Statement of Purpose
The mission of The Good Shepherd Academy is to form students in the knowledge, love and service of God through a rigorous classical education aligned with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The school promotes frequent reception of the sacraments, reverence for the Mass and faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
A Catholic classical education pursues knowledge, reason and virtue. It seeks to widen a child’s natural openness to wonder, and thereby increase appreciation of and reverence for truth, beauty and goodness. Ultimately that reverence leads to a love for God Himself. Within the natural order, authentic classical education seeks to lead students to engage with, appreciate, and learn from the most excellent intellectual accomplishments within the liberal arts, mathematics, sciences and fine arts. Within the order of grace, a classical education informs students of the truths of sacred doctrine and theology.
Consistent with the Church’s tradition of exploring in depth all aspects of God’s creation, The Good Shepherd Academy has a curriculum that is both rigorous and comprehensive in scope. Latin is taught at all levels. The curriculum gives a great deal of attention to the Greek and biblical foundations of Western Civilization. At the high school level the students read the classics of Western literature: e.g., Beowulf, The Inferno, and plays of William Shakespeare. The younger students read young adult classics, such as Anne of the Green Gables and Treasure Island. Math and science are taught at all levels, as they traditionally always have been. The Good Shepherd Academy uses the Memoria Press curriculum for instruction in traditional subjects such as composition, grammar and geography.
The students of The Good Shepherd Academy are also instructed in the great works of sacred music (e.g., Palestrina) and are exposed to the secular and sacred music of the great European composers (e.g., Bach, Haydn and Mozart).
At all levels the students at The Good Shepherd Academy are instructed in the Catholic religion and taught orthodox Catholic theology. The Good Shepherd Academy cherishes traditional Catholic teaching. The faculty teaches orthodox Catholicism with joy.
Prayer is woven throughout the school day at The Good Shepherd Academy. The children attend morning Mass at St. Madeleine Catholic
Church, which is three blocks away. The Angelus and table blessing are said at noon, and the Divine Mercy chaplet is recited at dismissal. The teachers typically begin each class with prayer.
The Good Shepherd Academy seeks to inculcate virtue in its students. The students at The Good Shepherd Academy are taught the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. The school promotes the virtue of chastity. The faculty seeks to model the virtues through their own conduct.