November 4, 2025

Freshmen discuss a novel in seminar.

"Education is not an ancillary activity, but forms the very fabric of evangelization: it is the concrete way in which the Gospel becomes an educational gesture, a relationship, a culture."

-Pope Leo XIV, Oct. 27, 2025

Dear friends of Chesterton,

While freshmen were in line for pictures this month, they began reciting "Concord Hymn," by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sophomores memorized Gerard Manley Hopkins' great Christological poem, "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" (which I've shared below for us all to delight in!) and studied Shakespeare's Sonnet 116. And around the campfire after our First Friday Holy Hour, students (soon joined by faculty!) spontaneously began reciting Homer and Lord Byron, and even sharing some of their own original poetry.

That these things happen spontaneously shows that a Chesterton education is, in Pope Leo's words, a concrete culture.

We are often tempted to think of high school as simply an important stepping stone to future professional success. And of course that is part of it. But high school also makes up four of the most formative years in a person's life. During this time, students are learning about who they are, what they love, and how they should live. In short, during high school, students learn, and come to love, a way of life.

As our motto, cultura vitae, suggests, at Chesterton our mission is to make this way of life truly a culture of life. We aim to raise up men and women who are courageous, wise, humble, and virtuous, and whose lives are joyful testimonies to the fullness of life offered in Christ.

See below for updates and events, and we hope you will visit us for daily Mass, Holy Hour, Lessons and Carols, or a St. Nicholas Day celebration of our school library opening!

Rise up, Knights!

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Gratefully yours in Christ,

Robert Duffy, PhD

Headmaster

Upcoming Events

Open House

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6-7:30 pm

Join us to learn more about a Chesterton education, including the possibility of early action to secure your spot for a current 6th or 7th grader!

Register for Open House

Entrance Exam and Info Session

Saturday, Dec. 6, 9-11 am

Register for Entrance Exam

Apply for 26-27 School Year

Gala

Even if you can't make our Gala, please consider supporting our work with a Gala pledge. Thank you for your prayers and generosity!

Give Now

St. Nicholas Party at Chesterton Library

Saturday, Dec. 6, 10 am - 1 pm

Join us for the opening of Chesterton's own St. John Vianney Family Library! Hear a public reading of Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol, explore our collection, enjoy hot cocoa and treats as well as crafts for children!

Thank you to our many donors and volunteers who have helped bring this wonderful library to life. To learn more, volunteer, or donate, email Rick Beyer at library@chestertonri.org, or call CAOLH at 401-287-2280.

Chesterton Library is a ministry of Chesterton Academy whose goal is to cultivate love of God and His creation in its students and the wider community, by making available a curated collection of books, good and great, classic and contemporary, secular and religious, for all ages. It seeks to be a leisurely space in which people of all ages can explore freely and discover books that are good for their humanity.

Register for St. Nicholas Day Party

Lessons and Carols

Thursday, Dec. 11, 6-730 pm

Followed by reception

Register for Lessons and Carols