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Dear Friends
of Thomas International,
Our project has
been growing so much between 2005 and 2006 that Chris and
I thought it urgent (and fair) to keep you all (better and
more) posted about our activities, events, and news. To this
purpose, we are working on how to frame and arrange a regular
newsletter; but I have also decided to address you directly
sometimes. And I’m particularly happy to start doing it now,
at the end of the year, taking advantage of it to wish you
all a great and holy Christmas.
Thank God, the
number of TI friends has increased so fast much every month
that neither Chris nor I find enough time to answer every
message we receive and to write in person to as many people
as we would like to. Some general messages and newsletters
cannot be a surrogate for a real personal relationship, but
they will make us feel better, and they will nicely serve
the purpose of making you hear first-hand from us on a more
regular basis.
First of all,
let me thank you all (again) for your support and advice,
for the work you are doing for TI, and for the wonderful messages
you have been sending to us, which have been cheering us up
in moments of intense work and important decisions. As we
are approaching our first major annual conference in America
on the “Philosophical Foundations of Human Dignity” and our
Second Annual Banquet in March 2007, Chris and I have been
working harder on exploring possibilities for the definitive
location of our future university. In fact, following the
March conference we will be having our first formal meetings
of both our Advisory Board and our Board of Directors. This
is going to be an important moment on our way to a final decision
about the location, which we want to make no later than December
2007 (hopefully much earlier than that). This year, we have
been traveling almost every month from coast to coast receiving
warm and encouraging welcomes. Some people from South Carolina
have been especially enthusiastic about our project, and will
be coming to our March banquet in order to present an official
proposal to our boards. About two weeks ago, we drove to North
Carolina and, between January and February, we will be going,
among other places, to St. Louis, Chicago, and some cities
on the East Coast. Now more than ever, we appreciate and welcome
any suggestions you might have for us.
Another important
piece of news is that we have rented an office/apartment in
Washington, D.C. for the Ralph McInerny Center for Thomistic
Studies. This is a (lovely) temporary location, and it is
very important in helping us to develop our project. Classes
on “Philosophy, the Beginning”—the first course of our Three-Year
Program in Philosophical Studies—have been held there, and
they have been a great occasion to meet a wonderful group
of young professionals in the DC area who have become fond
and supportive of our project. As a matter of fact, the goal
of creating a friendly community of people in America who
will help us to bring our project to completion is presently
one of our top priorities. For this purpose, we have just
established the American Thomas International Association,
and we are forming a TI Board of Fellows to specifically promote
it. Our new Executive Assistant, Francesco Lombardo, is especially
working on this. I sincerely hope that many of you will soon
formally join this Association. The Italian Associazione
Thomas International was established in April 2005 and
is doing great. It counts already more than 130 members, and
from it we received in 2006 grants for more than $190,000.00.
We just had a Christmas party for its members on the 20th
in Palermo. During the party, we had a “Lectura Dantis,”
[Dante Reading] with an Italian Professor, Ettore Aronadio,
reading for us part of the Purgatorio.
I hope you like
the new design we recently gave to our homepage, and I thank
you again and wish you a holy and merry Christmas with your
families.
Fulvio Di Blasi |
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