Testimonials

Gregory the Great Academy needs you. Given the state of affairs in our country, in our cities, in our neighborhoods, there is no doubt as to the need for havens like this school. What may not occur to you is the duty we all have to offer our spiritual and material support for such endeavors. The faculty of this school is on the front lines of a war over culture itself. They need us—all of us. It is only with our help, as we join them in participating in the grace of God, that they will carry on and develop their mission to educate a new generation of soldiers for Christ. Without us, without you, they cannot offer scholarships, put good food on the table, or secure a permanent home. Please join the drive to restore the art of Catholic education, and play a part in changing the lives of today’s young men who will be tomorrow’s leaders. My sincere prayer is that this place and this tradition will continue. Won’t you please join us in supporting this great and important work for the Church. Show more

Most Rev. James D. Conley
Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska

Thank God for Gregory the Great Academy. It is a true school—a place where a boy can become a man with fire in his heart for the truth and the joy to be a witness to that truth. Gregory the Great Academy is an answer to so many prayers, including mine. This school deserves and needs your support to continue its fine work of forming young men, by converting our sons to our Father. Please help this school to survive and prosper. Gregory the Great Academy has my support. Won’t you offer yours today? Show more

Scott Hahn, Ph.D.
Franciscan University

The world is on fire. As in the time of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, we are engaged in a struggle to save Christian culture from the barbarians—only this time they have cell phones. I would like to introduce you to a high school that is fighting against this new barbarism. Gregory the Great Academy is both a ‘classic’ sort of boarding school for boys and a bold experiment in education. Its unique way of inspiring the practice of Catholic piety, while cultivating manly virtues in the students, makes it stand out from other institutions in America and Europe. My numerous contacts with the faculty and students of Gregory the Great Academy have led to an appreciation of what has already been accomplished by the teachers and young men and prompts me to look with bright hope to what is surely still to come of this cultural chevauchee. Show more

Abbot Philip Anderson, O.S.B. Clear Creek Abbey

If St. Benedict, Robert Louis Stevenson, and G.K. Chesterton sat down over a meal to hash out the vision of a Catholic Boys’ School, it would be Gregory the Great Academy. Nothing of this school’s like can be found throughout the land. Halls filled with laughter and song, a playing field measured in courage, a classroom dedicated to wisdom and friendship, and a chapel echoing with the restrained manly praise of God–and then there is the juggling! Having sailed through the jaws of trial and testing, with years of study and rich classroom experience informing their vision, the young men and dedicated teachers of GGA are a daring grace for our Church and our country. We should all desire to join in their adventure. Show more

William Fahey, Ph.D.
Thomas More College

Ours is a dark age, and it is going to get darker. If you want to prepare your son to live a full life in a dying age, send him to Gregory the Great Academy. More importantly, if you want your son to be part of the restoration, send him to Gregory the Great Academy. And more important than that, if you want your son to take others with him to Heaven, then send him to Gregory the Great Academy. At Gregory the Great the next generation of disciples of Jesus Christ is being formed. To say they have their work cut out for them is a considerable understatement, but this school will see to it that they are up to the task. Joy and fervor, virility and piety, learning and reverence: Gregory the Great Academy is my favorite school in the whole world. Show more

Christopher Check
President, Catholic Answers

As a Dominican friar, I have been able to share with my brothers the love of sacred and traditional folk music that was fostered by my years at St. Gregory’s. I am profoundly grateful for the gifts I have received from St. Gregory’s. I hope that many more young men will be able to experience the same introduction to Christian culture at Gregory the Great Academy. Show more

Fr. Innocent Smith, OP
Class of 2004

I gratefully acknowledge the singular influence of Gregory the Great Academy upon my religious formation, intellectual development, and imaginative growth. Young men naturally and deeply yearn for joyful yet formal liturgy. Academics that are poetic while rigorous, wonders immanent and noble—and uniquely, all of this is woven into the fabric of life at Gregory the Great Academy. Show more

I often find myself at a loss for words to explain St. Gregory’s to people because as a mother, it involves so many very personal experiences and meditations. At a certain point, some years ago, I realized that more than anything, St. Gregory’s is a true act of love.I say this with the conviction of one who has long known personally, everyone (faculty and staff) involved with St. Gregory’s. Were it not for the fraternal love which they manifest to the students and each other, and zeal for the mission of this school, St. Gregory’s would not exist. Show more

I have been closely associated with St. Greg’s for more than 10 years and believe I know the school extremely well. To send a child nearly 3,000 miles across the country to attend high school is a daunting decision.But I have not regretted doing this. I have seen first hand the excellent results of the St. Gregory’s experience. My boys are well grounded in faith and reason – what Pope John Paul II calls the two wings of the truth. Show more

