Since joining the Mount Royal Academy school community in 2009, I have always been struck by the authenticity of the people. As the first ever lay-founded, independent school in New Hampshire to be recognized as Catholic by the Diocese of Manchester, MRA has become a beacon of light and a shining example for the renaissance in Catholic education. Because of the sacrifices of families too numerous to list, other communities and Catholic schools are forging forward in faith with renewed fervor.
What makes the sacrifice for Catholic education worth the cost? We all need to simply be more human. Even before the era of mass education, Catholic religious orders such as the Dominicans and Jesuits were building institutions of learning that were accessible to all. The goal of these institutions was to provide the basic tools for a flourishing life to those who needed it the most. Pope Paul VI, in a letter written in 1967 focused on the increasing trends of globalization and the market economy, stated the Church is first and foremost an “expert in humanity.” A classical education has always taught that man is by nature religious, for since the birth of civilization, there is evidence of thinking beyond this world and sustaining tangible practices (such as burying the dead) intended to direct man closer to himself and his ultimate end.
Mount Royal Academy teaches in this spirit: children must enter into that timeless conversation with the greatest thinkers and saints of all time, so they can better appreciate what it means to be human.
How is this goal accomplished at MRA? The classically inspired curriculum respects the developmental stages of children, and at every stage, encourages them to be better thinkers, writers, and lovers of virtue. There is something undeniably attractive about a good person. We direct attention towards the goodness of those before us and in front of us, summoning that natural taste for joy in children, and showing them how to really encounter truth for its own sake.
I want to personally invite you to come and encounter this school community. It is a place where we let children be children, for nothing can or should replace the wonder which inspires creativity. Education is simply becoming too complicated: by returning to the simplicity of wonder and the reality of truth, we give our children the opportunity to live a life full of meaning and lasting joy.
Yours Truly in Christ,
Derek Tremblay