Sweet Home Chicago


From left to right: Dr Gavin Ashenden (former chaplain to the Queen), Fr Ryan Brady, Katherine Bennett, Fr Chris Landfried and me at St Mary of the Angels, Chicago.

I'm just back from a week in Chicago, Illinois, where I had been invited to speak about the faith to various parishes along with my Catholic Unscripted friends. It was a wonderful experience and I am so happy to say I made loads of amazing friends.

I have long been a fan of the US which is somewhat unusual among Brits who tend to have quite a cynical attitude to the States...Come to think of it, Brits are like that about pretty much everyone!

Anyway...More on the USA later. I just wanted to check in with you all and say hi. I haven't written much on the blog because I had two weeks away and then this week I had a talk at St Bede's Church in Clapham Park on Marriage so I had to write a good talk for them! (if you want me or any of us (or all of us) to come and speak at your parish send me a message on Twitter @sitsio)

I did want to mention one thing I hope you might help with.

One amazing friend I made was this young Catholic man, Dan Janeiro. He is the Head Teacher at the Chesterton Academy in Volo. He has taken a huge pay cut to teach at a proper Catholic School with an amazing ethos and curriculum. It is small, but utterly brilliant and inspiring.

The school follows the Socratic method of teaching, with a rigorous focus on classic literature, philosophy, science, mathematics, history and Latin. Students begin every day with Mass and additionally participate in a fine arts program which includes art, choir, drama, and ballroom dance. At the beginning of every school year, the faculty and staff take an oath of fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church — if you ask me, this should be fundamentally essential in ALL Catholic Schools, it makes no sense why it would not be!

Dan has a growing young family and no health insurance through his work. I was frankly terrified to hear that if one of his children falls and breaks an arm it potentially bankrupts his family. Yet he bravely accepts this as the cost for being true to his faith and vocation. I was so moved by his passionate articulation of Catholic education and clear love of culture. This guy is a genius.


Katherine & Dan, the Teachers, brainstorming at Chesterton Academy.


He does have a rather wonderful Substack and one way we could help him without embarrassing him would be to subscribe to this. It's the price of a couple of cups of coffee and you could really help him with pressing issues of being a Catholic dad in a hostile culture. You also get to connect with Dan's superb writing which he has called The Banquet. A place where he provides insights into the great classics of literature (the Great books and the Good books). It is a place for those who have dined on the finest for years to interact with those who are taking their first bite. Here's a link if you want to check it out:
Please do share with anyone you think might be interested.

I will be back soon to fill you in with more details of our grace filled trip to Catholic America. God bless!

Mark.



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