Educational Training Program

Coming soon will be a full educational training program designed for educators or families who would like to begin using Catholic Natural Education as the way and content for forming the hearts and minds of children.  This platform has been designed from and continues to be modified from the rich depths of the Catholic Intellectual tradition and all of the best in human history.  Much of the philosophical groundwork was developed by Bernard Lonergan, S.J., with deep roots going back into the history of philosophy beginning with the Greek Enlightenment, especially as it grew from Socrates. These roots expanded when wedded to the Revelatory history of Israel and Christianity following the rise of the Jewish wisdom writings and then the birth of Christianity.  The long history of the Catholic educational tradition is thus the root system of our institute and the New Catholic Natural Education.  More recently, the primary figures from whom I draw are Saint John  Henry Neman and Maria Montessori.  John Henry Newman provides the paternal and philosophical and spiritual foundations of much of this work.  Maria provides her gifts as a genius maternal educator with brilliant discoveries and breakthroughs in education.  Her hand is found throughout this website.  Even more so is one of Maria’s students under whom I studied, namely Phyllis Wallbank who died last year at 101 years old.  She was a brilliant trainer for Maria, she headed the British Montessori association, was vice-president of AMI, and founded the first school in the world that was designed for all ages – The Gatehouse in East London.  To her personally, I dedicate this work.  May she rest in His peace forever! And may she pray for this work!

Saint John Henry Newman, please pray for us!

Sincerely,

Dr. David Fleischacker