The following is the main body of a press released e-mailed to me yesterday:(Merrimack, New Hampshire)— The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts and Sophia Institute Press entered into a collaborative partnership last week that establishes the Press as the publishing division of the College.
This collaboration will immediately return to print over 50 works from Sophia Institute Press that are currently out-of-print, including How to Get More out of Holy Communion and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s God’s World and Our Place in It. With the help of the College, Sophia Institute Press will strengthen its marketing department, and extend its reach into bookstores, institutions, homeschool groups, parishes, and other Catholic markets.
Dr. Jeffrey O. Nelson, president of Thomas More College, has also become Chairman of the Sophia Institute and its internationally recognized press. Dr. John Barger, founder of Sophia Institute Press, will continue his work as publisher.
“Upon taking the helm as president of Thomas More College two years ago, I laid plans to establish a publishing program that further advances the College’s mission of evangelizing the culture by promoting the Catholic intellectual tradition. I have always admired the work of Sophia Institute Press, and had hoped to establish a Press that mirrored Sophia’s substantial work,” said Nelson. “All of us at Thomas More College are excited to have the opportunity to form a relationship with Sophia that reduces repetition and enables Thomas More College and the Institute to more fully realize their missions of serving both the Church and society.”
Barger is equally enthusiastic about this endeavor.
“We at Sophia Institute Press are excited to be closely associated with an orthodox Catholic college like Thomas More. I am delighted that Sophia’s 25-year tradition of publishing great Catholic spiritual works will continue well into the future as the publishing imprint of Thomas More College. I have full confidence in Jeff Nelson’s leadership and look forward to working closely with him for years to come,” stated Barger.
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is a four-year college that provides the rising generation with an education that forms them intellectually and spiritually within the Catholic intellectual tradition and with full fidelity to the Magisterium. Additionally, the College has launched entrepreneurial new centers that seek to advance the teachings of the Catholic Church beyond the confines of its campus. These centers include the Vatican Studies Center, the Center for New England Politics and Culture, the Caroline Gordon Program, and the Center for Faith and Culture in Oxford, England.
Sophia Institute Press was established to nurture the spiritual, moral, and cultural life of souls and to spread the Gospel of Christ in conformity with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. Having published more than 200 titles over the past 25 years, including works by Catholic saints, scholars, novelists, biographers, and others, Sophia Institute Press has sold nearly 2.5 million books worldwide to hundreds of thousands of individuals, bookstores, and institutions. In a letter to Barger, the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “I am convinced of the good your books can do in helping people grow closer to God.”
