Arlington diocesan priest Father Daniel F. Hanley has been
invited to join the faculty of the Pontifical North American
College (NAC) in Rome, where he plans to complete a doctorate
in sacred theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas
Aquinas during a three-year term. He recently earned his
licentiate from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington.
It has been in his heart for years to plunge deeper into
theology and to accompany men on their journey toward the
priesthood, said Father Hanley during a May 30 interview. He
said he is humbled and grateful that Arlington Bishop Paul.
S. Loverde has given him the opportunity to do both.
As the new director of admissions at the NAC, the American
seminary in Rome, Father Hanley will be a formation adviser,
mentoring and accompanying seminarians and teaching the
practical aspects of the priesthood, such as confessional
practices and homiletics, or the art of preaching. He will
live in community with the men, residing on one of the
college hallways, which serve as smaller communities within
the larger seminary.
“The biggest and most important part of my role there is to
build relationships and a sense of community,” said Father
Hanley, who has lived at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More
rectory in Arlington while studying in Washington.
With six Arlington seminarians studying at the NAC this fall,
he will journey with would-be priests for both the U.S. and
diocesan church.
While living at the college, he plans to attend the
Dominican-run Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas,
also known as the Angelicum, where he spent two years as a
seminarian. There, he will continue his studies in
Christology – the study of Jesus’ life and humanity – for his
doctoral dissertation.
It is a transformative gift to study theology, said Father
Hanley, adding that when you investigate and ponder the life
and humanity of Jesus, your prayer can’t help but be
affected.
Father Hanley writes in the Thomistic tradition, and he hopes
to use the thought of St. Thomas in a way that engages
modernity – “to show how very vital his theology is for
today,” he said.
Ordained by Bishop Loverde June 11, 2005, Father Hanley
served as parochial vicar of St. Mary Church in Alexandria
and St. James Church in Falls Church. While at St. James, he
was asked to replace the late Brother David Eddy as Bishop
Loverde’s secretary, a post he held for two years before
beginning his licentiate at the Dominican House. A licentiate
– akin to a degree between a master’s and doctorate – is an
ecclesiastical degree, meaning it is related to service in
the church. A licentiate in sacred theology essentially is a
license to teach seminarians as well as others seeking a
bachelor’s degree in theology.
Throughout his two years of studies in Washington, Father
Hanley celebrated weekday Masses at the cathedral and helped
with Masses and confessions at St. Leo the Great Church in
Fairfax on weekends.
Father Hanley said returning to school at the Dominican House
in his early 40s was humbling. “You realize that the more you
study and pray, the more you know less than you thought,” he
said, laughing. But it has been a gift to revisit the great
minds he encountered in seminary.
“Sometimes seeing things in a deeper way for the second or
third or fourth time – that helps you penetrate more deeply
into the theology of the church,” he said.
And his ongoing studies have opened his eyes even wider to
the beauty of the Catholic faith.
“I have a real gratitude about the way that God has revealed
Himself to us and the way He comes to us through revelation
and His church,” he said.
Father Hanley will spend about two weeks in Rome in July,
then return to the states to wrap up loose ends and celebrate
his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. He will return to Rome
Aug. 10 to begin his studies and seminary responsibilities.
Father Hanley said he is eager to get to know the NAC
seminarians, who he said seem joyful and prayerful, and the
college faculty. And, he added, it is always a blessing to
study in Rome – the heart of the church.
