Friends of OLV February 2020 Newsletter
Greetings!
Dear Friends,
"Everything is so splendid that . . . I am lost in admiration." This sentiment, from Telemachus, Odysseus' son, expresses beautifully our aim in classical education. Our students are currently tackling Homer's Odyssey, depicting that ten-year journey across the Mediterranean. As we follow Odysseus's wanderings, we discover so many essential elements of human life and culture: piety, pride and humility, hospitality, endurance, faithful love, and wonder.
Founding a school certainly has constituted a real adventure! Like Odysseus, we have to keep our eyes focused on the goal: reaching home. We want to support family life and help our students to prepare for their own vocations and, ultimately, we hope to prepare them for the lifelong pilgrimage to our true and eternal home. We thank you for your support of our mission. We hope that as our school grows it will continue to bless our families and the Church in Colorado.
Our Lady of Victory, pray for us!
Dr. Jared Staudt, President
Inside Look: Ancient Literature and The Odyssey
Can you imagine a society where the defining virtue of a person was whether or not they showed proper hospitality to all they encountered: homeless beggars, refugees, travelers from near and far?
This is exactly what our students have been asked to do as they read The Odyssey in ancient literature. As I write this, the class is reading of the long-awaited justice Odysseus is about to unleash upon the suitors of his beloved wife Penelope. These brazen suitors have more than overstayed their welcome and have violated all proper Greek customs of xenia (the Greek word for the hospitality shown in the host/guest relationship). Presuming Odysseus is dead, the suitors have taken advantage of lavish hospitality from young Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, who is only now coming of age. They have no fear of the gods and only serve the god of their appetites.
Even to modern ears not accustomed to the Greek virtue of xenia, we find the suitors despicable. But as much as the reader undoubtedly sides with Odysseus and his family, the question remains: is the forthcoming slaughter of the suitors truly just? From the perspective of the ancient Greeks who valued xenia as the hallmark of their civilization, the answer is undoubtedly yes. In fact, Odysseus’s retribution is a matter of divine justice, for Zeus himself was the god of xenia. However, the brutality of Odysseus’s revenge helps us understand the role and necessity of Christian prudence and mercy as tempering one man’s raw justice. This is exactly the question with which OLV’s ninth grade students will wrestle this week in our Socratic-style literature class.
Garrett Cichowitz, Lead Teacher & Program Manager
Please Welcome Our New Faculty & Staff
OLV is excited to announce the addition of Dr. Michael Kilcoyne as our music teacher, and Mrs. Lisa Cushnie as our business manager.
Dr. Michael Kilcoyne’s mission as a teacher is to foster evangelization, ministry and intentional discipleship through the promotion of the sacred music of the Catholic Church, and through the revitalization of a culture of singing in the family. Dr. Kilcoyne holds a Doctor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance & Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado, as well as Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from CU Boulder and Ithaca College, respectively.
Dr. Kilcoyne's passion for Gregorian chant and Palestrina-style polyphony is evident from the fruits of his work as Director of Music at multiple parishes. His adult and children’s choirs learn music reading, vocal technique, improvisation, conducting, diction, and composition through Ward Method-based instruction. Dr. Kilcoyne led similar efforts as the Director of Sacred Music and Liturgy at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Longmont where he taught Gregorian Chant and established a Schola Cantorum.
Dr. Kilcoyne lives with his wife and daughter in Conifer.
Mrs. Lisa Cushnie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Cal State Fullerton. She spent ten years working in the aviation aerospace industry before getting married and staying home to raise a family. She and her husband are parishioners at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Littleton, and have four children, who she homeschooled through sixth grade. She designed her own homeschool curriculum following the classical liberal arts model.
Mrs. Cushnie served for three years on the governing board of a top ranked Colorado liberal arts high school, gaining experience in school governance, reviewing and evaluating curriculum, and writing school policy. Her eldest son is in college studying engineering, while two sons and a daughter are currently in high school. After reading about OLV in her parish bulletin, Mrs. Cushnie became interested in the mission of the school, and volunteered her time last fall to help with administrative projects. She brings to the role of Business Manager organization skills from her work as a project engineer, and experience in education both as a homeschooling mom and school governance board member.
OLV Begins Discipleship Program
As part of its ongoing mission to form the whole person, Our Lady of Victory is participating in YDisciple this semester. YDisciple is a “small group” discipleship program geared toward high school students who seek to deepen their relationship with Christ, to grow in their understanding of the beauty of the truths of the Catholic faith, and to develop spiritual discipline. Students have the opportunity to form friendships founded in virtue as they challenge and encourage each other to live their faith with integrity and with joy.
Our Lady of Victory has formed two YDisciple groups, one for young women and another for young men. The groups are led by generous volunteers from the OLV community who will provide consistent mentorship for our students through their high school years. After the meetings, mentors send an email to parents sharing the topic covered that day and offering ideas to help continue the conversation at home. YDisciple is a program proven to help students navigate the challenges of the high school years and to emerge strong in their faith and ready to tackle future challenges. We look forward to seeing the fruit that the program will bear in the lives of its students and their families and, by extension, the entire OLV community.
OLV Marches for Life
OLV families turned out in force for the Respect Life March on January 11 at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.
The Respect Life March is a wonderful reflection of OLV’s joyfully Catholic culture: students and families cheerfully taking a stand, while respectfully and lawfully challenging one of the greatest sins of our time. The presence of OLV’s young men and women was a testament to the culture of life running strong through OLV, as well as the commitment of young Catholics to the pro-life movement.
The Latest From the Lepanto Review
In the Lepanto Review, our authors consider a basic but important question: “Why should we choose classical education?”
Parents are the quintessential practical thinkers, often to the chagrin of their children. Education is no exception. How will a particular model of learning help my child get into this or that college, and prepare for the careers of the near future? In “Is a Catholic Classical Education Practical?”, Bryce Carson dives into the question of practicality in a Catholic classical high school education, and how the useful can be put into the service of our true end as Christians.
Catholic education gained a powerful new intercessor last fall when Pope Francis canonized St. John Henry Newman. Newman spent much of his life reflecting on the ideal Christian, and later specifically Catholic, education at the university level. Yet Newman’s “The Idea of a University” is perhaps even more applicable to the modern-day high school than our children’s university experience. As Dave Holman writes in “The Idea of a High School: Newman’s Case for a Catholic Classical High School,” Newman’s integrated perspective on human knowledge can bring sanity and wisdom to an often fragmented high school approach that artificially separates “religion,” and all areas of human knowledge, from each other.
Support OLV by Shopping for Groceries
Did you know how easy it is to support OLV without spending an extra penny? If you shop at King Soopers, it is so easy. By taking two minutes of your time, you can link your King Soopers customer loyalty account to OLV. Whenever you scan your customer loyalty card, the grocery store contributes a percentage of your transaction to OLV! And it adds up quickly: with a small number of families, we are seeing significant results.
Would you please join them, and support OLV by linking your account? You can find instructions here. As always, we are grateful for your support!