Dear Friends,

Yesterday afternoon I received an unexpected call from Switzerland. It was Justin Dimitry, one of our dorm fathers who is currently on pilgrimage – walking from France to Rome. After reading The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc, he and a friend were inspired to retrace the same 700+ mile route traversed by Belloc.

After a particularly difficult day of walking in the mountains, he had called to ask for words of inspiration to carry him through the last four miles, which promised to be especially challenging. Providentially, I had the perfect intention to give him.

Just a few hours earlier, we had received an anonymous donation of $20,000 – made “in honor of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” the largest single donation we had received to-date. I suggested that he offer the rest of the day for this benefactor in particular, and in thanksgiving to God for inspiring such generosity. Justin eagerly took this intention to heart, and continued with renewed vigor.

While Justin is in Europe praying for Saint Andrew’s and the intentions of our benefactors and friends, the faculty is busy preparing for the upcoming year and the arrival of our third incoming freshmen class.

We’ve been building bunk beds and shelving, purchasing textbooks, installing additional washers and dryers, hiring faculty and dorm-fathers, ordering more dishes and cookware, hunting for another van… the list goes on! We have also been making significant progress on the site plans for the academy’s expansion project, which I look forward to sharing with you in the near future.

In other news, most of the faculty and many of the students traveled to St. Mary’s Kansas to celebrate the marriage of one of our faculty –Thomas Rogers. The solemn-high nuptial mass, celebrated in the newly built Immaculata, was served entirely by St. Andrew’s students. Tom served as a dorm father and teacher for the last two years, and we look forward to him returning this coming year as a trades instructor.

As we prepare for our third year at Saint Andrew’s, I humbly ask for your prayers and support. We continue to rely on your generosity in our mission to reclaim joyful, Catholic education.

Pax Christi!

Ben Strong

The Path to Rome

Congratulations to Tom and Maisy Rogers

Workshop Improvements

Thanks to your generosity, we were able to pour a concrete floor that will over double the capacity of our workshop!