Advent invites us to reflect on our Christian disposition, oriented towards peace, hope, joy, and love. St. Josemaría Escrivá was known to summarize that disposition by calling it, simply… “simple.” In The Way, he praises the apostles and St. Joseph for imitating Jesus himself in being simple. And then he exhorts us: “May you not lack simplicity.”

Heights faculty Joe Cardenas and Nate Gadiano join us this week to explore the Christian meaning of “simplicity,” beginning with the ways that God is simple: unified, sincere, essential, and wholly true. As we strive to reflect his example, how do we find that interior disposition of simplicity? And how can we help our boys find it too?

3:07 A Catholic sense of simplicity

10:13 Moving beyond “minimalism”

18:38 Simplicity in Scripture

20:43 Social simplicity

24:12 As opposed to duplicity

26:08 How spiritual direction simplifies you

30:36 A unity of purpose

32:39 Distinct from feelings-based “honesty”

39:02 Helping our boys as parents, mentors

41:41 A boy’s insecurity, overcome by trust

47:38 Secure in divine filiation

The Way, Furrow, and The Forge by St. Josemaría Escrivá

The Virtues Playlist on The Heights Forum

“The air of Narnia had been working upon him … and all his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more.”

In this week’s wide-ranging discussion, Dr. Jason Baxter talks about fellow Medievalist C. S. Lewis’s ideas of story and history—and how those ideas matter for the education and formation of a thoroughly modern people. What can today’s “classical revival movements” learn from Lewis?

3:56 C. S. Lewis’s library

6:31 His theory of stories: mining ancient jewels

14:49 His theory of history: a post-Christian world

17:14 Modern man’s trouble with pre-modern texts

20:09 Embracing modernity and tradition

25:45 Making virtue attractive

33:49 How to “teach” a passion

42:45 Why a new translation of Dante

49:51 Wounded by beauty

jasonmbaxter.com featuring articles and lectures

Beauty Matters, Substack for Jason Baxter

The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind by Jason Baxter

The Divine Comedy: Inferno translated by Jason Baxter

Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College

A Doctor, a Lawyer, and a Cop Walk into a Boys School, episode two of Heights Forum Faculty Podcast

What Fiction Is For featuring Joe Breslin

Inferno or Paradiso? On Introducing Students to the Divine Comedy featuring Jason Baxter

In this episode we feature a lecture from Heights Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, at the last Art of Teaching conference. In the talk, Colin explores the concept of “unanxious leadership” in the classroom, emphasizing the importance of teachers maintaining a calm, grounded presence. He explains that anxiety often arises when teachers feel they are in constant conflict with students or struggling to control the classroom. Colin encourages teachers to adopt a mindset of humility and vulnerability, rather than relying on rigid authority or defensiveness, which fosters trust and respect. By focusing on building genuine relationships and being a “storyteller” rather than an “actor,” teachers can create a classroom where students feel seen, valued, and understood.

Colin also stresses the importance of fairness in discipline. He warns against using authority as a tool for domination and suggests a “double correction” strategy—addressing conflicts with two students by fairly acknowledging the role each one played in the dispute. He emphasizes that fairness, empathy, and thoughtful reflection can help reduce anxiety for both teachers and students. Colin believes that teachers must trust that students are genuinely trying to do their best, even in difficult moments, and that recognizing this effort is key to fostering a positive classroom environment.

Finally, Colin highlights the value of informal, outside-the-classroom interactions in building strong teacher-student relationships. By spending time with students outside of lessons—whether through casual conversations or attending their extracurricular activities—teachers show that they care about their students as individuals. This personal investment creates a sense of connection that enhances both academic and personal growth. Ultimately, Colin argues that an “unanxious classroom” is shaped by teachers who lead with humility, compassion, and a focus on positive relationships, transforming both the teaching experience and the overall learning environment.

How do we justify reading? Do we justify reading?

Heights fifth grade teacher and published fiction author Joe Breslin chases away such questions. Though fiction can have utility, even moral impact—fiction at its best is an art created and received with wonder. In this fascinating conversation, Mr. Breslin reflects on writing, reading, and gets us to the heart of what it actually means to do something “for its own sake.”

3:50 Do we read for utility?

7:49 Fiction: pursued for its own sake

11:43 Whether fiction has a moral purpose

18:57 Fiction writing is not essay writing

23:03 Good art ends up reflecting God

26:09 Defining “good for its own sake”

28:23 The tension between education and encounter

34:04 A parent’s role in sharing fiction

38:07 The human impulse for literature

Hearts Uncanny: Tales of the Unquiet Spirit by Joe Breslin

Other Minds: 13 Tales of Wonder and Sorrow by Joe Breslin

joeybreslinwrites.com Joe Breslin’s author website

“Ethics of Elfland” by G. K. Chesterton

Leisure: The Basis of Culture Josef Pieper

“The Loss of the Creature” by Walker Percy

Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles

What Should a Catholic University Be? at The Heights School (December 7, 2024)

The Forum Book Reviews, many written by Joe Breslin

A surprising number of Catholic conversions in the last hundred years begin with one man: G. K. Chesterton. A modern Catholic favorite, Chesterton looms large in subjects as diverse as theology, satire, marginalia, philosophy, politics, and mystery fiction.

