Why are relationships so central to human flourishing? The Harvard study reveals the empirical reality, but Catholic theology explains the deeper reason: humans are made by relationship, for relationship. This isn’t just beneficial happenstance, it’s an ontological reality rooted in the very nature of God Himself. God is Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

First, everyday beauty can help shape the way our students think about their own small spaces within the larger school environment. Scruton notes that our judgments about the harmony and integration of things that occupy a space are “the unavoidable consequence of taking life seriously, and becoming truly conscious of our affairs.”

Catholic education operates under the same law, whether we acknowledge it or not. Teachers are not merely content-delivery systems. They are the primary instruments of formation. Their interior lives – their spiritual vitality, emotional health, and relational integrity - are what students experience and absorb long before memorizing doctrine or prayers. A depleted teacher can deliver a flawless lecture yet inadvertently communicate a quiet but powerful message: that fidelity to Christ leads, inevitably, to exhaustion. No curriculum reform can compensate for that.

Alongside parents, teachers stand on the front line of education. In addition to delivering academic content of the highest quality and maintaining engaged and well-ordered classrooms, Catholic educators are called upon to shape the minds, hearts, and souls of their students, guiding them along the path of holiness in the midst of the wildness of the world.