Rejoicing in Truth, Beauty and Goodness

“Each year, the last week of January is dedicated to the national celebration of Catholic Schools Week—an opportunity for our community to rejoice in the truth, beauty, and goodness of Catholic education. As our patron, Pope St. John Paul II, reminds us, “The mission of the Catholic school is the integral formation of students, so that they may be true to their condition as Christ’s disciples and…work effectively for the evangelization of culture and for the common good of society.”

This mission reminds us that a Catholic school is not an isolated institution, but a living community formed through the collaboration of families, school, and Church. Catholic Schools Week, therefore, is a celebration of the whole—an invitation to gratitude within each of these relationships. How is gratitude being lived and expressed in these three areas? How will Catholic Schools Week be celebrated within the school of your home?” — 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.

Orderliness is Deeply Virtuous

“This month we turn our attention to the virtue of orderliness—a term not often associated with virtue, and one that may at first seem more descriptive of temperament than of moral formation. Yet, when understood classically, orderliness is deeply virtuous, for it reflects the proper ordering of the soul toward the good.

Seen in this light, orderliness draws us toward discipline and stewardship. Discipline, rooted in discipleship, disposes us toward docility—an openness to instruction, correction, and growth. It is through disciplined habits that the intellect and will are trained to love what is true, good, and beautiful.

Stewardship follows naturally, for what is rightly ordered within must also be rightly ordered without. To be good stewards is to live in harmony with others and with the created world entrusted to us, exercising care over our minds, bodies, and spirits so that we may serve well.

In your homes, how is order cultivated? Have you considered orderliness not merely as structure, but as a virtue that forms character and prepares the soul for wisdom?” 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.

The Incarnational Mission

We are still in the Christmas season and in the midst of celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior. The incarnation is a launching pad moving us into this next semester and onward because Catholic education must be incarnational. In Mr Schreiber’s last lecture night, he fleshed out that the Incarnational is the belief that truth is not abstract but became flesh in Jesus Christ. This means education is embodied — it involves real relationships, real encounters with beauty, real moral formation, and the shaping of real human beings. Teachers and parents participate in this incarnational mission by making the faith tangible through words, actions, and the culture we create at home and school.

Though the Christmas season is a little on the shorter side, every time education is embodied—with Christ at the center—we can share in the Christmas joy.


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.

Winter 2026 Newsletter Now Available

The latest GRACE Winter 2026 newsletter is now available to read! Check it out by clicking the button below.

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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.

2025 Christmas Message from GRACE President

Please take a moment to read a special Christmas message filled with heartfelt wishes for you and your loved ones from GRACE President Kimberly A. Desotell!

English | Español


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.

The virtue of hope—trusting that God is faithful and at work in our lives

Living the Liturgical Year: Advent

The symbolism of the Advent wreath and its candles

As we continue this beautiful season of Advent, our school community is on a journey of watching, waiting, and preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. Advent invites us to pause amid the busyness of life, to make room for silence and wonder, and to remember that God comes to us in love—quietly, humbly, and personally.

Our school environment slowly shifts toward a more prayerful posture: Advent wreaths, purple cloths, and moments of intentional silence woven into the rhythm of the day. Teachers are guiding students to reflect on themes of hope and anticipation, helping them see Advent not simply as a countdown to Christmas, but as a season of spiritual preparation.


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.

2026-27 GRACE Academic Calendar Available

The 2026-27 GRACE calendar is now live! Check it out on the GRACE website by clicking the button below.

View Calendar

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.

Catholic Education in an Artificial Age

Drawing new maps of hope!

The Christian anthropology of Catholic education is incarnational. It is education that is embodied, involving real relationships, real encounters with beauty, real moral formation, and the shaping of real human beings. It shapes children not into test-takers, but into fully human persons made in God’s image.

It is the culture we live, being in communion with God and one another. And as Pope Leo XIV recently stated in “Drawing New Maps of Hope,” it is a “collective endeavour” (§3.1). 
“If Catholic educators, parents, and others who dedicate themselves to this apostolate fail to keep in mind a high supernatural vision, all their talk about Catholic schools will be no more than ‘a gong booming or a cymbal clashing’ (1 Cor. 13:1) (J Michael Miller, p. 21).”

Embody Catholic Education. Live it at home. Support it in the classroom.
Together we form saints — real, whole, and fully alive in Christ.


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.

Thanksgiving Wishes from GRACE President Kimberly Desotell

Please take a moment to read GRACE President Kimberly Desotell’s Thanksgiving letter, filled with heartfelt wishes and gratitude for you and your loved ones! Click the button below to read.

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Thank you for being apart of our faith-filled community.


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.

A Vigil for Life

Each day during the 40 Days for Life campaign, individuals, churches, families, and groups are asked to join together in prayer for a specific request so the entire Body of Christ can unite around a common focus.

If you have not yet experienced how the cross of our culture can be made light, I highly encourage experiencing carrying the cross together in this particular way.  Together, we walk.  Together, we pray.  Together, we speak by our presence alone.  

Thank you to all of you who took time during this fall’s 40 Days for Life vigil.  I have no doubt Our Lord and Our Lady have taken your sacrifices of time and convenience with great joy and gratitude, knowing exactly and fully the seeds sown and fruits of graces born.” Miss McGann


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.