s Catechesis Project will enable Aquinas Institute to achieve new avenues for promoting children’s spirituality both at the parish and diocesan levels, but also in the theological academies." 

Dr. Ann Garrido (pictured at table), longtime collaborator with the United States Association of The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and founder of the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies - Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (MAPS-CGS) program at Aquinas, will direct the WPCC program.

Built of Living Stones: Edifice and Image in Christian History

Begins April 8, 2025, at 6:30 p.m.
In-person or on Zoom

This six-week Mini-Course at Aquinas will be presented by Aquinas President Fr. Mark Wedig, OP.

The course will explore six periods in Christian history that each embody distinct ways that the Church is expressed through its sacred buildings and the art which adorns them.  Attention will be especially given to the ways that liturgy is “housed” in each of these paradigms.

LEARN MORE & RSVP

Join Our MAPS-CGS Mini-Lecture and Information Session!

Applications for the Master of Pastoral Arts - Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (MAPS-CGS) 2026 cohort are now open!  (Classes begin in January of 2026.)

Not sure about applying? Join us on April 29 at 7 p.m. for an  information session AND a mini-lecture from MAPS-CGS adjunct professor Rabbi Barry Friedman. Rabbi Friedman will discuss Deuteronomy 6:5: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."

Aquinas has the only master's program devoted to CGS; join us and get a glimpse of what to expect.

FOR MORE INFO/TO APPLY

REGISTER FOR INFORMATION SESSION

THE AQUINAS WAY

Part of the world-wide Order of Preachers and following in the footsteps of Saint Dominic, we are a Catholic, Dominican, graduate school of theology in Saint Louis Missouri. We send out graduates, lay and religious, grounded in the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, to preach the gospel in word and deed. 

By The Numbers

5:1

Student-to-Teacher Ratio

Aquinas Institute believes in a small community where teachers, laypersons and friars can learn side-by-side, using discussion and collaboration as tools to best find the truth.

$4 million

Received in Grant Money

Aquinas Institute has launched the Center for Continuing Education, the New Frontiers in Preaching program, and the upcoming  Worship and Prayer Through Children's Catechesis Project with grant money provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc. These programs allow Aquinas to not only teach graduate students, but to provide lifelong learning opportunities as well.

2,000

Nearly 2,000 Alumni Around the World

Aquinas alumni have served as hospital chaplains, non-profit executives, youth ministers, theology teachers, academic administrators, college professors, social justice advocates, and more.

1925

Year Aquinas Institute of Theology was founded

Aquinas Institute of Theology has been educating graduate students in the discipline of theology for almost 100 years.

12

Academic programs offered, from degree programs to graduate certificate options

Graduate degree programs at Aquinas include a Master of Arts in Theology, Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies, and a Master of Divinity, the country's only Doctor of Ministry in Preaching, and the only Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies - Catechesis of the Good Shepherd degree of its kind.

12

Fully Funded Aquinas Scholarships

Available for full-time students in any of the "Core Three" programs: MA in Theology, MA in Pastoral Studies, or Master of Divinity.

2

Dominican Provinces served

Aquinas Institute is designated as the Center for Institutional Studies by the Order of Preachers and is sponsored by the Dominican Central Province of St. Albert the Great in partnership with Dominican Southern Province of St. Martin de Porres.

News & Calendar