February 3, 2025

Chesterton sacristans and servers with Bishop Tobin.

A note from the Headmaster:

Dear friends of Chesterton,

First, I am delighted to share an important announcement: We have passed all inspections and are able to use the whole of our building! As many of you know, our opening 16 months ago followed an intense 3 months of work. At the time, we opened with the lobby, church, and downstairs classrooms. Just last Friday, Jan. 24, we received approval from Warwick to open the whole upstairs, including the Frassati Room - our cafeteria - and the St. John Vianney Chesterton Library.

Thank you to so many who contribute to building up Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope. It is not just a building that you are helping to construct - it is a community!

Thank you especially to our founder, Mr. Michael Casey. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide us as we foster students full of wonder and joy who pursue the fullness of life through friendship, wisdom, virtue, and holiness.

"The whole object of education is a renascance of wonder." -G. K. Chesterton

Fr. Quenneville recently shared something in a Chesterton homily that cuts to the heart of how we achieve our mission. He pointed out that gratitude is the heart Christianity. Other religions attempted to give something to the gods. But the sacrifice of Christians is thanksgiving (Eucharistia). This is strange. To "give" thanks is not so much to give something, but to acknowledge that I have received something. The gift God wants from us is ultimately only to receive him.

The classical tradition recognizes that we receive above all through the intellect. Learning is making contact with reality. We study the great works because they nourish us by contact with what is most real.

This nourishment in turn makes heroic love possible. In all our acts of service, work, and love, we first of all give of ourselves, the same selves nourished by our loving contact with reality.

In a word, the contemplation of reality in a community of friends enables our Eucharistic communion with God to go beyond our fixed times of prayer and touch our whole life and being, and through us, others.

We know that we live in a culture with unique challenges, like the temptations to distraction, the tendency to reject what we have been given -- i.e., the created world and the Great Tradition handed on to us -- in favor of valuing only what we make for ourselves, and the fracturing of public discourse. We strive to foster men and women who are awake, through gratitude and wonder, to the depth and mystery of reality, because we believe that in this way we can bring lives to Christ and serve the common good.

Please read on to see more about the things we have been doing, and the things we will be doing, to live out this mission. And please continue to pray for us, visit us, and support us.

Gratefully yours in Christ,

Robert Duffy, PhD

Headmaster

Feb. 7, 4-6pm: Holy Hour and Bonfire

Help us welcome accepted students on Feb. 7 at our First Friday Holy Hour and Bonfire!

Feb. 8: Chesterton Honors Choir Sings the National Anthem at PC Hockey Game

Feb. 14: Chesterton Annual Symposium: Merchant of Venice

Students will celebrate our community and classical education by a festive day dedicated to Shakespeare! Students will have two seminar discussions in the morning. After Mass at 11:10, we will have lunch, students will act out scenes, and Providence College professor, Shakespeare scholar, and Dominican priest, Fr. Jordan Zajac will offer a keynote address. A reception with drinks, appetizers, and desserts will end the day.

The Symposium is a day when we pause in our daily routines to celebrate the very-goodness of all that God has made. Our primary calling as human beings, and our deepest individual and communal fulfillment, comes from receiving God's gift through careful attention, thoughtfulness, and joyful community. We would love to have you. Space is limited. Reach out to info@chestertonri.org if you would like to attend part or all of this day!

May 2, 6pm: Spring Concert and Art Show - Save the Date!

Save the date! Join us for Chesterton's spring concert in St. Francis chapel, followed by an exhibition of student art downstairs with a dessert reception and dancing.

May 10, 10AM: Athletics Fundraiser Family Festival - Save the Date, and Seeking Volunteers

Our athletics programs have continued to grow this year, praise God! We joined the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and have had teams for soccer and cross country in the fall, basketball and wrestling in the winter, and in the spring, we will offer track and field, volleyball, and rugby.

To continue to grow our programs, we are hosting our second Athletics Fundraiser on May 10th, 2025. We have big visions for this event, and would love to make it a Family Carnival for current and potential families, and the greater Rhode Island community, but we cannot do it without your help.

If you are willing to participate in a committee to plan this event, please reach out to me via email at athletics@chestertonri.org, or by calling the main office at (401) 287-2280.

June 13: End of Year Celebration

Join us to thank God for his good gifts and celebrate the completion of Chesterton Academy's second year! We will have a cookout with a bonfire, games, tours of the property, and the opportunity to meet parents, faculty, students, and friends of Chesterton, and more. This event is open to the public, and we would love to see you there!

After vocation panels, students continue the conversation with Sr. Mary Amata and Fr. Scott.

For Catholic schools week, students dressed in their house colors, and celebrated with special events including opportunities for reflection and gratitude, a panel on vocations, a special discussion class with refreshments, Red, White, and Blue day, and a special lunchtime family feast.

On Wednesday, students dressed "more formal than normal" (semi-formal) and had an extended seminar on Homer's Odyssey (freshmen) and Augustine's Confessions (Sophomores/Juniors). Dressing this way witnesses that conversations in friendship about the deepest realities is not just a school activity, but a habit for life.

Congratulations to junior Juliette, the winner of our Our Lady of Hope art competition, with her copy of a painting by Raphael.

Thank you to Kateri Garcia, who in addition to her roles at Chesterton is the director of education for Rhode Island Right to Life. Mrs. Garcia shared about the pro life movement and information about the development of babies in the womb with our students on January 24.

Mass in the Extraordinary Form was celebrated at Chesterton for the first time this month, presided by Fr. Romo of St. Mary's on Broadway. The diversity of expressions of faith and devotion deepen our encounters with the fundamental orienting reality of God's covenantal love for us in Christ, and our response in gratitude (Eucharistia).

Student shadows enjoy their days. One called it "the best day of her life." If you know someone of high school age, encourage them to shadow and experience the Chesterton difference!

Students celebrate the completion of exams and the feast of Our Lady of Hope on January 17. Thank you to parent Mrs. Lough for helping plan and run this wonderful event!