Graced Partnership Supports Faithful Student Leaders
In 2020, Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Men of the Sacred Hearts, two ministry partners of the Catholic Foundation of Michigan, created a holy partnership to deepen faith and increase joy in the community.
The partnership developed after a home enthronement by the Men of the Sacred Hearts in the home of the school’s founders, David and Alejandra Miller. After the Millers shared the story of founding the classical high school, the idea to create a student club and character development program came to life. “The most beautiful part of all of this is we were simply having our home enthroned and we— the men and ourselves — felt this was a grace from Our Lady to bring us together,” Alejandra Miller said.
After that graced evening, the Chesterton Men of the Sacred Hearts Honor Society was created and several students joined in an effort to grow in virtue, prepare for Catholic manhood, lead spiritually in the school, and participate in the home enthronement ministry of Men of the Sacred Hearts. These students met weekly with David Tay, the Executive Director of the Men of the Sacred Hearts, to review the history of the organization, the 12 Promises from Jesus to St. Mary Margaret, and also role-played a home enthronement.
Oliver, Gabriel, Patrick, Stephen, Louis, John, and Peyton of the Chesterton Men of the Sacred Hearts Honor Society, after they completed their first solo home Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Headmaster’s Home on April 30, 2021.
After their first enthronement, one of these students, Peyton, reflected that he felt a close connection to the family as they prayed for them before each decade of the Holy Rosary. Each Chesterton student had some classroom exposure to the important action of praying a personal intention for each family member before each decade.
Patrick, another student, observed that he entered into a “deeper sense of community among my fellow classmates.” As the Chesterton classmates worked together conducting the Home Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in their first home, it was clear that they bonded as they helped one another through it. Louis commented about the event, “I was very content that everyone was in unity with prayer, and I bet our Blessed Mother was smiling down on us.”
These student leaders now seek to take the incoming students of Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Guadalupe under their mentorship and show them how to conduct a home Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
