The Chesterton Academy of St. Benedict began its second school year in the diocese with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Earl Fernandes on Thursday, Aug. 21 at Worthington St. Michael the Archangel Church.
In addition to the Mass, there was another reason to celebrate. The Chesterton Academy was recently designated by the diocese as an independent Catholic school.
The official diocesan recognition for the school, which opened last year as part of the worldwide Chesterton Schools Network and includes grades 9-12, allows Chesterton Academy to work with Office of Catholic Schools to receive accreditation and a state charter while remaining faithful to its Catholic identity and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
Receiving the diocese’s blessing also permits Chesterton Academy to offer Mass and confession specifically for its students, have a chaplain assigned to the school, gain formal access to diocesan resources and provide support for faculty to obtain state teaching licenses.
In a letter to parents and supporters on its website, Chesterton Academy said that its finances and board of directors remain independent of the diocese. Students are permitted to attend from anywhere within the diocese.
“We are overjoyed by the blessing of the bishop,” said Jessica Walker, executive director for the Chesterton Academy of St. Benedict, “and now to have additional resources, a bigger community to coincide with our community, it just means the world to us.”
Attending the Mass on the feast of St. Pius X celebrated the bishop at St. Michael were 19 students, seven faculty members, administrators, board members, parents and supporters. The parish church, where Chesterton students go to daily Mass, is just a short walk from the school located on North High Street.
During the Mass, each faculty, staff and board member made a Profession of Faith and signed an Oath of Fidelity that was presented to the bishop.
Enrollment has more than doubled from last year to include five juniors, six sophomores and eight freshmen in 2025-26. Students’ educational backgrounds are varied. They come from all parts of central Ohio. Some drive up to an hour.
“Last year, it was all homeschool,” Walker said, “but this year we have students from parochial schools, homeschool and public school. It’s a really good balance and it cultivates more opportunity to learn from each other when you come from different experiences.”
The first Chesterton Academy school started in 2007 in a suburb of Minneapolis to provide a classical high school education that was affordable and faithful to Catholic teaching using renowned author G.K. Chesterton as its model. Its motto is Cultura Vitae, the culture of life, inspired by Pope St. John Paul II.
Since then, the network has expanded to 30 states and 12 countries. Ohio now has five locations.
“We teach the Socratic method in everything we do, even in math,” Walker explained. “Our priority is spiritual formation, including daily Mass. It’s integrated in literally everything we do in our curriculum, even when you’re teaching about organization and organizational skills, just having an intentional order, because God is a God of order.”
Students and faculty pray the Morning Offering and Angelus each day. Outside of daily Mass, there are regular opportunities for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, retreats, confession, spiritual formation and visits with priests and religious.
Chesterton Academy students participate in a House system based on a traditional Christian education model. They also have the opportunity to be involved in the arts, including drama, and classes are offered in ballroom dancing.
Students are engaged in giving back to the community, particularly the pro-life community. They will be going to the Ohio March for Life in downtown Columbus in October for the second consecutive year.
“We’ll be evolving more clubs as we grow,” Walker said. “We are looking forward to possibly doing sports in the future, but we need a different space for that.”
The Chesterton Academy of St. Benedict’s founding headmaster is Ismael Rodriguez, a former FOCUS missionary and seminarian in the Diocese of Dallas who has taught theology at the high school and college level. In addition to his administrative duties, he is teaching Latin and philosophy during the 2025-26 school year.
“Our faculty comes from all over but have a connection to G.K. Chesterton,” Walker said. “Being able to joyfully and in good charity share the faith really resonates with them, and then making sure that our priority is the next generation to cultivate saints and scholars. …
“This is really just a joyful time. There’s a lot happening and we’re so excited for the support.”