Undoubtedly, Thomas Aquinas—as thankfully reinterpreted through great minds such as Rahner, Congar, de Lubac, Chenu and many others—had a dramatic effect on my spiritual and religious formation as I grew up in the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, even though I had no inkling of this; it was not until I was off to college
at 18 that I remember even hearing Aquinas’ name, and that only because I attended the Roman Catholic church closest to my secular college campus; the parish was called St. Thomas Aquinas. This was a spirited, Vatican II-centered parish serving those Roman Catholic students attending the University of Colorado at Boulder and a number of families and community members who just wanted to be there.