Volume 1, No. 1 Lent 2021 Magister To reverence truth, desire goodness, and rejoice in beauty.

Bulletin of the Gilbertine Institute Gilbertine Academy, Holy House & WISDOM 2 Magister

Why Magister? Magister is a Latin word which can mean a rabbi, teacher, master, or the pilot of a ship. It brings to mind first of all One who was called “Rabbi”, “Teacher”, and “Master”: Jesus Christ. Magister was also the title most commonly given to St. Gilbert of as the first Master, or Magister, of the Gilbertine Order. Finally, the word magister pays homage to St. John Henry Newman, that great teacher in the Anglican Catholic patrimony, and to all the great teachers of the Faith through the centuries. Truly, as Newman himself wrote in the introduction to The Idea of a University, “[w]e have a goodly inheritance.” Magister is intended to be both a bulletin and a devotional, published several times a year in preparation for the Ember Days, for the benefactors of the Gilbertine Institute, Gilbertine Academy and Holy House; to communicate by prayer and supplication, to provide news with thanksgiving, so that we may make our requests known unto God (cf. Philippians 4:6).

Please join the Institute in prayer for the Lenten 2021 Ember Days: • Wednesday, February 24 • Friday, February 26 • Saturday, February 27

N 3 Ab Clero Fr. Robert-Chas. Bengry GSmp Parish Priest, St. & Chair of the Gilbertine Institute.

(403)-265-5072

fall through the cracks today and are ill equipped to meet the challenges they have ahead of them. Too many fall victim to addictions, unhealthy relationships and too many lose their faith. If we are to make a difference in the world, we must start at home with our own children and give them an education worthy of the Christian heritage we seek to hand on. St. Gilbert of Sempringham has largely been forgotten. He was an English clergyman of the twelfth century. He was a teacher of children— boys and girls. He established the only Medieval Religious Order indigenous to the British Isles; a four-fold community of , Sisters, Brothers and Priests. St. Gilbert’s persisted for four hundred years until the brutal suppressions of King Henry VIII during the . The Order would die. Gilbert’s work too would fade: he left no great architecture, no great libraries… no great art or music. No great writings. Only a legacy of holiness both of he himself and of his spiritual t is no exaggeration to say that one of my children. But that Gilbertine fingerprint and Igreatest joys in my priestly life has been echo, even five centuries later, can still be found the foundation of the Gilbertine Institute and in the spirituality preserved in the Prayer Book the associated programmes which facilitate the tradition of the Anglican Church (now united to education of young people. So many children the ). It can be discovered in the 4 love of education, it can be found in the seeking of a personal holiness through authentic Christian discipleship. The Gilbertine spirit can be found where we seek to build up our young people in faith, hope and love and help them to bloom where they’re planted. Your friendship, prayers and support for the Gilbertine Institute are most appreciated. It is my hope that this organ of the Institute will be a tool for our mutual enrichment as we seek to educate and equip our young people towards a dynamic and life-long Christian discipleship. Gilbert, when his young brothers and priests were wearied by a long journey, appeared to them in a dream saying “Do not be sad my son, or distress yourself too much, because the work is accomplished—it is accomplished—it is accomplished.” The Brothers woke with a renewed vigour and finished their journey and successfully completed the tasks they had ahead of them. We too must remember that everything we set out to ST. GILBERT OF SEMPRINGHAM do in our work is similarly accomplished, because with Jesus Christ, all the big things are already taken care of. And so, let us step out boldly together with good courage as we seek to bring manifold riches to our children and young people.

INTENTIONS: • Please, in your charity, pray for children who do not have access to a stable home and a good education. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to prosper with Thy blessing the work of the Gilbertine Institute. Grant that all who serve Thee, may set Thy holy will ever before them, and do that which is well-pleasing in Thy sight, so all may be bettered, and they themselves may finally attain to Thy perfect service, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 5 theGilbertine i n s t i t u t e Paul Blakeney Vice Chair of the Board of Directors

gilbertineinstitute.com

Our purpose for the Gilbertine Institute is to cultivate the tree of joy, flip these values and priorities right-side up and harvest good fruit. This means that we teach children and ourselves to pray and love God, to practice virtue and learn about the truth of creation as God made it. For the desires and petitions of our hearts are nothing less than the flourishing of every child in this life and the next.

n Evening Prayer we read from St. John IChrysostom: “...Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them…”(bcp p.35). Yet trusting God is difficult when we do not know what is expedient for us. The world is in a terrible state because people have cultivated the tree of sadness by learning and accepting bad ideas and flipping our values and priorities upside down. None can ignore the taste of these bitter fruits.

