Building virtues as ‘superhabits’: CUA professor to give talk on new book that draws on Aquinas

CV NEWS FEED // Virtues are “superhabits” that can be built up through regular practice, an author and professor at The Catholic University of America will explain in a talk this week about his new book. 

Dr. Andrew Abela is a professor of marketing at the Washington, D.C.-based Catholic university, and the author of Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life, according to the Catholic Information Center (CIC). Abela is also the founding dean of CUA’s Busch School of Business. 

The CIC is hosting Abela’s “Superhabits” presentation and book launch, which can be attended at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on October 24 virtually, or in-person in Washington, D.C. Registration, which can be found here, is required for in-person attendance of the event.

The CIC’s webpage on the event states that Abela’s book looks at how virtues, which Abela refers to as “super habits,” need to be built up not through “herculean efforts” but instead through “steady daily practice, which is accessible to all.”

In the talk, Abela will explore how once an action becomes a habit, it is easier to do. Building a habit of virtue brings sustained joy and will benefit one’s physical, emotional, and mental health.

A Sophia Institute Press video preview for “Superhabits” explains that the book’s insights draw on modern positive psychology and on “thinkers like [St.] Thomas Aquinas,” who is known especially for his extensive writings on theology.

The CIC webpage notes that in the book, Abela shows how St. Thomas Aquinas’ “genius… codified the super habits into a veritable human operating system, one that’s more relevant today than ever.”