St. Thomas Catholic School is the primary apostolate of our parish! Through our school, we provide spiritual, intellectual, and cultural formation to students from throughout the Ann Arbor area. We encourage all parishioners to enroll their children, pray for our school, and give financially so we can keep Catholic education affordable for all.
Why Choose St. Thomas School?
- Strong Catholic Identity
- Classical Curriculum
- Flexible Preschool Options
- Excellent K-8 School
- Thriving Upper School (9-12)
Fr. Bill’s Message for Catholic Schools Week
This week, we are praying for all our Catholic schools throughout the diocese. St Thomas Catholic School has been around since 1868! It is not only one of the oldest Catholic schools in our diocese, but also in the United States. Currently, we are the first Catholic school in our diocese to offer a full classical curriculum. We offer scholarships and tuition help and want parents to know that there is a place for their child at St Thomas. Come and see!
Archbishop Fulton Sheen offers some insights into what a Catholic education ought to include (This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register: cardinalnewmansociety.org/archbishop-sheens-idea-of-education):
“Education should teach us the “truth about man,” said Archbishop Fulton Sheen…
For Sheen, education was about training the “whole man—the intellect and will, not just the mind alone.” Related to the intellect, he described the educated person as one who will do three things: “seek truth,” have a “correlation of studies” and have “depth, particularly the deepening of mystery.”
For the first, Sheen urged that the “one basic truth we have to learn is the truth of our own existence.” He lamented that people live years of their lives without learning “why they are here, and where they are going.”
“When life is meaningless, it is very dull,” Sheen continued. “When you know the truth of life, then you are most free.”
On the second point, the correlation of studies refers to the idea that “there are certain subjects that ought to be regarded as essential, so that a man will be truly educated.” The tendency in education, Sheen explained, was to use the “shelf theory” and “take any course that you please.” This leads to a “disconnected and disjointed” understanding.
The “really educated man sees a relationship between various branches of knowledge,” said Sheen, urging against “overspecification” in universities. A well-rounded curriculum “will teach a man how to… know himself, know society, know his relationship to the universe, and above all, he will understand his relationship to God.”
Finally, a truly educated person will have a “philosophy of life that is solid” and will “deepen the mystery of things” rather than centering studies around various fads that come and go.
Sheen’s thoughts on education may sound lofty in our nation today, where many colleges, even Catholic ones, have become focused solely on job training. They lack the formation that Sheen insisted upon. Many colleges promote relativism, fail to provide a meaningful foundation in the liberal arts, and leave students empty and unprepared for life.
Sheen explains how a strong Catholic education can make life worth living. If families look carefully, they can find strong Catholic schools and colleges that are worthy of a saint.