Docility to the Holy Spirit’s Promptings
Two years ago, Sean and I went on a pilgrimage to England to discover, learn, and see the courageous priests and lay martyrs of King Henry the VIII’s terror on Catholicism-where they lived, where they hid, and to walk in their footsteps. There, we discovered, Our Lady of Walsingham. Our Lady appeared in a dream to a widowed woman named Richellis in a dream in 1061. Our Lady asked her to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth, so the faithful could experience the JOY and MYSTERY of the Annunciation and Incarnation. Tradition goes, that our Lady and the angels built the exact replica on her land, after her builders’ attempts were futile. Walsingham England became one of the 3 great pilgrimage sites behind Jerusalem and Rome.
We discovered in March of 2020, during our time in quarantine, that we, too, are in a spiritual battle. Our religious liberties are being threatened, and in some cases stripped from us. We saw firsthand the overarching reach of government, with Mass being cancelled, and our children’s reality of school change overnight. Rather than give into the fear of the media, we sought our Lord. We placed our Trust in Him and began hearing Him tickle our hearts with this seemingly massive and unattainable idea to start a classical, Catholic high school. I was 5 months pregnant at the time, and Sean couldn’t understand why I would want to undertake something as enormous as this! I couldn’t understand or explain it to him. I just began to pray for him.
We had been visiting with our priest, who was fully behind the idea. We listened to Dale Ahlquist speak, the founder of the first Chesterton Academy in Minneapolis, MN in 2008. He was speaking about the 3 pillars of a Chesterton Academy: it’s Catholic identity, Classical Curriculum, and Affordability. His vision for Catholic education inspired me!
That talk sparked my excitement and enthusiasm and I began asking some friends for help. As we met, we began to see more and more as the summer went on, through the riots and uncertainty, that this school was needed now, more than ever before! We met with Bishop Sheridan and others in the diocese to express our intentions, the 3 of us recruited 9 others for our school board, one of which is my husband, who is now fully behind this endeavor! Never underestimate the power of prayer!
Being a founder of Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Walsingham high school is something that I would’ve never chosen for myself. This whole process has been a leap of faith, but door after door has opened before us. The Lord has blessed us with the support of our faithful priest, Fr. Brian, and the location, St. Gabriel the Archangel parish, where we will start each day with their 7:30am Mass.
We found in the classical, public charter school, that goodness, truth and beauty can be taught, for 5 seminarians are products of this education. We can do so much more when CHRIST is the center of every class, and every subject is taught through the lens of the Catholic faith. Every faculty member takes and Oath of Fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and students are allowed and encouraged to proclaim Christ’s Holy Name in their classrooms! Students will be given the opportunities to learn the history of the Church, and how our faith has positively influenced Western civilization.
There have been so many miracles already associated with the formation of this school; many dates in which we can see the hand of our Lady interceding for this school. From Sept 24th, the feast of OL of Walsingham, in which we 1st contacted our headmaster, to Nov 13th, the feast of St Francis Xavier Cabrini, to whom I dedicated this school while visiting her shrine in October, and chose that as the day we would send an offer to our headmaster; to the Presentation of Mary, when we had our first fundraiser, and announced our headmaster! St. Gabriel’s is also is home to relics of the Holy House of Nazareth, Sts. Joachim and Anne, and Our Lady’s veil.
We are all pilgrims, and the founding of Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Walsingham is an exciting and courageous opportunity which we feel called; to help bring about Christ’s reign here on earth, and to pass on our Catholic heritage to the next generation of Americans.