INTENTIONS: • That the Gilbertine Institute may trust God and be a handmaid for the building up of the Kingdom as may be most expedient. Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to look for rest; to labour and not to seek for any reward, save that of knowing that we do thy will. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

6 Head of School Deacon Kenneth Noster H Head of School & Principal H [email protected] 587-579-7810

learly, providing education is of extreme and discouraged, while too much support can draw Cimportance, and it is principally the work of parents into depending so much on professionals as parents. St. John Paul II reminds us of what the to diminish their own much-needed role. Church teaches: ... parents must be acknowledged as Unique in its conception and in its practice, and the first and foremost educators of their children. Their recognizing that families vary in their needs, The role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can Gilbertine Institute provides support to parents in compensate for their failure in it. “Ouch,” say most three distinct ways. parents as they reflect upon their shortcomings: perhaps mistakes, neglects, overcompensations, or Our WISDOM staff, themselves home schoolers, discipline that is too firm. Unfortunately, attention are personally engaged and committed to the rich to failure usually takes precedence and many parents, family life provided by home education. They have intimidated by their sense of defeat, are easily drawn into delegating the education of their children to professionals. St. John Paul had something to say about that as well: The right and duty of parents to give education is essential...and it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others. The Church and society have a duty to provide support to parents in their role as educators, but what all too often happens is that parents are simply replaced. The express reason for the existence of The Gilbertine Institute is the support of parents in their irreplaceable and inalienable role. This is not merely rhetoric but practice, and every initiative of the Institute walks the fine line of avoiding two extremes: the extreme of providing insufficient support to parents and the extreme of providing too much. Insufficient support can leave parents struggling Peter Vilhelm Ilsted

7 Head of School Deacon Kenneth Noster, Head of School & Principal experienced the struggles in their own homes, and held fallacy that an adult cannot bring significant they bear witness to the victories. They strive to value to a conversation without knowing the content engage and encourage parents while not stepping in of the subject. This fallacy will be debunked at the and doing too much, and home schooling thrives. Gilbertine Academy. Parents, whether proficient in the subject or not will, by merit of their maturity Holy House is a house of prayer where, two to and life experience, engage and magnify dialogue three times per week, each day’s liturgy becomes with their children and the community as a whole. the cradle within which learning finds its true Add to this the opportunities to read and discuss perspective. Students experience the centrality of common texts, and the role of parents in the high their faith in all things, as parents and staff share the school education of their children will prove to be responsibility for teaching, praying, and celebrating of eminent value. in community. Walking the fine line of avoiding two extremes The Gilbertine Academy also is a house of prayer, is not easy and there will be times when we fail, and high school students engage in rigorous academic but knowing that the line exists and that our task study in the context of their faith and their eternal of maintaining it is guaranteed to be difficult, life. Though most instruction will occur in the keeps us focussed, careful, prayerful, and more school, it is imperative that parents remain abreast of likely to succeed. Parents who desire to fulfill their the program and take advantage of opportunities for preeminent role as the educators of their children, both formal and informal dialogue. It is a commonly will find success here.

INTENTIONS: • That parents receive the extraordinary graces they need in orderR to become the daily expression of God's merciful love to their children. • That the Holy Spirit imbue the Church Militant with perseverance and true charity. Merciful Saviour, who didst love Martha and Mary and Lazarus, hallowing their home with thy sacred presence: Bless, we beseech thee, our home, that thy love may rest upon us, and that thy presence may be with us. May we all grow in grace and in the knowledge of thee, our Lord and Saviour. Teach us to love one another as thou hast given commandment. Help us to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil thy law, O blessed Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest, one God for evermore. Amen. 8 Gilbertine ACADEMY Troy Lamoureux, Associate Principal

1423 - 8 Avenue S.E. Calgary, AB T2G 0N1, 403-764-8089 [email protected] gilbertineacademy.com “...to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it.” John Henry Newman n the Feast of St. Gilbert of Sempringham, OFebruary 4, 2021, the Gilbertine Institute was pleased to introduce plans for our high school, Gilbertine Academy, beginning this September with scholarships for full time students in grades 9-12. Opening a full time high school is a natural and joyous development, and the Institute prayerfully discerned a number of practical and pastoral reasons to begin the high school programme a year earlier than planned. The course work for students will follow the excellent precedent set by the Holy House homeschool enrichment programme in academics, spiritual maturity and emphasis on the Catholic classical tradition.

INTENTIONS: • For the discernment of families who are considering Gilbertine Academy for their children who might be the founding students. • For the hiring of faithful and excellent teachers to staff the Academy. • For benefactors for the high school scholarship programme. Grant, we beseech thee, O heavenly Father, to all who teach in our schools, the spirit of wisdom and grace, they they may lead their pupils to reverence truth, desire goodness, and rejoice in beauty; so that all may come to know and worship thee, the giver of all that is good; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

