Category: Chesterton Academy

“Last week I mentioned a book that our faculty have been reading throughout the year in Renewing Catholic School: How to Regain a Catholic Vision for a Secular Age, and wish to expound on chapter 9 and building a school community. I again cannot say enough about this rich book that I believe every family should read. 

At the heart of this chapter, we see the need to build a community steeped in joy; genuine, deep, attractive, confident JOY. Reflecting on this, Jesus’ first public miracle is Cana whereby “it was not men’s grief, but their joy Christ visited” (p. 97).

If we are to build up a school community in joy, we have to do so in a radical way, in a good way. “Our intellectual heritage is the pursuit of wisdom, virtue, and the transcendental qualities of truth, beauty, and goodness…” (p. 100). Being a school community is radical when we think about it, and yet, it is a necessary part of formation, because our final end is heaven. 

The philosophical roots of our entire civilization rest on the principle that things act according to their final end. “When we aim short of that in the practical mission of our schools, we will suffer and break apart” (p. 100). Moreover, when we remain short-sighted in our mission, communities fracture, joy wanes, and schools close – in that order. Let us not lose sight of the communal mission we share together.

I want to encourage everyone to continue to enter into our Cultura Incarnationis as we embody our Catholic Classical Education together.”

Vere resurrexit!   — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

Catch up on the latest news within GRACE in the Spring 2026 Newsletter! Discover what students have been working on, meet those at the heart of the classroom (our teachers), learn why summer reading matters and ways to keep it enjoyable for students, and more.

Read now!

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“Last Friday for the teachers professional development, we spent much of the day discussing a book that we have been reading throughout the year titled, Renewing Catholic School: How to Regain a Catholic Vision for a Secular Age, which I highly recommend every family read. This book has been a fascinating look into a shared conceptual agreement → embodied understanding → cultural application. 

Our reasoning for reading through this book is so that we may all “row” in the same direction on mission together. At the crux of rowing together is a shared understanding of who we are in forming a school community. Some of the reflective questions I wish to share with you all are: Why is community itself formative, not just supportive? And, How does a shared mission unify curriculum, faculty, and families?

The argument here is that our community is just as necessary to the formative process of our students as is our curriculum and faith. I pray that as we close out the year, we continue to open our hearts and grow as a community. 

Vere resurrexit!  — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“And Lead Us Not Into Temptation” (CCC, 2847)
The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man (Cf. Lk 8:13-15; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; 2 Tim 3:12.), and temptation, which leads to sin and death (Cf. Jas. 1:14-15). We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a “delight to the eyes” and desirable (Cf. Gen 3:6.), when in reality its fruit is death.

“God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings. . . . There is a certain usefulness to temptation. No one but God knows what our soul has received from him, not even we ourselves. But temptation reveals it in order to teach us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us (Origen, De orat. 29: PG 11, 544CD.).

When I work with spiritual directees, one phrase that I use often regarding discernment is, “trust the process.” Discernment is a process, one that requires an action in order to call it discernment, by which there is a right order to things, namely, relationships. When our relationship with God and one another is rightly ordered, the temptation is to disrupt the order, which is ongoing and never ending while on earth. Therefore, let us trust the process, that the Lord will always guide us and move us toward the good we have been made for.   

Vere resurrexit!  — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to share two brief reflections for the Triduum, as the reality of our “yes” to the Lord is made known in the cross of Christ. 

First, in the context of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus says, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first…” (Jn. 15:18). The reality is, by choosing Jesus we are choosing to be counter-cultural. By choosing Jesus we are choosing to be alienated, and yes, hated. By choosing Jesus we are choosing to be persecuted. The question I wish to posit is, do we know who/what we are choosing, fully and completely? The Triduum gives us a glimpse into our choosing Jesus, which does not end in death, but rises in glory. 

The second brief reflection is this: As Catholics, the cross and the crucifixion have a special place in our hearts for adornment because the crucifixion reminds us of our calling, namely, to be persecuted with and for Christ’s sake so we may rise with Him. As Pope St. John Paul II notes in his Triduum reflection, “the Church puts the adoration of the Cross at the center of the Good Friday liturgy, not as a symbol of death but as a source of authentic life.”      

My master’s thesis was on “Theology of Suffering and Vicarious Satisfaction” (I’d be happy to share with anyone interested), so I have spent a lot of time learning and reflecting on redemptive suffering and how the most intimate relationship I have found with the Lord is in meditating on His cross. For me, the cross of Christ has been the learning tree. I invite you all, as a family and as a community, to sit at the foot of the learning tree, where the Lord wishes to reveal the glory He has stored up for you in the Resurrection. 

