Chesterton Hath A School!

It’s been a while since I ventured over to the American Chesterton Society website, so I was caught a bit off guard this morning when I saw this logo in the lower left hand corner of the home page:

That’s right. There is a new high school starting up in Minnesota that will have a distinct Chestertonian flavor. Now, you can’t go wrong there. As I always say, we can’t get enough of Chesterton in this world. Some disagree, but those who do clearly belong to the number of the reprobate and are blinded by their own sin. May God have mercy on their souls.

The Academy is beginning with 9th and 10th grade this year, and will be adding 11th grade the following year, and 12th the year after. The school will obviously be a private school, but will also be independent of the diocese (sometimes a good thing). To begin with, the Chesterton Academy will be funded primarily by American Chesterton Society fund raising efforts, but the hope is to, at some point, spin the school off to be its own, self supporting entity.

Not surprisingly, the curriculum will be classical and Catholic. The website also notes that the Chesterton Academy will have an “Emphasis on General Knowledge – not  Specialization”; in other words, a liberal education – which is a good thing in high school (and undergrad too, for that matter). The website also states there will be a “Mixture of Socratic Method and Lecture format”. This seems to be a popular model for “classical” schools. From what I understand, this is the model adopted by Thomas Aquinas College in  Santa Paula, California. Although, TAC seems to take this model a step or two further, which is great for college, but may not be advisable in a high school environment.

The Academy’s current board of advisors include Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. of EWTN fame , Charles Rice – Professor Emeritus of Law at Notre Dame, and Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J – founder and Editor of Ignatius Press.

To learn more, visit the Chesterton Academy website.