Students enjoy a lunchtime feast, planned by the Western houses (Ambrose and Augustine), to celebrate St. Joseph's Day |
A Note from the Headmaster |
Dear friends,
It is hard to believe that we have already finished 3 quarters of our first school year! Thank you for your support and your many prayers. It is powerful to see the mission of Chesterton taking root in Rhode Island, and to see how, through the labors of our faculty and staff, priests, and volunteers, it is bearing fruit in the lives of our students, families, faculty, and other community members.
So much has happened since our last newsletter. We launched Chess Club, Intramural Basketball, Chesterton Students for Life, and the Campfire and Songs club. The Western Houses hosted a feast for St. Joseph’s Day. As we need to hire to support our growing student body, we have been visited by a multitude of admirable and skilled teaching candidates who are eager to join our mission. And we continue to have many guests at our Holy Hour, Open Houses, and Shadow Days, as more and more students and families come to learn about the beauty of a Chesterton education.
Like the school year, the journey from Palm Sunday’s victorious parade to Good Friday’s grief always feels to me like a lifetime compressed into a few days. The call to set aside some of this time for God always helps me remember that time is a gift.
As a Classical school, at Chesterton we hand on this sense of time to our students. Each day, each week, and before each break, we strive to finish strong, handing ourselves over to meaningful discussions and activities right to the last bell. This does not mean we are always “busy.” For everything there is a time and a season, and we “redeem the time” by attending to these rhythms and letting the meaning of each moment come forth (cf. Eph. 5:16). For example, our teachers diligently plan from bell to bell so that every moment of class time leads the students more deeply into wonder. We step out of the rhythms of the day to worship at Mass. We have days like the Symposium that communicate that the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty in a community of friends is beautiful and, ultimately – as the German Catholic philosopher Joseph Pieper teaches us – festive. And the last day of school is an intentional celebration, with awards ceremonies, speeches reflecting on the year, worship, opportunities to express our gratitude to one another, and a shared meal.
May each of us experience the time of this week as full of meaning, so that on Sunday morning we may experience the call and promise that St. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:14: “Awake, O Sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”
Please see below for more updates about the beautiful things happening at Chesterton, and for opportunities to visit us and support our work! Gratefully yours in Christ, Robert Duffy, Ph.D. |
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Students find time in the morning and at lunch to play their chess tournament games. |
Spring Concert May 23 - Save the date! Join us for Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope's Spring Concert on May 23 at 6:00! A dessert reception with dancing will follow. The theme will be a tour of the liturgical year, and will feature the Chesterton Student Choir and Chesterton Honors Choir singing songs from different times of the Church year and different eras of musical history. Chesterton's "Best Arts Week Ever!"
The fine arts are fundamental to our classical approach to education. They cultivate a love for the beautiful, encourage students to take risks, and help them encounter their own humanity by stepping into the tradition that includes great artists like Shakespeare, Caravaggio, and Palestrina. Take advantage of the opportunity to experience Chesterton through the arts this summer! The arts week is open to rising 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students. Click here to register, or reach out to rduffy@chestertonri.org for more information.
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Chesterton Students for Life
A Chesterton Sophomore, Sarah, spearheaded the launch of Chesterton's Pro-Life Club with the help of the national organization Students for Life. Opportunity to Support Chesterton
Keep a lookout for an exciting opportunity to support Chesterton, coming soon. Retreat
This April, students will gather for our first spring overnight retreat at a retreat center in Connecticut. Students Shadowing - Click Here to Schedule Your Visit! Many new students joined us for shadow days this month. Schedule your child's shadow visit today! Also, if you use social media, please follow us and like and share our posts. Every good word helps us expand and accomplish our beautiful mission of raising up a generation of joyful leaders and saints. |
Chesterton students welcome guests for shadow days. |
Our Gala Committee (the "Gala Girls") are already hard at work planning our Gala for this fall. Save the date for October 3! |
First Friday and Holy Hour, April 5
Our next First Friday Holy Hour and campfire is April 5 and will be sponsored by the Eastern Houses. Chesterton parent Deacon Jason Gardner will lead adoration and benediction for us. All are welcome. Even if you are not able to attend, please consider how you can support this important ministry of the school. House Standings
A tight race continues, as the top three places are separated by only one point each!
1st place: St. John Chrysostom
2nd place: St. Augustine
3rd place: St. Athanasius
4th place: St. Ambrose |
In art class, students learn to draw still-lives from life. |
A special guest visited to teach the students about stargazing and telescopes in preparation for their overnight retreat in April. Below: Throughout Lent, students took advantage of the opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross together during their lunch period. |
Wisdom from G.K. Chesterton |
"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
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