Discover Chesterton
The Three Pillars
Inspired by Saint Pope John Paul II, we take as our motto Cultura Vitae, the Culture of Life. We make it our mission to prepare our students to triumph over the materialism and despair that pervade our culture and to accept our Lord's offer to have life and have it abundantly. Our classical curriculum combines a broad liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the development of Christian virtues and an appreciation of beauty. Through our Three Pillars Model, we form our students in the following.
INTELLECT
We teach the classics of Western thought from physics to philosophy, and the interrelationship of the great ideas; teaching students not merely what to think, but how to think.
CHARACTER
We help students grow in the four cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice, which we believe are the foundation of leadership.
SPIRITUALITY
Our students come to understand and embrace the truth of why they exist: to know God, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world and be happy with Him forever in the next.
Hallmarks of a Chesterton Education
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An Incarnational Environment
From history and theology to math and science, the Incarnation is the central mystery we explore across the entire curriculum. It is our desire that each student would personally experience the Incarnation.
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A Focus on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Our classical curriculum combines a broad, liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the development of Christian virtues and an appreciation of beauty.
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A Joyful Learning Environment
We create environments where students experience the joy of community and the discovery process, providing them with an opportunity to live out their spiritual life in an atmosphere of joy and fun.
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Rediscovering the Lost Tools of Learning
Our curriculum is centered on skills seemingly forgotten in our modern society: reading, writing, oral presentations, and the development of critical reasoning skills through logic and philosophy.
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The Socratic Seminar
The Socratic seminar is perhaps the oldest educational tool. Through this method, a teacher imparts knowledge through directed questions and guided dialogue, bringing ideas and knowledge to life.
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The Wit and Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton
Chesterton exemplified the Catholic faith through his wit, his clarity, his kindness, and his ability to love people with whom he disagreed, while sharing the faith in Christian charity.
Discover Our Patrons
Learn more about our patrons and how they encompass the culture and life of our school and students.
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A model of lay spirituality.
The Chesterton Schools Network is named for the great English writer and Catholic convert, G.K. Chesterton (1874- 1936). Chesterton is our school’s patron because he exemplified the Catholic faith through a life filled with joy, wonder, and gratitude.
Chesterton was considered one of the world’s most outstanding men of letters in the early 20th century. An accomplished essayist, novelist, and poet, he wrote a hundred books on all different subjects. In 1922, he shocked the literary establishment by converting to Catholicism. He was later eulogized by Pope Pius XI as “a gifted defender of the faith,” and there is presently a popular movement to have him canonized. He not only represents the fullness of faith and reason, but also Catholic joy and common sense.
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A strong and bold model for our students in modern times.
As Catholics, we are called to be counter-cultural—to sacrifice the temporal comforts of this life to follow the Divine Life of Christ. While Mary is no less the Queen of the Holy Martyrs of the faith found throughout history, this title refers to her own martyrdom at the foot of the cross, when a sword pierced her heart. In that moment, she felt the full weight of her sacrifices and suffering, united with the sufferings of her Son.
Drawing upon her example, we encourage our students to be inspired by Mary’s sacrificial heart and embrace the sufferings of God’s will to sanctify them. In this way, we can unite ourselves more fully to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. Like Mary, we can lift up our community with Christian charity and learn to sit with those suffering as they endure their own crosses in life.
That moment when the sword pierces her heart, brings full-circle Mary’s great fiat at the Annunciation. She knew she would endure great trials in her lifetime in order to accomplish the Will of God, and yet she said “yes” to it all. Akin to the abundant obedience Our Lady showed in her fiat, we ask our students to draw courage from her strength to say “yes” to God in their own vocations.
Much of her martyrdom was likely hidden to the world and less obvious than many of the Great Martyrs of our faith, although it was no less exemplary. Most of us will experience these quieter, hidden sufferings, and we can look to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs to show us the way through them.
The motto of Chesterton Academy is Cultura Vitae, which means “Culture of Life.” Mary’s motherhood attests to the culture of life we hope to renew in our culture today, where all human life is respected, from conception to natural death.
GK Chesterton had a great affection for Our Lady and wrote often on the theme of paradox. This title of Mary is a paradox. When we call upon “Our Lady” Queen of Martyrs, we can remember how she was given to us, as our Mother, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. There is a simple gentleness and humility in her name, and yet her martyrdom was that of a spiritual warrior. When faced with paradox, our students can feel peace in remembering that Our Lady has the full court of angels at her disposal to guide us as we engage in our spiritual battles, if we only call upon her name. With the tenderness of a mother, she sits with us in our hours of need and rejoices with us in our triumphs.