Our guest today is Dale Ahlquist, founder and president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. His own journey of conversion started with Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man. In our conversation, we visit many of Chesterton’s ideas, concluding with the much misunderstood “distributism”—a Chestertonian practical philosophy and the subject of Ahlquist’s co-edited book of essays titled Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching.

1:53 Conversion by way of Chesterton

6:17 Chesterton: a “complete thinker”

8:16 Reading recommendations

12:05 The opening of Everlasting Man

13:56 The ending of Man Who Was Thursday

17:16 Fairy tales and fundamental truths

19:18 “The twitch upon the thread”

22:27 Defining distributism, or localism

30:13 Localism for D.C. (sub)urbanites

33:44 Founding schools: localism in action

39:11 Family enterprises

42:19 The contributors to Localism

45:31 Creating a life of localism where you are

Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching edited by Dale Ahlquist and Michael Warren Davis

The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist

Common Sense 101: Lessons from G. K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton

St. Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton

St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton

Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G. K. Chesterton

“The Roots of the World” by G. K. Chesterton

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton

Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles

What Should a Catholic University Be? at The Heights School (December 7, 2024)

Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers

The task of fatherhood is critical, dynamic—and daunting. How could one address hope to address it all? During the Fatherhood Conference at The Heights School this month, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente boiled it down to this: God chose this for you. You are called. Accepting this simple starting point should give fathers the confidence to take on the role, and the humility to seek God’s grace while doing so.

3:02 Fatherhood as vocation

9:20 Vocation as your position on the team

12:09 The mission: bring your family to heaven

13:29 Fatherhood is a partnership with God

16:07 A father’s example of piety and virtue

27:06 Offering our children direct guidance

30:37 Offering them our time

34:05 Witnessing to the world

36:54 Being open to God’s grace

40:41 Messy is fine

45:20 You’re the man for the job

Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente’s substack featuring original articles

Pastoral Letter on New Evangelization, 2 October 2011 by Javier Echevarría, former prelate of Opus Dei

Christ Is Passing By by Josemaría Escrivá

“In Joseph’s Workshop” by Josemaría Escrivá

The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers

On Emotional Presence and Imperfect Parenting featuring Alvaro de Vicente

Paternal Presence featuring Alvaro de Vicente

The Father and His Family featuring Michael Moynihan

What is beauty? Is it definable? What is it for, how are we drawn to it—and why do we sometimes resist it?

This week we welcome Dr. George Harne, president of Christendom College and an accomplished medieval and music history scholar. Drawing on his perspective as head of a vibrant Catholic liberal arts college, he speaks to us about the liberal arts as a path of study driven by beauty and contemplation, in pursuit of a true vision of reality.

2:02 Liberal arts: what free people study

5:51 Versus “humanities” or “classical education”

7:46 Why study them

9:43 Music as a liberal art, fine art, liturgical art

13:16 Teaching art and contemplation

18:24 Defining contemplation

21:21 Contemplating music

24:45 Music with our family

28:19 Receiving beauty objectively, subjectively

29:42 Beauty under suspicion today

34:24 A Catholic liberal arts education

Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper

The Arts of the Beautiful by Etienne Gilson

Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)

The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers

Defining the Liberal Arts featuring Dr. Matthew Mehan

Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Dr. Lionel Yaceczko

Why a Liberal Arts Education Today featuring Michael Moynihan

The Idea of the Liberal Arts University featuring Dr. Thomas Hibbs

Dr. Jeremy Beer’s study of American society over the last 200 years, overlaid with psychology research and statistics about American charitable giving, has brought about his recent book: The Quest for Belonging.

The book directly advises nonprofit and fundraising leaders, though it just as much informs the everyday giver. This week on HeightsCast, Beer helps us see that charitable giving at its best is not a distant act of beneficence but an intimate act of community. It allows those who participate to become more rooted in the reality of social belonging, making for a healthier society in more ways than one.

• 3:56 American cultural tradition of “association”
• 7:39 Four pillars of civil society
• 9:04 American society, in particular
• 16:53 Gradual decline of American association, of belonging
• 21:33 Giving and religious affiliation
• 25:04 Giving and localism
• 28:02 Giving as a democratic exercise
• 31:31 Nonprofits have a role in belonging
• 33:50 The goods of associating ourselves
• 34:36 To whom do you owe?
• 41:07 Giving and the Catholic tradition

• The Quest for Belonging: How the Most Effective Nonprofit Leaders Understand the Psychology of Giving by Jeremy Beer
• Givers, Doers, and Thinkers, Jeremy Beer’s podcast
• A Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri J. M. Nouwen

• Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)
• The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

It turns out that modern psychology, neuroscience research, “habit hacks,” and popular self-help literature can all be summed up in one very classical idea: the virtues.

