St. Thomas Academy has conferred its Opus Sancti Thomae award on Father Dennis Dease, president-emeritus of the university.
Dease received the award Sept. 24 in recognition of his contributions to the Catholic Church as a pastor, teacher and university president, as well as his service as a teacher and trustee at St. Thomas Academy.
Dease taught religion at the Mendota Heights school in 1970-71 and is a member of the academy’s board of trustees.
In accepting the award, Dease recalled longtime teachers who tirelessly served the academy because they believed in its mission – “in academics of the highest quality, in a commitment to values rooted in the Catholic faith, in a nurturing culture and in the way that it lives out its motto, Ex Umbris in Veritatem: ‘Out of darkness into truth.’”
