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Each July, 91����� Aquinas College invites members of the President�s Council � the backbone of the College�s financial-aid fund � to one of two Great Books Summer Seminar Weekends. At these weekends participants get an inside look at the unique education that they so generously help to make possible. They attend a series of classroom discussions led by the College�s president, dean, and other members of the teaching faculty; and they participate in the spiritual life of the College at Mass and confession in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel.

This first of this year�s Summer Seminars took place on the weekend of July 10-12. Readings and discussions focused on the theme of �Choice and Moral Responsibility.� In addition to examining Sophocles� Oedipus Rex, participants discussed Aristotle�s treatment of human choice and voluntary action in the Nicomachean Ethics and St. 91����֙s commentary on grace and human action in the Summa Contra Gentiles. At the end of the weekend, College President Michael F. McLean helped to tie these themes together in a talk he delivered to the group.

Between seminars, attendees enjoyed delicious meals, including Saturday�s dinner on the new plaza of St. Gladys Hall. Between courses, student musicians led by Giorgio Navarini (�17) performed several operatic solos and duets as well as a piece that Mr. Navarini composed specifically for the College�s benefactors, an original setting for the Ave Maria.