Blog

Dear Mount Royal Academy Community,

It’s not often that I take the time and opportunity to address the school and its community.  I’d like to begin by saying that I’m extremely proud of our school, the MRA community (Board, Administration, Teachers, Students and Families) and how we’ve not only weathered the last couple of years but have set the example and lead our community.

With the philosophy that “there is always room for improvement” and that it is better to be proactive rather than reactive, the Board has decided that we should review and update the schools long-term “Strategic Plan”.  

“The living, the living give you thanks,
as I do today.
Fathers declare to their sons,
O God, your faithfulness” - Isaiah 38

What does it mean to be ordinary? Are we made to assert our own individuality radically separate from others? What is freedom for? Are we free so we can tell others how different we are?

How do we help children balance the tension between developing a sense of self and the reality that our communal life requires at times a denial of self?

These questions come to me frequently and I suspect it has to do with the vocation I live. I imagine paren...

“A voice proclaims
In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” (Isaiah 40:3)

Another Advent.

How can this one be different from prior Advents? Will I succumb to the frenetic pace that obstructs my capacity to immerse myself in the prelude to the ultimate waiting season, life itself? Is not life itself one massively ultimate preparation for the coming of Christ? Will I be ready? Am I doing enough to ready my loved ones? Will my loved ones be ready even when my efforts fail? When I get to that point where Christ is com...

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. – Deuteronomy 10:17

I was listening to a podcast on my drive home from school last week. Half-listening, really, but then the host uttered a sentence that resounded with me -- “You were made for greatness.”

Of course, I have heard this sentiment before, but for some reason, this time it stayed with me. I began reflecting on how the end of the liturgical year and the beginning of the next highlight this reality in a profound way. I also pondered the many wa...

“We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.” - Romans 6:3

What is the most important truth a parent wants his or her child to know?

As an institution of learning, if there was one idea we strive to successfully teach our students, what would it be?

What is the singular least deniable truth in our shared common humanity?

One day, we will be somewhere else. Now, where is this elsewhere precisely located, or rather, what state of being shall we transce...

Question: What is bringing together over 50 students from eleven different grades, has taken two months of daily review to prepare, has received support/donations from more than 6 local businesses, and is helping us achieve our goal of accentuating beauty as a pathway to discover our transcendent purpose?

Answer: MRA Knight’s Theater’s OLIVER TWIST! 

Theater is the unique human exercise wherein the audience, cast, and crew together enter into another world, experience life from a new perspective, and work as a single organism to make something beautiful. Just like the Trinity who exists...

"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." - John 1:12

Become Who You Are

Last month I wrote about a fascinating and mystical saint, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, who died in 1968.  Even more recently, however, a  holy and courageous man walked among us.  John Paul II reigned as pope from 1978-2005, and his life was a series of magnificent moments of self-sacrifice and trust in God.

John Paul II was an extraordinary man and a dynamic leader.  He was the most traveled pope in history, truly living the New Evangelization. With a shepherd's hea...

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge” - Psalm 19:2
 

One of the fondest but shortest experiences of my life thus far is the time I spent at Camp Fatima. Looking back, I wonder why it even occurred to me that I should go there the summer after my first year teaching here: it was a highly illogical decision. We married in May of 2009 and then I thought it prudent to ask my wife to live at an all boys camp with me for the summer. My poor wife left the comforts of...

Pray, hope, and don’t worry.

This Thursday, September 23, the Church remembers a most extraordinary saint, Pio of Pietrelcina, otherwise known as Padre Pio.  Even as a child, Padre Pio had remarkable spiritual experiences; it is said he conversed regularly with his guardian angel, the Blessed Mother, and Jesus!  There are many astounding miracles attributed to Padre Pio, including healings and prophecy. He was also able to read the souls of penitents who would come to him for confession.  If they omitted a sin, he would remind them of it! Although he never left his monastery, San Giovan...