SBCA Blog

Welcome back! These first few days of school at St. Benedict Classical Academy have been so edifying. Although much work is completed over the summer, it always feels a little odd to go to work in a school building where no children are present. It is a breath of fresh air when the children return, and this year has been no different. Last Thursday on our first full day of the school year, our chaplain, Fr. Stamm, celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit for our Kindergarten through Grade 7 students. It was such a beautiful Mass and the children were [...]

As we close out the month of May, I want to pay a tribute to the Virgin Mary and continue what our special visitors, The Heralds of the Gospel, highlighted during their visit earlier this month. They challenged us to utilize daily the gift we all have from our Blessed Mother, the Rosary.   Growing up, I was lucky to have parents who had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary. Reverence to Mary was embedded in my childhood and praying the rosary is a core memory. My Irish father in particular had strong views in Irish history, politics, and his [...]

Having celebrated Pentecost yesterday, I can say that this Easter season was a time of reflection on the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for humanity. Dying for our sins was God’s greatest act of love for all mankind. During this past Lent and Easter, I have felt a deep devotion to our Lord, and as a teacher, I wanted to give back in the smallest way for what He has done for humanity. One of St. Benedict Classical Academy’s patron saints, St. Thomas Aquinas, said, “The habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to the love [...]

More than a century ago, amid the turmoil of World War I and the rise of Communism in Russia, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to impart a message of peace. Rather than choosing to come to influential figures like politicians or clergy, she appeared to three humble children in the Portuguese countryside: St. Francisco Marto, St. Jacinta Marto, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos. Entrusted with Mary’s warnings and messages of prayer, these ordinary children became bearers of hope and peace for a broken world. St. Jacinta and St. Francisco are beautiful witnesses to my second-grade students at St. Benedict Classical [...]

Today is the feast day of one of the four female Doctors of the Church: St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine is also the patron of one of our Houses of Faith here at St. Benedict Classical Academy. She was a woman filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who worked ceaselessly for the good of God's people, and played an essential role in returning the Chair of St. Peter to its rightful place in Rome.    But there is another saint and another feast day I wish to focus on: the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, which we [...]

This upcoming Sunday, April 7th, is Divine Mercy Sunday. Originally called the “Easter Octave”, the origin of this feast day stems from a series of fourteen revelations to St. Faustina, a Polish mystic and a Sister of Our Lady of Mercy. Our Lord asked her to record the words He revealed to her. In Diary 699, Saint Faustina recorded the words of Our Lord, “I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” [...]

On Good Friday we will hear John’s account of the passion and death of Jesus. John includes one small detail in his account of the Passion which provides a profound understanding of Jesus’s identity and the gravity of His crucifixion. At the beginning of the Gospel reading Judas and his search party arrive at the garden across the Kidron Valley where they find Jesus. Jesus, knowing what is going to happen, asks them first “whom are you looking for?” they respond, “Jesus the Nazorean.” To which Jesus responds with the short but immensely rich phrase “I AM” (Jn 18:5). Then something [...]

One of the most powerful modes of learning happens when a child discovers the beauty of a work of art. At Saint Benedict Classical Academy, one of the ways we aim to foster discovery happens through socratic seminars. And, while didactic (lecturing or “telling”) and small group coaching are also important ways of teaching, socratic seminars create powerful opportunities for students to discover texts through academic dialogue with their peers. This method of discovery, which can be adapted for every grade level, looks different from the traditional classroom setting of desks in a row with a teacher instructing from the front [...]

I first heard about St. Benedict Classical Academy through the St. Thomas More Teaching Fellowship, a fellowship program within the Archdiocese of Boston, which seeks to bring young, on-fire Catholics to teach at the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. What drew me first to the Fellowship was the sense of mission-driven work. I’m young - I have an adventurous spirit, and like the missionary saints, I wanted to go to the corners of the world to encounter people, walk with them, and show them the love of Christ. Particular to teaching, I had a love for the Catholic intellectual tradition and [...]

Growing up with seven siblings was nothing short of an adventure, especially when I think back to our daily prayer time as a family. Each night was an ordeal to get each of us together and ready to pray. To sum up our family prayer nights I would describe them as strict and orderly. My father is from Kerala, India, and as we grew up, he would teach us the standards of prayer from his homeland. Saint Thomas, the apostle, brought the faith to this region and the tradition of prayer and sacrifice has carried on for thousands of years. When [...]