Your chance to do an urgently needed Work of Mercy

Reader Tim Trosclair writes:

I’m writing to you about an urgent matter concerning our school, John Paul the Great Academy here in Lafayette, Louisiana. Compared to other Catholic schools in our area and around the nation, we stand among few friends in the depths to which sanctity and Catholic identity pervade our operations—we are a small college preparatory school who implement a classical model based on the seven virtues and the seven liberal arts (i.e., the trivium and quadrivium; link to school’s philosophy of education). (Contrasted with the current national model for public education, we value the salvation of souls over the salvation of self-esteem.) Though our enrollment is up (no surprise that families and priests in the area are incredibly attracted to the community surrounding the school), our efforts to live the new evangelization at the school are being threatened. In the darkness of our secular age, we join with few others in working to inculcate real substance to fuel lamps that are not hidden under a bushel but are lit to “shine before men”. Unexpected devastating events within the past week have threatened to snuff that light out, and we need your help.

A little more about our school. The fruits of the past five years have been incredible: four of the nine males who we have graduated are currently in seminary formation with three current students actively discerning with the vocations office, we’ve recently become the home of a community of religious sisters, and we are one of the only (if not the only) Pre-K through 12th grade campus with daily 24-hour adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (As a teacher, it is great to make those brief visits to the chapel throughout the day, but more incredible is the number of students and members of the community that I join in adoration of our Eucharistic Lord.) We don’t pay homage to the educational system that has been the downfall of Western civilization for the past hundred years. History repeats itself. In the past, when the barbarians were at the gates, the monastic traditions of the Church preserved and promoted Catholic values. History repeats itself. We now have every form of barbarism at the gates. The response to this threat remains the same. Our work at John Paul the Great Academy is to be in the trenches, meeting this threat face-to-face. The goal is to carry out the work of the Incarnation: to renew the world. What starts in the educational endeavors of the academy extends to our families, to our communities, and to the culture at large. In all things we do, virtue for the sake of sanctity takes precedence. The classical tradition of education in the Church is what we preserve and promote. Please see our brochure (outside of brochure; inside of brochure) for more information.

We need your help! After a crippling decision involving the continued operation of the school by its benefactors, we are in a position now where these last few weeks of the school year may very well be the last weeks of the school itself. As soon as possible, could you make a post on your blog (and if at all possible on National Catholic Register as well) to raise awareness among your readers about our school and ask for help in light of this recent threat to our school’s persistence? It isn’t just for our school itself, but for every attempt that subsidiarity is pursued to renew education and culture. The current threat is extremely urgent and threatens all of our attempts to renew education through sanctity and classical education. Our need is financial at this point, but we ask for prayers and any help your readers may be able to offer. If we do not raise enough funds within the next two weeks, we will be kicked off of our campus and our operations will be shut down indefinitely. Here’s a link to our website, where we have a ‘Support JPG’ feature for any possible contributions, no matter how small.