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WHO WE ARE |
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The Michael family gets a break during this year's CLAA missionary
work in
Jamaica with a walk through the mountain streams on
Mt. Tabor. |
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We are
Catholic
Christians
who love the Church and are directly involved in its missionary
work in America and overseas.
We are
families,
loving and serving God together, while teaching our own children to
do the same.
We are
individuals,
answering God's call in our own lives to seek first the kingdom
of heaven.
We have, however, a unique vision, for
what the Christian family can and needs to be today. Like
no time in history, the Church depends on faithful
families to raise up wise and holy children to refill and renew
its monasteries, convents, churches, schools and missions.
This is the mission that drives everything we do and we invite
you to join us. |
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WILLIAM MICHAEL, DIRECTOR |
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The Michael family (L to R):
Samuel (4), Joshua (1), David (7), William, Elizabeth Grace
(8), Jacob (2), Dania, Jonathan (10) and Mary Faith (5).
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William Michael is a Catholic husband and father. Married to his high school sweetheart, Dania Strevell in 1998, he is expecting an eighth child in 2010. The
Michaels live on a family farm in North Carolina,
while managing a very busy life that includes managing the CLAA,
working with the Missionaries of the Poor overseas and much more.
Mr.
Michael graduated with an honors degree in Classics and History from
Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he earned numerous academic
awards and was inducted Phi Alpha Theta and Phi Beta Kappa national
honor societies. He enjoyed the freedom of working independently
to create a degree program in the classics that allowed him to study not
what universities call "Classics" today, but a shadow of the true
classical liberal arts curriculum. Rather than accepting a graduate
fellowship at Rutgers, Mr. Michael believed there was too much work to
be done in Christian education to spend the best years of his life
studying and got to work in teaching. After all, he always
expected to be self-employed and therefore wasn't going to be dependent
on a degree for work. This proved to be a prudent decision.
Mr. Michael spent close to ten years in a
remarkable teaching career, where he was known for the radical
intellectual and spiritual influence he had in the lives of his
students. It was the constant encouragement of his students to
write books on teaching and a particular note from a colleague that
solidified his conviction that something more widely available needed to
be developed and shared with families and schools around the country.
Mr. Michael began turning his lecture notes into online lessons and,
through a number of amazing provisions, the CLAA was born.
However, what really motivated him to
establish the CLAA was the dissatisfaction he felt as a father with the
options available for his children as they reached school age. No
study programs or schools were operated in an environment of prayer and
meditation, of faith and holiness. All the focus was on which
books one was using and he knew that this was not as much the problem as
the focus of those books was. Academically, none of the
available programs taught anything comparable to what the great Catholic minds of
the past studied and the desire to see God glorified in the next generation
led him to take on the challenge of restoring the classical liberal arts
curriculum and the culture that nourished it. God, it appears, has blessed our work.
Since starting the CLAA in Charlotte in August 2008--over 800 students
have enrolled and feedback is very enthusiastic.
In the CLAA, Mr. Michael manages just
about everything but his focus is on the writing of the classical
liberal arts courses themselves. He authors all of the CLAA's core
courses and serves as chief editor on the rest. He is most widely
know for his practical discussions on family issues on the
CLAA Family Forum.
In June of 2009, Mr. Michael was invited by Father
Richard Ho Lung, founder and father superior of the Missionaries of the
Poor to help with the development of a formation program for
the order's brothers around the world. That relationship then
blossomed into a still greater mission to be headed by the Michaels,
which will begin to establish free Catholic schools in the poorest areas
of the world using the CLAA's model. From this the vision for the Beatitudes School and CLAA Missions was born.
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Above: Mr.
and Mrs. Michael work intimately with the Missionaries of
the Poor in the US and overseas. On the
left, Mr. Michael relaxes with the senior brothers after an
evening lecture at Prince of Peace Monastery in Jamaica.
On the right, Mr. Michael teaches a course in classical
Rhetoric to the juniors in Sacred Heart Monastery in
Jamaica. Below left, Mrs. Michael and the children
visiting Bro. Loubert, MOP at Jacob's Well, a home for
abused and homeless women n Jamaica. Below left, Mrs.
Michael and the children visiting the Missionaries of
Charity in Kingston, Jamaica with Father Brian Kerr, MOP. |
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CLAA families can participate directly in our
missionary work! To learn more, visit the CLAA Missions blog and
send us any questions:
http://claamissions.wordpress.com.
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DID YOU KNOW? |
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The CLAA owns and operates the international website
of the
Missionaries
of the Poor! Check it out at online at:
www.missionariesofthepoor.org.
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DR. NATHAN SCHMIEDICKE, THEOLOGY |
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The Schmiedicke family (L to R):
Jonah (5), Nathan, Joseph (4), Josiah (2), Wendy and Elijah
(7). Ezra was born in March 2010 and is not pictured. |
Dr.
