Philosophy Statement
Sancta Familia Academy's philosophy is based on the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and Her role throughout history in education. Having been given the command by Christ to 'go forth and teach', it is to the Church that we look to gain an understanding of the purpose and the ultimate end of education.
Men and women were created by God in his image and likeness and destined to spend eternity with him in heaven. This is man's ultimate end, and no amount of earthly knowledge or goods alone, can satisfy his heart or bring true happiness to his world. St. Augustine so beautifully expressed this deep desire of all mankind when he said, "Thou didst create us, O Lord, for thyself, and our heart is restless till it rest in thee." Man yearns for something greater and seeks to fulfill this higher calling by means of education. If any education does not seek God as the "first principle and last end of the whole universe," then it easily falls into error, as stated in Pope Pius XI's encyclical On Christian Education.
Pius XI goes on to say that: "It is therefore as important to make no mistake in education, as it is to make no mistake in the pursuit of the last end, with which the whole work of education is intimately and necessarily connected. In fact, since education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created, it is clear that there can be no true education which is not wholly directed to man's last end, and that in the present order of Providence, since God revealed Himself to us in the Person of His Only Begotten Son, who alone is 'the way, the truth, and the life,' there can be no ideally perfect education which is not Christian education."
The environment and the curriculum of Sancta Familia Academy is designed to insure the proper formation and education of the human person in light of his ultimate goal which is a life lived to the greater glory of God and eternal life lived with God in heaven. "Hence," says Pius XI, "the true Christian, product of Christian education, is the supernatural man who thinks, judges and acts constantly and consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by the supernatural light of the example and teaching of Christ."
Ad veritatem per fidem et rationem (To truth through faith and reason)
As Christians, we are called by God to bring peace, justice and truth into the society in which we live, thus fashioning a world more in tune with the dignity of the human person. The Christian graduate must be educated in excellence. The study of that which is excellent in human attainments will bear witness to truth, and thus to God. Authentic classical education, or liberal education, informs students with the most excellent intellectual accomplishments in the order of nature (i.e. the liberal arts and sciences, the fine arts) and thus disposes them to the crowning intellectual accomplishments of those steeped in grace (i.e. sacred doctrine/theology).The Christian must be ready to enter the world in which he lives prepared to "promote effectively the welfare of the earthly city...and to serve the advancement of the human family."
Pius XI states that, "The true Christian does not renounce the activities of his life, he does not stunt his natural faculties; but he develops and perfects them by coordinating them with the supernatural." Education must not seek simply to impart knowledge of the various disciplines, but more importantly should give students the tools whereby they can live life, gaining knowledge on their own.These tools will include the ability to reason from premise to conclusion, to distinguish, to articulate well, and to persuade. These educational techniques, which have produced the outstanding men and women who have fashioned our world in the last two millennia, surely will continue to produce graduates who are capable of excellence in all arenas of life, fully armed to meet the challenges of the third millennium.
SFA seeks to carry on the living tradition of authentic Catholic education, which is classical in that it is grounded in the seven liberal arts, uses the Socratic method of instruction, and teaches its students to think like the great thinkers including St. Augustine, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas. We aim at an implementation of St. Ignatius's method found in the Ratio Studiorum which is based on the natural development of the faculties found in the Trivium of the Artes Liberales. And finally, we accomplish this by learning from the great thinkers themselves through the study of their writings, i.e. the Great Books or Classics of literature.
Men and women were created by God in his image and likeness and destined to spend eternity with him in heaven. This is man's ultimate end, and no amount of earthly knowledge or goods alone, can satisfy his heart or bring true happiness to his world. St. Augustine so beautifully expressed this deep desire of all mankind when he said, "Thou didst create us, O Lord, for thyself, and our heart is restless till it rest in thee." Man yearns for something greater and seeks to fulfill this higher calling by means of education. If any education does not seek God as the "first principle and last end of the whole universe," then it easily falls into error, as stated in Pope Pius XI's encyclical On Christian Education.
Pius XI goes on to say that: "It is therefore as important to make no mistake in education, as it is to make no mistake in the pursuit of the last end, with which the whole work of education is intimately and necessarily connected. In fact, since education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created, it is clear that there can be no true education which is not wholly directed to man's last end, and that in the present order of Providence, since God revealed Himself to us in the Person of His Only Begotten Son, who alone is 'the way, the truth, and the life,' there can be no ideally perfect education which is not Christian education."
The environment and the curriculum of Sancta Familia Academy is designed to insure the proper formation and education of the human person in light of his ultimate goal which is a life lived to the greater glory of God and eternal life lived with God in heaven. "Hence," says Pius XI, "the true Christian, product of Christian education, is the supernatural man who thinks, judges and acts constantly and consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by the supernatural light of the example and teaching of Christ."
Ad veritatem per fidem et rationem (To truth through faith and reason)
As Christians, we are called by God to bring peace, justice and truth into the society in which we live, thus fashioning a world more in tune with the dignity of the human person. The Christian graduate must be educated in excellence. The study of that which is excellent in human attainments will bear witness to truth, and thus to God. Authentic classical education, or liberal education, informs students with the most excellent intellectual accomplishments in the order of nature (i.e. the liberal arts and sciences, the fine arts) and thus disposes them to the crowning intellectual accomplishments of those steeped in grace (i.e. sacred doctrine/theology).The Christian must be ready to enter the world in which he lives prepared to "promote effectively the welfare of the earthly city...and to serve the advancement of the human family."
Pius XI states that, "The true Christian does not renounce the activities of his life, he does not stunt his natural faculties; but he develops and perfects them by coordinating them with the supernatural." Education must not seek simply to impart knowledge of the various disciplines, but more importantly should give students the tools whereby they can live life, gaining knowledge on their own.These tools will include the ability to reason from premise to conclusion, to distinguish, to articulate well, and to persuade. These educational techniques, which have produced the outstanding men and women who have fashioned our world in the last two millennia, surely will continue to produce graduates who are capable of excellence in all arenas of life, fully armed to meet the challenges of the third millennium.
SFA seeks to carry on the living tradition of authentic Catholic education, which is classical in that it is grounded in the seven liberal arts, uses the Socratic method of instruction, and teaches its students to think like the great thinkers including St. Augustine, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas. We aim at an implementation of St. Ignatius's method found in the Ratio Studiorum which is based on the natural development of the faculties found in the Trivium of the Artes Liberales. And finally, we accomplish this by learning from the great thinkers themselves through the study of their writings, i.e. the Great Books or Classics of literature.