By Fr. Lawrence Stoley,
Assistant Chief Administrative Officer of Catholic Schools
It is interesting what a book can do in your life. For me, the book was “Six Great Ideas,” by Mortimer J. Adler.
I received this book from a seminary classmate as an ordination gift in 1991. The book sat on my shelf for many months before I opened it. At that time, I was a busy young priest and didn’t have a lot of time to read – usually about 10 minutes every night before I went to bed.
However, I was interested in learning more about philosophy, since I didn’t have a lot in my seminary studies.
In “Six Great Ideas,” I learned that truth, beauty, and goodness were not just throw-away words, but deeply connected with day-to-day life in ways I had never thought about before. For example, Dr. Adler explained that team sports are a source many people rely upon for some experience of beauty. Beauty is technically defined as that which has unity, proportion, and clarity (purpose). Think about it; what team sport does not have a clear purpose (touchdown, basket, or goal); equally important tasks assigned; and unified precision? When all these factors come together, we cheer and say, “That was a beautiful play!”
Beauty, like goodness and truth, transcends all categories of activity. That’s why, taken together, the three are called the Transcendentals. Beauty is no more or less beautiful if we experience it on the gridiron, at the Holland Center, or the Orpheum. If it has unity, proportion, and clarity – it’s beautiful!
Coming from a science background, I realized that just as plants and animals require a certain culture or habitat to prosper. So too do humans. Reading “Six Great Ideas” helped me understand that human culture was not a formula measured out in milligrams; rather, human culture requires encounters with the Transcendentals: the very bedrock on which human well-being is built.
It just so happened that, about the time of this epiphany, I was asked to do graduate studies at UNL in education administration. It was time to test my hypothesis. With the help of my advisor, Dr. Marilyn Grady, we discovered what the philosophers and theologians already knew.
We discovered that truth is goodness, goodness is unity, unity is beauty, and beauty is truth; in short, we learned that each is a different side of “created being.” An experience of created being is not seeing God as He is; it’s more like seeing a footprint.
Think of a beautiful sunset, or learning something new for the first time. These can all be very moving experiences. For me, all my research and study came together one evening at the Orpheum Theatre. I and another teacher thought it would be good for our students to have a chance to listen to the Omaha Symphony perform. We put a sign-up sheet out to participate, and a number of students decided to capitalize on the opportunity. After going out for supper, we went to the Orpheum and were seated in the front row.
After we were all seated, the concert began and it seemed as though all the students were enjoying the performance. Then I heard weeping – I said to myself, “Who is crying?” I looked around and saw who it was. I leaned over and asked, “Why are you crying?” The young lady said, “It’s so beautiful!”
At that moment, beauty was no longer an abstract concept, or a “great idea.” It was, for that student, a profound experience of a perfect moment in time: a moment that pointed to Something beyond this world. That moment was important for me, too, as a school administrator. I realized the value of bringing children along on the journey as we ourselves seek higher things. Seeing this child’s experience of the beauty and wonder of God’s perfection motivates me as an administrator to provide this, and even more for the children in our Catholic schools.
In our Catholic schools, not only do we provide opportunities for students to experience created beauty as any secular school can do; we provide opportunities through the Divine Liturgy and the Sacraments to encounter Uncreated Beauty – God as He is in the Heavenly Jerusalem.
What an opportunity we have in our Catholic schools to experience a truly Catholic culture which immerses our children in Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Unity. What greater gift can we give to our family than to daily cultivate and nourish our children’s hope for Heaven? God willing, when this hope is fulfilled and they see God face to face in the Kingdom, we will hear them say, “It’s so beautiful!”