Nathan Schmiedicke was born the fifth of eleven children and raised
on a small family farm in Michigan. He attended Catholic school through
eighth grade and was home-schooled through High school. He studied at
Thomas Aquinas College (CA), where he was chosen by his condiscipuli to
deliver the graduating speech in 2000. After graduating
with honors from TAC, he married his
college sweetheart, Wendy (Youngclaus), to whom the Lord has given five
sons as of March 2010.
He began graduate school at
Marquette University (Milwaukee). He completed his Ph.D. in Biblical
Theology in 2007 and began teaching Theology, Patristics, Scripture, and
languages at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA and
classics at nearby Villanova University.
After striking up a friendship with Mr.
Michael in November 2008 and realizing a common passion for classical
Catholic work, study and prayer, Dr. Schmiedicke decided to join the
CLAA and will be directing the CLAA's Biblical Studies program and all Theology courses
as of the Summer of 2010. |
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JARED HASELBARTH, MUSIC & CULTURE |
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The Haselbarth family (L to R):
Laura, Gavin Walter (2), Jared, Maximilian James (4 mo.). |
Jared
Haselbarth is the Assistant Dean of the Religious Studies
Division of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook PA and has been
involved in the CLAA since its beginning. Mr. Haselbarth is teaching
the CLAA's excellent Music History course in 2009-2010 and will be teaching our
Art History course as well in 2010-2011. He contributes regularly
to the CLAA's monthly newsletter, writing helpful articles on music in
the family. A musician himself (contemporary), Jared recorded his
first CD In the Shade in 2003. You can listen to one
of Jared's songs here:
In the Shade.
Jared and his wife, Laura, have two young sons and live in the
Philadelphia area. |
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OLD
FEEDBACK
(...we can't keep
up with it anymore!) |
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Note: Most of the
comments below were received as the CLAA was just getting started in
2008. We receive letters of praise and gratitude every week from
families who are thrilled with the CLAA courses and overall affect on
their families' lives. We have been blessed with helping many
families return to the Catholic faith and with helping some to enter for
the first time. We consider this the ultimate proof of our
success. For fresh, current feedback from CLAA families, we
encourage you to visit the CLAA Family Forum, where over 300 families
are available to help you every day. You may find some of the
conversations challenging, but the families are eager to help and share
their wisdom and experience. Visit the forum at:
www.classicalliberalarts.net.
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"Thank you for
sharing our life of offering Christ to the poor and to one
another.
You are such a wonderful couple, amazing spirit and lovely
blessed children. Give God thanks!
We appreciate your
whole-hearted and generous support for our community and the
poor. May the Lord bless your family with peace and love.
With love and prayers, M.O.P family."
Missionaries of the Poor
Kingston, Jamaica
"Mr. Michael's
courses are legendary. The magnitude of this man’s influence at
our school reaches the level of a Hollywood drama. Like the
inspirational characters from Dead Poets Society, The Emperor’s
Club, and Coach Carter, Bill Michael has revolutionized the
lives of numerous young people. In all of my years of teaching,
I have never witnessed a teacher make such an extensive impact
on students...He’s a man of outstanding moral integrity, he’s
culturally relevant and in-tuned...and he seems to know
something about everything. He may be the most brilliant man I
have ever met."
Upper School Theology Teacher
NC, USA
My
family is thoroughly enjoying CLAA. Watching
my wife teach them and the CLAA forum has caused me
to become a Catholic revert. THANK YOU!!!"
Father
Missouri, USA
"Mr. Michael
changes your life. He gives you spiritual guidance, forces you
to use your mind and think, challenges you in every aspect of
your life, and by the time he is finished with you, you’re able
to think clearly and wisely. His ability to connect with you on
any subject is phenomenal. Any subject, any time, any place, he
is well prepared to teach and guide you. Most importantly he has
made me a better person. I can’t say that about any teacher I’ve
ever had in my life. He has dedicated his whole entire life to
God’s work, and is the example of what Jesus wants us to
be. I don’t think many people can say they know somebody like
that. Mr. Michael has changed my life.
Former Student
NC, USA
"Mr.
Michael's teaching has provided me a firm base of learning in Logic
and Rhetoric...I use his
teachings everyday and the overall background that
he provided me with has helped me defend Christianity."
Former Student
NC, USA
"Mr. Michael is the kind of
teacher that we should be very thankful to have...It is so
refreshing to come across an educator who understands how
different children learn and progress... His love for God's
children and his desire to reach all students is an
incredible blessing to us all."
High School Mother
NC, USA
"I cannot tell you enough or express in the right words how much
we appreciate, and are now more at ease, this year.
Understanding what you are offering and knowing I am now giving
them just what they need, homeschooling does not feel so
overwhelming. Thank you for taking the time to bring this
treasure of the true classical curriculum back and thank you for
helping us to implement and understand it. I think I am getting
my sanity back."
Homeschool Mother
NC, USA
"I find it encouraging to know of
your work... so necessary for our times.
Many thanks for your ministry. May you be blessed!"
Seminarian
NJ, USA
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