Academy Expands to Welcome More Young Men

 

“A diamond in the coal hills of Pennsylvania” is how St. Louis de Montfort Academy was described by Monsignor Michael Fedorowich, of fond memory. The occasion was the graduation held at his parish, Transfiguration of Our Lord, in Shamokin, Pa. The school had completed its third year with the first graduating class.

Now the Academy is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. How much water under the bridge, or better, how much coal mined from the hills over those three decades!

Boarding School for Catholic Boys

The Academy had humble beginnings amidst the farmland, forests and rolling hills of the Susquehanna Valley. There were fifteen students and half a dozen staff, with Richard Lyon at the helm as headmaster.

The students were all sons of supporters of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). For years, it was the dream of these parents and of the American TFP to start a school rooted in the spirit of Catholic chivalry as a solution to the terrible decadence of the public school system.

Steady Growth

As the student body increased from fifteen to twenty, the growing pains made it clear that the main building was too small. In 2012, the first step toward expansion came: a new classroom building. The student body grew to over thirty as soon as it was completed.

Doubling the student body meant the three-van fleet had to become a bus, and that bus grew even larger to accommodate over forty passengers.

Forming Men of Character

The entire formation, moral, mental and physical, as well as the curriculum of the Academy, has always been to form young men into well-rounded Catholic men of character, future leaders with the wherewithal to confront the modern pagan world.

Countering a culture of death that offers the seductive enticements of unlimited sensual pleasure, the Academy alumni respond with their own battle cry: “Youth was made not for pleasure but for heroism… Yes, heroism is the key to happiness.”

Alumni Make a Difference

Among the first graduates, several have become pillars in the American TFP: one a column in the legal and financial control, another heading Crusade Magazine and a third leading the construction of successive Academy expansions, including the current one. A good number went on to spearhead TFP Student Action or are currently spreading the Fatima message in the home visits for America Needs Fatima, as well as organizing campaigns against satanic Black Masses, gender ideology and the dangers of socialism.

Alumni of the Academy likewise organize the Call to Chivalry camps across the country. All this is a labor of love, many times carried out without receiving or expecting any sort of remuneration.

True Devotion to Mary

No matter where the alumni are presently, they remain steadfast in the Catholic Faith. Thus, they influence society, drawing it ever closer to the Reign of Mary prophesied by our patron, Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort.

At the center of the apostolate at the Academy is the True Devotion to Mary that Saint Louis revealed. The students of today, like those of former times, learn to love Our Lady and express their love in their daily lives by the recitation of the rosary.

But praying in the privacy of their homes doesn’t suffice for them. They have expanded their love and devotion out into the public square, becoming the leaders and participants in many of the 20,000 Public Square Rosary Rallies across the United States. Saint Louis, their fiery patron, must be looking down from his heavenly abode with delight because, for Academy alumni, “De Maria numquam satis” (“Of Mary, never enough.”)

New Expansion

Once again, the Academy is expanding, and this time with the addition of a four-level construction totaling 10,000 square feet, almost doubling the size of the old building.

We offer our deepest gratitude to the generous benefactors whose support is bringing this expansion to life. Their generosity fills us with profound appreciation and enables the Academy to continue forming young men for Our Lady’s service. May God reward them.

With this expansion, the student body can triple what it first was. With the added space, the Academy can better accomplish its goal of forming more laborers for Our Lady’s harvest and more leaders for the spiritual crusade on the infernal enemy.

Growth is a symbol of life. As modern institutions crumble one by one, having long ago lost any moral compass, there is one institution that is thriving.

Join us as we celebrate this new phase in the development of our Academy. The blueprint for our next expansion is already being prepared as the current project rushes toward completion. Deus Vult!

Explore the Academy for Your Son

If you are a parent searching for a school that will help your son grow in Faith, virtue, and character, we invite you to explore St. Louis de Montfort Academy.

Visit the Academy, meet our faculty, and experience firsthand the environment where boys are forged into heroes

 

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