A Message from Fr. Tom
St. Brendan Catholic School has been “Anchored in Faith, Hope, and Tradition” in the North Olmsted community for the past 60 years. We remain true to that, and we remain true to all those who have built up and benefitted from their academic and faith formation provided here. Over the years, we have fearlessly climbed into the boat of faith with our patron, St. Brendan the Navigator, and now, we set course on a new adventure for our future.
On our new journey, we look to be “Different by Design.” St. Brendan School, through a three-year consultative process with college through grade school educators, parishioners, parents, faculty and staff, as well as the diocesan Office of Catholic Education, and in conjunction with the diocesan Keeping the Faith strategic planning initiative, is charting the course for a new direction by integrating a Classical Catholic Education approach into our curriculum. We are excited to announce that St. Brendan School is the first diocesan elementary school to adopt this unique educational model for our families and the children entrusted to our care.
What is the Classical Catholic Education approach? Through on-fire-for-the-faith administration, faculty, and staff, we strive to integrate in every aspect of our teachings the beauty, truth, and goodness of Jesus Christ as found most fully in His Catholic Church. Teaching this on all levels of every subject, not just in religion class, will inspire our students to see how God has created them, male and female, in the beauty of who they are as human persons. Our teaching will help them encounter and know the truth as revealed by Jesus, who is not just a truth, but the Truth. Our teaching will create an environment that establishes what is good and holy through virtues, friendship, and play, as well as through adventures in the traditional liberal arts and study of history, science, math, English, Latin, etymology, music, art, philosophy, and much more. With faith and reason working hand-in-hand, our students and their families, along with our teaching staff of dedicated, lifelong learners, will grow not only as good citizens, but as faithful, missionary disciples. We believe that a St. Brendan graduate will not only be prepared for high school but will also be prepared to navigate the challenges of our culture with wisdom and grace.
With this at heart, we are also excited to announce that, after an extensive process of review, Mr. Vincent De Luca will be joining us as full-time Head of School for the 2024-25 school year to help facilitate our migration to a Classical Catholic Educational model. Mr. De Luca has had extensive training and experience in this area, especially in his most recent positions in administration and teaching in a Catholic school system located in California. Along with our principal, Miss Julie Onacila, I look forward to working with Mr. De Luca to chart this new course for St. Brendan School.
It is in the mystery of the Incarnation – our Divine God, taking on our humanness – that we can no longer underestimate who we are called to be, we are truly “Different by Design.” We are human who now share in the Divine nature of God through Baptism and all the Sacraments of the Church. May God, the Divine One, bless our school endeavors, imbue our classrooms with that Divine presence, and help us even more so encounter the Divine in our lives. As we pray in the Mass, “formed by Divine teaching,” from our Catholic teaching there is no greater beauty, truth, or goodness that we can pass on to the next generation.
I live for Jesus Christ,
Fr. Thomas G. Woost
Pastor
Read the News of the Diocese article by clicking the photo below
Classical Catholic education curriculum will make St. Brendan 'Different by Design'
photo courtesy of Catholic Diocese of Cleveland