9 Holy House Troy Lamoureux, Associate Principal

1423 - 8 Avenue S.E. Calgary, AB T2G 0N1, 403-764-8089 [email protected] holyhouse.net

everal children of varying ages crowd around a Sworld map on a coffee table in the student lounge, trying to find the places mentioned in a poem they are memorizing. Laughter erupts from a group of students playing a lively game of Latin charades. Small children snuggle on a couch, listening, enthralled, to The Jungle Book. These are common scenes at Holy House in the current two day a week homeschool enrichment programme where students in grades 1-9 are immersed in academic excellence studying classic literature, poetry, grammar, Latin, art, science, history, and music from the Catholic and Anglican choral traditions. communities throughout the Province. In addition, Holy House is unique in the Province of Alberta, parents often comment how much they appreciate the as the only educational endeavour of its kind which flexibility and excellence of the programme. It is our is an apostolate of a Roman Catholic parish, and that hope to increase that flexibility by providing excellent takes place in that parish. Simply put, we go to school one, two and three day homeschool enrichment with Jesus, and it is our hope to make the Holy House programmes which are distinctly different in order to programme more available to Catholic homeschool minister to the different needs of families.

INTENTIONS: • Discern future missionary efforts of the Institute to make Holy House available to Catholic homeschoolers throughout the province. • Continued guidance of the Holy Spirit in managing COVID-19 restrictions for the remainder of the year. Almighty Father, in Whom we live and move and have our being: make Holy House as a field which the Lord has blessed; that whatsoever things are true and pure, lovely and of good report, may here abound and flourish. Preserve in it an unblemished name, enlarge it to a wider usefulness, and exalt it in the love of all its members as an instrument of Thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

10 Simon Noster Principal of Home Education

Box 78, Derwent AB, T0B 1C0, 780-741-2113 [email protected] wisdomhomeschooling.com

ISDOM Home Schooling is the home Weducation service of the Gilbertine Institute, and serves more home education students than any other administration in Alberta. The WISDOM community is driven by common purpose; to support excellent home education. We uphold that parents are the primary educators of their children, and that when families are well supported with resources and encouragement, they thrive. We are an Ecumenical staff, united by our faith in Jesus Christ and the belief that we are doing His work through serving parents, students, and encouraging strong family life. Although WISDOM families are predominantly Christian, we serve families of all walks, supporting parents as the primary educators of their children.

INTENTIONS: • For all families in the Province of Alberta, and all who minister to them during these challenging times. • That all WISDOM staff and home schooling families may find creative means of nurturing relationships and supporting learning. Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home: grant to thy Church grace to live as one family, united in love and obedience, and at the last bring us all to our home heaven; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 11 Soli Deo Gloria

In Thanksgiving: • Vocation to serve diverse families enthusiastic students • Generosity of benefactors • Flexibility of families during COVID-19 • Perseverance of Leadership and Staff restrictions • Doubling of projected student enrolment • Workable solutions to maintain community & service during COVID-19 • Gifts and strengths of our clergy, board, restrictions and staff members • Accreditation from Alberta Education • Support of cheerful parents and • Zoning from the City of Calgary

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 12 Deo Volente Upcoming Events … do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in … From Divine Worship: The Missal

Thursday March 25, Lady Day 2021 - End of Term Presentations Saturday May 8, 2021 - Botanical Tea & Silent Auction Fundraiser. Thursday May 20, 2021 - St. Bede’s History Fair Thursday May 26, Friday May 28, Saturday May 29 - Ember Days in Whitsun Octave Thursday June 10, 2021 - End of Term Presentations

INTENTIONS: • Evangelical, intellectual and material success of each event. • Donation of profitable items for the silent auction. O God, we beseech Thee to bless the endeavors of all participants, may they be strengthened and protected evermore by Thy Fatherly love; and to all who are associated in Thy Name for these services, vouchsafe the help and guidance of Thy Holy Spirit, that in all their work for others they may work for Thee, as members of one family; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 13 Benefactors ...that we may honour thee with our substance… Prayer for Faithfulness in the Use of This World’s Goods, St. Gregory Prayer Book/Proverbs 3:9

he Gilbertine Institute is seeking prayerful Academy and Holy House will sing at these Masses to Tbenefactors who are first and foremost willing God’s glory and in thanksgiving for the generosity of to pray for the apostolate and intentions of the Institute these benefactors. and, if able, contribute monetarily to the Renovation O God, who by the grace of the Holy Ghost or High School Scholarship Fund. Donations will hast endued the hearts of thy faithful with the gift receive a charitable tax receipt. Benefactors may of charity: grant to thy servants and handmaids, for remain anonymous if they wish. Please contact the whom we implore thy mercy, safety of mind and Treasurer of St. John the Evangelist, Bob Harrod, at body; that they may love thee with all their strength, this email address: [email protected]. and with pure affection perform such things as thou In addition, A Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit wouldest have them to do; through Christ our Lord. will be said most months for the intentions of all Amen. the Institute's benefactors. Students of Gilbertine

Please invoke our patrons and join in prayer for the intentions of the Institute. Our Lady of Walsingham St. Peter the Apostle St. John the Baptist St. Gilbert of Sempringham St. John the Evangelist St. Thomas More St. St. Margaret Clitherow St. John Henry Newman St. Edward the Confessor 14 15 "...being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." Philipians 2:2