Very Rev. Basil Cole, O.P.

About

Joining the Dominicans of the Western Province in 1960, Fr. Cole was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. He finished his theological studies at Le Saulchoir in Etiolles, France, earning the lectorate and licentiate degrees in 1968. He later received the doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). After teaching theology and philosophy at Pilarica College for the Notre Dame Sisters (1968-69), Fr. Cole was elected prior of St. Dominic’s in San Francisco, where he also served as parish priest, a member of the provincial council, and lecturer at various institutions (1970-1975). Elected prior of Daniel Murphy High School community in Los Angeles, he became a member of the Western Dominican preaching band and preached throughout the American West after completing his term of office. Fr. Cole was later an invited professor at the Angelicum from 1985-97. In 1998, he became an assistant professor of moral, spiritual, and dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies. From 2010-2013, he was prior of the novitiate in Cincinnati and taught at Mt. St. Mary Seminary (Cincinnati) as an adjunct professor of theology. He then returned to the Dominican House of Studies as a full professor until he became emeritus in June of 2023

Here are his books written over the years of his ministry:
Angelic Virtues and Demonic Vices: Aquinas’s Practical Principles for Reaching Heaven and Avoiding Hell (Charlotte, NC: TAN, 2023).

Priestly Pastoral Theology for Seminarians (Mumbai: St. Paul’s Publications, 2023).

A Sense of Humor and Virtue: A Thomistic Theological Perspective (Mumbai: St. Paul’s Publications, 2011).

The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood: The Contribution of St. Thomas Aquinas (Staten Island: Alba House, 2007); also published by St. Paul’s, Makati City, Philippines, 2007, and St. Paul’s Publications, Mumbai.

Consecrated Life: Contributions of Vatican II, Dominic Hoffman, O.P. (+) with Basil Cole, O.P. (ed.) (Bombay: St. Paul’s Publications, 2005).

A New Catechism of the Consecrated Life: Help for Perplexed Postulants and Novices of the Third Millennium, Paul Conner, O.P., Revised impression (Bangalore: Asia Trading Corporation, 1999).

Christian Totality: Theology of Consecrated Life, Paul Conner, O.P. and Basil Cole, O.P., third impression (Bombay: St. Paul Editions, 1992); revised 1997 and published by Alba House, Staten Island, New York; published in Polish as Plenia Chrzescijanstwa, Anna Maria Nowak and Danuta Dowjat (trs.), (W Drodze, Poznan, Poland 1997); published in French as La Plenitude de la Vie, Wilfrid-Marie Houeto (tr.), Editions Edilivre, St. Denis, France 2012; also published in Hungarian, Teljes kereszténység – A megszenteletélet teológiája (Budapest: Kairosz Konyvkiado Kft, 2017).

He has also written article for The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Faith and Reason, Nova et Vetera, and The Angelicum. Further, he was a long-time collaborator for Germain Grisez’s three-volume series of moral theology, The Way of the Lord Jesus.

Select Publications

Books

Priestly Pastoral Ministry, (St. Paul’s: Mumbai: India) to be published in 2022.

The Road to Bliss or Damnation through the Lens of St. Thomas Aquinas (St. Augustin Press: Charlotte, NC), in preparation.

A Sense of Humor and Virtue: A Thomistic Theological Perspective, (Mumbai, India: St. Paul Publications, 2011.

The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood: The Contribution of St. Thomas Aquinas, (Staten Island: Alba House, 2007); also published by St. Paul’s, Makati City, Philippines, 2007, and St. Paul’s Publications, Mumbai, India. Also, to be published in Portuguese for a Brazilian publisher.

Consecrated Life: Contributions of Vatican II, Dominic Hoffman, O.P. (+) with Basil Cole, O.P. (ed.) (Bombay, India: St. Paul’s Publications, 2005).

A New Catechism of the Consecrated Life: Help for Perplexed Postulants and Novices of the Third Millennium, Paul Conner, O.P., Revised impression, Asia Trading Corporation, Bangalore, India 1999.

Christian Totality: Theology of Consecrated Life, Paul Conner, O.P. and Basil Cole, O.P., third impression, St. Paul Editions, Bombay, India 1992; revised 1997 and published by Alba House, Staten Island, New York; published in Polish as Plenia Chrzescijanstwa, Anna Maria Nowak and Danuta Dowjat (trs.), (W Drodze, Poznan, Poland 1997); published in French as La Plenitude de la Vie, Wilfred-Marie Hueto,(tr.), Editions Edilivre, St. Denis, France 2012; also published in Hungarian, Teljes kereszténység – A megszenteletélet teológiája, (Budapest: Kairosz Konyvkiado Kft, 2017).

Music and Morals: A Theological Appraisal Of The Moral And Psychological Effects Of Music, Alba House, Staten Island, NY 1993.

Dissertation: The Moral and Psychological Effects of Music: A Theological Appraisal, The Angelicum, Rome. Italy 1992.

Articles

Accompanying, Discerning, And Integrating Weakness in Marriage, HPR, February, 2020.

Heresy Secundum Quid in the Light of St. Thomas Aquinas, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly, Vol. 43. (3-4), (2020),  281-292.

Ten Commandments That Should Shape Palliative Care, HPR, January, 2021.

Some Reflections on the Spiritual Life For the Lockdown, HPR, May, 2021.

The Good News of Punishment in the Light of St. Thomas Aquinas, Nova et Vetera, English Edition, Vol. 20, (1)  (2022) 11-34 .

Year of St. Joseph, Spiritual Father: Some Meditations, Nova et Vetera, English Edition, Vol. 20 (1) (2022) 51-60.

Another Minor Ministry?, accepted for publication,  HPR, 2022.