Happy Triduum and most especially, Happy anticipatory Resurrection. — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“In the midst of this season of sorrow and repentance we are presented with the hope of the Annunciation. It is in Mary’s fiat to the Incarnation, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38), that we receive Jesus’ fiat to the cross, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Lk. 22:42).  

I would argue that the lens with which we pray the Annunciation, especially during this Lenten season, we are equipped more fully to enter into Holy Week next week. It is not about mere submission; rather, it is about entering into God’s love with a response of love. In the words of one of my theological heroes, Pope Benedict XVI, it affirmed: “Mary’s yes to God was not just an act of submission, but an act of profound trust and love.” 

Mary’s response models for us the lifelong journey of saying yes to God, daily; not only when it is easy or convenient. Our “yes” begins at conception and ends at death. As we fast and practice self-denial this Lent, it is worth asking: What are we making room for? What is our “yes” forming within us, and how is it shaping our relationship with the Lord?”   — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

As we enter the last couple weeks of Lent, a most powerful reflection has sat on my heart that I wish to share:

“Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’” – Jn. 5:2-6.

At first glance, the answer seems obvious, but the Gospel reveals something deeper. After 38 years, the man’s suffering had become familiar, even formative. His identity was shaped by it.

In asking this question, Christ is not seeking information; He is inviting transformation.

To be made well is not simply to be healed; it is to step into a new way of living. It requires letting go of what has defined us, even when it is burdensome, and embracing the responsibility, freedom, and vulnerability that come with conversion. There is a real tension here: It can feel easier to remain where we are—to explain, to justify, even to dwell in our limitations—than to rise and be changed.

Lent confronts us with this same question. Do we truly desire the wholeness Christ offers? And if so, are we willing to surrender what is comfortable, familiar, or self-defining in order to receive it?

Christ’s invitation is clear, but our response must be intentional. — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

“In his 1981 Lenten message, Pope John Paul II said:

“Lent is a time of profound truth, which brings conversion, restores hope, and, by putting everything back in its proper place, brings peace and optimism. Lent is a time that makes us think about our relationship with ‘Our Father’; it re-establishes the order that should reign between brothers and sisters. Lent is a time that makes us jointly responsible for one another; it detaches us from our selfishness, small-mindedness, meanness and pride; it is a time that enlightens us and makes us understand better that we too, like Christ, must serve.”

Notice the language he uses: relationship, order, responsibility, service. This is precisely the foundation of our identity as a Catholic classical school.

From rightly ordered relationships, we receive our identity. And from our identity flows our mission. Without ordered relationships, the other two become subjective ideologies, left to one’s own interpretations. 

If we allow God to order our relationships, clarify our identity, and purify our intentions, we will emerge from this season stronger, more unified, deeply rooted in who we are called to be. 

As we continue in this Lenten journey together, take some time to identify areas within that have contributed to disunity (i.e. gossip, slander, detraction, judgement, etc.), offer them to the Lord, and prudently allow the healing power of the cross to move us toward forgiveness. — Headmaster Eric Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

Recently, GRACE School System President Kimberly Desotell spoke about the Pennings Promise Plan from St. Norbert College. Her quote was included in this article about the scholarship.

You can learn more about the Pennings Promise Plan here.

St. John Paul II Catholic School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic schools serving Preschool and Elementary through high school, adding one grade per year. They have with open enrollment and provide an individualized education in a faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.

As our patron and great saint of the 20th century said about Lent, 
Lent is a time of profound truth, which brings conversion, restores hope and, by putting everything back in its proper place, brings peace and optimism. Lent is a time that makes us think about our relationship with “Our Father”; it re-establishes the order that should reign between brothers and sisters. Lent is a time that makes us jointly responsible for one another; it detaches us from our selfishness, small-mindedness, meanness and pride; it is a time that enlightens us and makes us understand better that we too, like Christ, must serve (Pope JPII, Message for Lent 1981).  

From our rightly ordered relationships we receive our identity, which in turn defines our mission. 

Because our mission requires unity and emphasizes forming saints for the new millennium, I am challenging everyone in our community to recommit themselves to this mission. Moreover, the more we recommit ourselves the more this will be a fight. This is why the Lenten season is a perfect opportunity to trust in the Lord and persevere as we enter into God’s Glory.    — Headmaster Mr. Schreiber

St. John Paul II Classical School and Chesterton Academy are of the Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) School System. They are private Catholic classical schools serving Montessori preschool and elementary through high school. They have open enrollment and provide an individualized education in an integrated faith-based environment. Each child is supported not only academically, but spiritually. Learn more by scheduling a visit.