About the Program

The Department of Catholic Studies educates students in the many paths of Catholic thought and culture.

The Catholic Studies curriculum engages students in the Catholic imaginative and sacramental life through literature, history, and the arts, while remaining grounded in philosophy and theology. Rigorous examination of the role of Catholicism in history challenges students to appreciate Catholicism’s cultural interpenetration and its eventual transformation of every aspect of spiritual, social, and intellectual life. With a faculty united by a profound respect for Catholicism and a dedication to a high degree of interaction with students and the academic world, students enter a community that is at once faithful and intellectual.

Students from across the country and around the world continue to be drawn to Catholic Studies at St. Thomas—the oldest, largest, and most prestigious program of its kind in the United States. Many students also take advantage of the University’s semester abroad program to study at the Angelicum in Rome, residing at St. Thomas’s Bernardi campus in the very heart of the Church.

The Catholic Studies curriculum can appeal to students of any creed who seek to deepen their knowledge of Catholicism’s rich and living heritage. An interpersonal approach and opportunities for sustained reflection on important issues invite students to a more profound and mature experience of faith.