June 5, 2023. That’s the day that the first message was posted in our “Chesterton Academy MA” group chat, launching the beginning of an ongoing conversation among a small group of enthusiastic parents hoping to establish a Catholic, classical high school in Massachusetts. And why did we want this? Because we believe that our children and our Church deserve it. We believe that we serve our children best by giving them an authentic Catholic education that passes on to them the riches and joys of their spiritual and intellectual inheritance, and we serve Christ’s Church by forming our children into disciples of wisdom and virtue who will live lives of service to Him.
This deep conviction has inspired and invigorated us throughout these past seven months, and I can’t help but marvel at our progress. We’ve talked to dozens of faithful people all over the country - fellow parents who have also started Chesterton schools, educators and academics with an interest in Catholic classical education, lawyers and entrepreneurs with non-profit experience - all of whom have inspired us with their tenacity and wisdom and filled us with gratitude for their magnanimity and generosity. We’ve pulled together a remarkable team, with marketing, legal, educational, real estate, and business expertise. We’ve met for countless hours to discuss and hammer out plans and strategies. We’ve been humbled by the friends we’ve made along the way, who have come - seemingly out of the woodwork - to show their support for our project with their time, talent, and treasure. We have celebrated together, feasted together, learned together, sorrowed together, and rejoiced together.
And we have prayed together. Masses, rosaries, novenas (and even a rosary novena!) have all been offered on behalf of our school. We are so deeply grateful to all of you who have prayed with and for us as we commit our efforts to the Lord and entrust our school to His care. May His Holy Will be our guide in all things!
God has already richly blessed us. Since we first began spreading the word about this venture on St. Benedict’s Feast Day last summer, we’ve incorporated our board, achieved non-profit status, held (and successfully completed!) our first fundraising campaign, hosted monthly community-building gatherings, and been officially accepted into Chesterton Network Cohort 2025. With each passing month, what began as a hazy dream becomes more and more a concrete reality.
The next step: sending members of our team to Discovery Days in February 2024, where we will officially kick off our eighteen-month journey to opening in September 2025. Eighteen months: it seems like a long time, but if the past seven months have taught us anything, it is that time flies. Yet we have also learned that how much can be accomplished even in a short amount of time, far beyond our expectations: by God’s grace, all things are possible. There is so much still unknown: where our building will be, what it will look like, what students will fill its halls. . . but we humbly follow in the footsteps of so many others, past and present, who have set out on journeys not knowing where they would end, but trusting that if they sought God’s will each step of the way He would bring their work to fulfillment. We are so excited to see what He will do for us next.
Please keep us in your prayers, and ask the Lord to show you whether He may be calling you to help support us in other ways. If you, too, are inspired by our mission and feel called to contribute, please reach out - we’d love to hear from you.
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