So asserts Dr. Andrew Abela, founding dean of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. This week on HeightsCast, he helps us unpack his new book, Superhabits, in which he rebrands the virtues as “superhabits” to suit the contemporary discourse. Then, with the help of Thomas Aquinas and about a dozen gripping stories, Dr. Abela shows us how these superhabits of virtue are described, developed, and supported by modern research as the way to live a good life.

• 2:20 Virtues: the essential human operating system
• 5:19 Humans pre-wired for virtue
• 9:14 Psychology research, self-help books all point back to virtues
• 17:57 “Anatomy of Virtue” diagram
• 25:57 The role emotions play
• 29:12 Virtue gets easier!
• 33:21 Translating virtue into “superhabits”
• 37:19 Redirecting anger with gentlefirmness
• 43:22 Finding restful leisure with eutrapelia
• 48:41 Where to begin

• Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life by Andrew Abela
• Dr. Abela’s Substack featuring blog posts and articles
• “The Anatomy of Virtue” by Andrew Abela, including his diagram of Aquinas’s categories of virtue
• Treatise on the Virtues by Thomas Aquinas

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Tiny Habits by B. J. Fogg
• The Virtues by John Garvey
• Learning the Virtues that Lead You to God by Romano Guardini
• The Heart of Virtue: Lessons from Life and Literature Illustrating the Beauty and Value of Moral Character by Donald DeMarco

• Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)
• The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

• Free Hearts and Magnanimity featuring Alexandre Havard
• From Anxiety to Adventure: On Reframing Challenges featuring Kevin Majeres
• Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. I featuring Joe Cardenas
• Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. II featuring Joe Cardenas

The sentimentalism of our greater culture is a formidable—yet surmountable—challenge to young men. Our sons are relentlessly encouraged to follow their affections and feelings wherever they might lead, whatever their commitments. How can we, as parents and teachers, help our boys to become men who love the world without being pulled off course by the sentiments and affections that are a natural aspect of our God-given humanity?

As part of our parent lecture series at The Heights School, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers his insights to navigating the cultural challenge of sentimentalism by using the virtue of loyalty as a ballast. For when the feelings fail, loyalty helps us to stay the virtuous course—where our yes is yes and our no is no.

• [00:02:11] The erosion of loyalty, rise of sentimentalism
• [00:05:14] Loyalty: a virtue that trains other virtues
• [00:12:36] Sentimentalism: when feelings dominate
• [00:17:47] How sentimentalism undermines the good
• [00:30:01] Modern boys and sentimental morals
• [00:30:48] Training the sentiments
• [00:32:39] Naming them
• [00:35:22] Practicing self-discipline exercises
• [00:38:02] Setting limits on pleasurable activities
• [00:39:13] Confronting “emotional attacks”
• [00:42:16] Harnessing the sentiments to promote virtue
• [00:47:54] Stories of loyalty
• [00:55:21] Don't commit lightly: let your yes be yes
• [00:59:20] The grace to succeed as parents

• The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

• Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)
• The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

• Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. I featuring Joe Cardenas
• Emotions Fully Alive: Forming Boys’ Affectivity Pt. II featuring Joe Cardenas

Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal published a front-page story on American young men and the crisis of masculinity. It featured hard stories of the “aimless and isolated”—but could ultimately offer no solutions.

This week on HeightsCast, we’re pleased to welcome Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway. Bishop Varden has authored several books exploring human personhood, including topics of masculinity and femininity. He helps us get the lay of the land both culturally and spiritually in this so-called moment of crisis. His Excellency then shares the vision of masculinity that he finds in scripture and tradition, so that we may bring these ideas into our homes and to our sons.

• 2:59 Man fully alive: is my life fruitful?
• 5:09 A crisis of masculinity
• 11:06 Language for a constructive conversation
• 14:11 ‘Man,’ ‘woman,’ ‘human person’ called into question
• 17:39 Vision of the human person in Genesis
• 26:38 Complementarity of the sexes
• 30:19 Masculinity and femininity as dual poles
• 38:29 Manliness: to pour oneself out in protection of another
• 42:08 Accepting our fragility
• 48:49 Communicating masculinity to modern boys

• Coram Fratribus, Bishop Erik Varden’s blog featuring homilies, articles, and “marginalia”
• Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses by Erik Varden
• Entering the Twofold Mystery: On Christian Conversion by Erik Varden
• The Shattering of Loneliness: On Christian Remembrance by Erik Varden
• “America’s Young Men Are Falling Even Further Behind” by Rachel Wolfe, WSJ 28 September 2024

• Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 5, 2024)
• Fathers Conference at The Heights School (November 2, 2024)
• The Art of Teaching Conference at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2024)

• Stewards of the Universe: Men Fully Alive featuring Alvaro de Vicente
• The Man Fully Alive: On Our Vision featuring Alvaro de Vicente