Well, if I had to pick between Ave Maria, and Steubenville, I’d pick Steubenville. Anyplace with Scott Hahn on the faculty has to be good.
yes - Ohio has Hahn - and Florida has Burmese Pythons.
Ave Maria also has great professors, including Michael Waldstein - who is one of the most respected theology professors in the world and who is so well regarded that the Vatican invited him to be an official theological expert to advice the most recent synod on sacred scripture.
Alumni Updates
A Bishops’ Peritus: Michael Waldstein (’77)
(Fall 2008 Newsletter)
For three weeks in October, the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops met in the Vatican on the theme “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.” And among those advising the bishops in their studies and discussions was Dr. Michael Waldstein, Thomas Aquinas College Class of 1977.
The Synod on the Word of God, a continuation of the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, focused on examining the intrinsic connection between Holy Scripture and the Blessed Sacrament. Dr. Waldstein, who this summer joined the faculty at Florida’s Ave Maria University as the Max Seckler Professor of Theology, was appointed a peritus (expert) for the Synod, one of only 41 periti from around the world to be so appointed.
Dr. Waldstein previously spent eight years as the founding president of the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria, following eight years as a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife, Susan (Class of 1978), were also one of only nine couples appointed by Pope John Paul II to serve on the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Waldsteins have eight children, three of whom are graduates of the College: Johannes (’02), Maria-Theresia (’05), and Thomas (’06); and one, Benedict, who is currently enrolled as a sophomore.
In 2006, Dr. Waldstein published an authoritative and highly acclaimed translation of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, based on a long-missing outline of the works that Dr. Waldstein discovered among the Holy Father’s papers in the John Paul II archives at Rome’s Casa Polacca. Dr. Waldstein holds a masters in philosophy from the University of Dallas, a licentiate in Scripture from the Pontificium Institutum Biblicum in Rome, and a doctorate in New Testament studies from Harvard Divinity School.
The Synod, which ran from October 5 to October 26, placed a heavy emphasis on the role of the Word of God in ecumenism and evangelization. Leading the Synod was Marc Cardinal Ouellet of Quebec, who will be Thomas Aquinas College’s Commencement Speaker in 2009. Members of the Synod from the United States included Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); USCCB Vice President Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Houston; Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson; and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.
Upon receiving his appointment, Dr. Waldstein remarked that it would be “an honor to serve as an advisor to the bishops and to be a resource for them in their own reflections.”
— Qtrly Newsletter, Fall 2008