Classical education in popular terms is induction into the presence of the celestial triumvirate, the Truth, Beauty and Goodness. More specifically, classical education is the development in students of the ability to discern and pursue these three realities. It is the discipline of the pursuit.
Truth is infinite, omnipresent harmony. Beauty is the ineffable manifestation of Truth, and Goodness is selfless commitment to it. The search for anyone leads to the discovery of all three. They are an irreducible trinity, three distinct powers in one eternal reality. Classical education guides us on a lifelong exploration of this triumvirate.
Classical education is to a large extent being abandoned in today’s academies. Rather than ascertaining immutable Truth, each student is encouraged to create and follow his own. History is composed rather than studied. Grammar is designed rather than defined (personal pronouns, what a travesty!) Biology, heretofore a ‘hard science’ has become a form of art. Beauty is a product of rather than an object of one’s imagination and service to Goodness devolves to the oxymoronic practice of ‘self-service’. There is no unity of knowledge or unifying knowledge. Instead there is the resulting risk. Unmoored from the anchors of universal Truth, Beauty and Goodness, we cease being a society let alone a civilization.
Catholic classical education rescues us from this downward spiral. Rather than jettisoning the celestial triumvirate it embraces it as the introduction to the Divine, the actual Trinity of which it is a reflection: the ‘Uni trinoque Domino’, the Trinity of Three Devine Persons in one God. Pope John Paul II tells us that the mission of a Catholic school is the integral formation of students, so that they may evangelize culture.
The Koinonia Academy in Plainfield, New Jersey, featured below, exemplifies Catholic classical education. As its website states: A Catholic Classical Liberal Arts education ensures that not only are students being formed academically, they are also being formed emotionally and spiritually – the whole person is being educated. At Koinonia Academy, the faith is a central part of every day, but with the new academic structure, KA will be able to also ensure academic rigor, and guide students in developing a love for learning, personal self-discipline, high moral standards and an appreciation and love for the good, the true and the beautiful in a welcoming, safe and supportive environment.
Catholic philanthropy has many faces. Surely, one of its brightest is Catholic education. We at the National Catholic Community Foundation are happy to provide the philanthropic vehicles donors to Catholic schools can use to support this invaluable ministry. And, we are grateful for this opportunity to bring the Koinonia Academy to your attention. When it comes to education our nation seems to be at sea. Catholic education – as so magnificently demonstrated by the Koinonia Academy – has not lost its bearings. In Catholic academia the discipline of learning becomes the discipleship of living.
With such hope the Kingdom advances.