William C. MichaelWilliam C. Michael

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P., is the founder and headmaster of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy and a Lay Dominican in the Catholic Church. Mr. Michael received an honors degree in Classics and Ancient History from Rutgers University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He led the CLAA to accreditation with Cognia in 2024. He has been studying and teaching the classical liberal arts for over 30 years.

The Context of Jesus Blessing the Children

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“Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10 These words of Jesus are often quoted as part of a feel-good, family-friendly message in churches. Jesus is nice and likes kids. All are welcome. However, if we go to the actual context of these words, we find something quite different. First, Jesus says these words after forbidding adultery and warning that those who divorce and remarry are guilty of adultery. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband … Continue

Literature in the Light of the Classical Liberal Arts

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In Shakespeare’s day, the knowledge of the classical Catholic curriculum could be assumed of the audience. In the opening lines of his “Taming of the Shrew”, the speech cannot be understood without a knowledge of our curriculum. Lucentio speaking at the opening of the play, speaks of his plan to devote himself to the study of classical Ethics, “that “For the time I study,Virtue and that part of PhilosophyWill I apply that treats of happinessBy virtue specially to be achieved.” Academy students working in Classical Ethics can understand exactly which study he speaks of. Lucentio’s servant Tranio then replies, with … Continue

Have you considered ROTC?

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If you are a student considering a secular occupation, you are likely thinking about going to college, earning a living, finding a meaningful career, and so on. If that’s the case, I’d like to recommend that you look into the ROTC programs in the U.S. Military. What is the ROTC? ROTC stands for “Reserve Officer Training Corps“. It is a college program that provides students with military training to prepare them to serve as military officers when they finish their college studies. Students who are admitted to the ROTC program go to college like normal students and pursue college degrees … Continue

What’s Wrong with Evolution AND Creation Science

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This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai This is William C., Michael, of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. And today is Thursday, September 23, 2021. Today, what I’m going to spend time reflecting on or discussing is the question of evolution. I received the request yesterday, from a friend who asked that I might take up the topic of evolution because he has several Catholic friends who argue that evolution, the theory of evolution, is compatible with Catholic theology and can therefore be embraced and promoted by Catholics as a plausible explanation for how God created the world. So I’d like … Continue

How Diogenes Educated Children

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“Diogenes taught the children of Xeniades, after their other lessons, to ride, and shoot, and sling, and dart. And then in the Gymnasium he did not permit the trainer to exercise them after the fashion of athletes, but exercised them himself to just the degree sufficient to give them a good colour and good health. And the boys retained in their memory many sentences of poets and prose writers, and of Diogenes himself; and he used to give them a concise statement of everything in order to strengthen their memory. And at home he used to teach them to wait … Continue

Christian Education Should Focus on Philosophy, not Religion

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This morning, on the way to Mass, my wife and I had a discussion about our children’s education and experience in education in general. We talked about a topic that I think would be good to share, which I’d like to talk about in in this talk today. And the title may appear controversial, but it’s not intended to be it’s just as we’ll see, a simple reality that I think many of us know to be true, but are afraid to admit, but with a little bit of reflection and discussion becomes very obvious. And it’s one of the … Continue

Learn to Read Ancient Greek in the Classical Liberal Arts Academy

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In the Middle Ages, few Catholic scholars paid much attention to the original language of the New Testament Scriptures. The Latin Vulgate was established from around 360 AD as the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, and it was treated as if it was divinely inspired by Catholics for centuries. At the time of the Renaissance, however, Catholic scholars like Desiderius Erasmus began challenging the Church to return to the study of the original languages, to study the writings actually inspired by the Holy Spirit. In 1943, Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, promoting the study … Continue

What’s the Moral of this Fable?

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In the Academy’s “Aesop’s Fables” course, students are asked to identify the moral of each fable that they read. Sometimes, the moral is pretty clear and all students say the same thing. One fable on which students disagree is the fable of “The Cock and the Jewel“. Read the text of the fable: A brisk young Cock scratching for something with which to entertain his favourite hens, happened to turn up a jewel. Feeling quite sure that it was something precious, but not knowing well what to do with it, he addressed it with an air of affected wisdom as … Continue