Gregory the Great Academy is a holy haven where a boy can become a man… not the emasculated man who seems to be permeating today’s society, but rather a strong, faith-filled, leader and protector. My son presently attends this school, and it is truly a gift from God.He is learning how to build friendships with other young men, sing songs, juggle, play rugby, camp, and learn more about his Catholic faith and the liturgy than any other school I’ve ever encountered. This school brings a boy back to the traditions of our Catholic Church, the reverence of sacred music, and the appreciation of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And PRAISE GOD for no cell phones, TV’s, and computers! These boys face life with the same raw reality in which boys of years gone by faced life. The boys of Gregory the Great can actually carry on a conversation face to face without the distraction of texting and snap chatting and a myriad of other aberrations which inhibit normal maturation. The absence of technology at this school is a profound ingenuity; a saturation of electronics only serves to retard and impede the natural process of education. Young men receive but one distinct opportunity to encounter their teenage years. There are no “do-overs.” Gregory the Great Academy is a school that won’t leave you yearning for a redo of your son’s high school education. Show more

Two of our sons are graduates and proud alumni of both the old St. Gregory’s Academy and the new Gregory the Great Academy. School teaches the Good, the True and the Beautiful. What’s not to love about that?! The Catholic faith is at the center of the school experience as well as learning and culture, not to mention field trips to NYC to see the opera, Metropolitan Art Museum, and my boys have been on junior and senior class trips to Ireland, Spain, France and Italy. The Greg’s boys take frequent trips into the community, singing the Star Spangled Banner frequently at professional hockey games in the Scranton area and do a huge festival in Virginia each year, with much public outreach and amazing juggling and singing performances. My two sons joined the Schola and now can sing beautiful Gregorian Chant, as well as many spirited Irish and Scottish folk songs, with great gusto. And the boys sing with joy in their hearts. And how many high school graduations feature the return of scores of alumni and tears from nearly every graduate as they process out of the auditorium to the singing of the alumni? My eldest son has attended every graduation since his own in 2011, even when they were in NH for one year. And my 2017 graduate has visited 6 or 7 times since he graduated in May. The boys have no access to internet technology while there, which in my view, is one of the best parts of the school. And the school which boasts many alumni as teachers and even the Head Master and Rugby coach, replaces the internet access with poetry, camping in all seasons, music, Pennsylvania State Champion Rugby Teams in 2012 and 2017, field trips, banquets, not to mention an international juggling troupe, which one town in upstate NY nearly shuts down to host the troupe each May. I could write pages more about this gem of a school which I am happy to say my thirteen year old son is looking forward to attending next year. Many families have sent six or seven of their sons to this academy, which certainly speaks volumes about the success of this institution. And I might add that several colleges, including Christendom and Steubenville highly recruit the graduates. And then there are the St. Gregory’s weddings where the boys attend each other’s weddings and sing and juggle at the receptions, adding so much festivity to the occasions! There certainly exists a brotherhood and camaraderie that lasts long after their time at the school. Show more

This wonderful school is currently helping us in the work of forming our two oldest sons and will be the future home of our younger ones, God-willing.In terms of true friendship among the faculty and students, a noble vision of education that strives for virtue with joy and mirth, and perseverance in devotion to all things restorative in our culture, Gregory the Great Academy remains in a class apart. Go visit, and you will witness the good life for young men blossoming there! Show more

Gregory the Great Academy educates the mind, heart, body, and soul. The staff has very high standards and expectations, while making sure the boys have adventure and enriching experiences. If you want your son to spend more time staring at computer screens and cell phones, instead of making music, juggling, hiking, reading, playing sports, praying, laughing, studying, traveling, creating, working, and forming friendships that last a lifetime, then you should not send your son to Gregory the Great. But, I do not think I could find one parent who currently has a son at GGA that regrets their choice. It is genuine Catholic education and they graduate faithful, joyful, well-rounded and well educated Catholic men. Show more

I’ve sent 3 sons to Gregory the Great Academy and my 4th will be there in another 1 1/2 years. Why? Because at “Greg’s” I find boys who experience the hard work and joys of life. They work hard and play hard. They are fully immersed in life but without the noisy, needless distractions that our young people are bombarded with round-the-clock. They learn to learn. They learn to think. They learn to see the joy and blessings in life. They learn to be whole human beings, using their bodies (rugby, soccer, juggling, singing, playing instruments, ski trips, hikes, camping, walking or biking hundreds of miles on pilgrimages, cleaning the school, woodworking, leather craft…), their minds (rigorous academic courses), and their spirits (daily prayer, learning Church traditions, studying the writings of the saints and The Church fathers). They learn to come home and give to their families some of what they’ve learned. I am ever-grateful for this school and to those that are there to educate my sons. Show more

Three of our sons have attended Gregory the Great Academy. It has been such a positive experience, not only for our sons, but for the whole family. Honestly, I don’t know what we would have done without the academy at such a critical time in our sons’ educations and lives. It has been such a rich and rewarding experience for our boys. Our 12-year old son cannot wait to be old enough to attend. There aren’t many places that teach boys to be real men, but also to be true gentlemen. It’s good in so many ways and for so many reasons, but mostly because they teach and live the one, true faith. God bless Gregory the Great Academy always. Show more