HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

The first images of a "protector" that flash through our minds might be the warrior, the superhero, the movie star physically holding back evil from invading the world…. Our lower school head, Colin Gleason, casts a different vision: the benevolent king, the merciful brother, the knight at vigil in the sanctuary. Yes, our role as fathers is to protect—most often through a steady presence that communicates security to our children. When we do our job well, they can live with confidence. In his talk from the Fatherhood Conference last fall, Colin identified five battlegrounds for establishing this kind of security, most of which are in our own homes. Also on the Forum: The Father as a Guide to the World featuring Michael Moynihan The Father as Presence featuring Andrew Reed Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)

To prepare for Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, the Eddas, and Dante—The Heights begins with Tolkien. In a talk from 2016, former middle school core teacher and current upper school classics teacher Tom Cox defends the place of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in the epic tradition. He then explains why Middle Earth is so uniquely suited to the middle school, using Samwise the Stouthearted as our guide to the heart of a middle school boy. Chapters: 2:46 Rethinking "the middle" 4:01 How LotR prepares boys for upper school 7:57 How LotR meets boys in middle school 12:47 Contrasted with other epics 14:41 Samwise as a middle school model 24:47 Tolkien's lessons for teachers and parents 26:07 Samwise the Stouthearted: earning his epic epithet 31:18 "Bear one another's burdens, fulfill the law of Christ" Links: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien The Iliad by Homer, prose translation by A. S. Kline Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox Becoming Greece, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox Becoming Rome, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox Also on the Forum: The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox The Hope of Hobbits and the Despair of Denethor by Tom Cox Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

From utero and into infancy, babies recognize their mother as being essentially one with them. So, being placed in their father's arms is in fact their first introduction to the "other," the outside world. The father will continue this crucial role as mediator and representative to the outside world throughout a boy's childhood. With decades of experience and dozens of personal anecdotes, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan addressed the 2025 Fatherhood Conference to share how a father's parenting outlook now will shape his son's vocational and professional readiness to enter the outside world as an adult. Chapters: 00:05:47 Mr. Moynihan's background 00:08:17 Fathers represent the outside world 00:12:21 Model God's loving fatherhood 00:17:02 Awaken the child's own agency 00:24:52 Partner with your wife to build this home culture Links: The Talk and Beyond: Raising Children in a Confused Culture by Michael Moynihan Decisive Parenting: Forming Authentic Freedom in Your Children by Michael Moynihan The Father and His Family: A Guidebook for Aspiring, New, and Experienced Fathers by Michael Moynihan Also on the Forum: You're the Man for the Job: The Vocation of Fatherhood featuring Alvaro de Vicente

Our mission is to assist parents in the intellectual, moral, physical, and spiritual formation of their sons… At The Heights, we repeat these words often, including a paraphrase at the beginning of every HeightsCast episode. But what constitutes intellectual formation? What does educating the intellect look like? Co-founder of the Hillbilly Thomists and Rector Magnificus at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, joins us for a deep-dive into the rich Catholic understanding of intellectus, habitus, ratio, and what it means to "form" these God-given faculties. Chapters: 1:35 Intellectus: to read into reality 7:41 Modern challenges to intellectus 13:35 Habitus: a stable disposition towards excellence 17:59 Modern challenges to habitus 21:22 Ratio vs. intellectus 27:07 Intuitive "sight" as a function of intellect 32:27 Developing clear "sight" in the young 34:35 Forming the heart alongside intellect 38:47 Whether the heart and intellect fully integrate 44:01 Beauty reveals the life of the mind to itself Links: The Hillbilly Thomists, co-founded by Fr. Thomas Joseph White Contemplation and the Cross: A Catholic Introduction to the Spiritual Life by Fr. Thomas Joseph White Wisdom in the Face of Modernity by Fr. Thomas Joseph White Full catalog of books by Fr. Thomas Joseph White The Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education by Stratford Caldecott Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation by Josef Pieper Also on the Forum: Why Beauty Matters: The Postmodern Pressure on Our Interior Life featuring Dr. Jason Baxter Teaching Sovereign Knowers, essay series by Michael Moynihan "Fact or Opinion?": Roots of Relativism in an Ethical Dilemma by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)

"Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25). This week we're joined by Fr. Carter Griffin, rector of the St. John Paul II Seminary in the Archdiocese of Washington, and Alvaro de Vicente, headmaster of The Heights School, to examine "discernment." It's become a Catholic buzzword, applied (or sometimes, perhaps, misapplied) to a number of life situations. Here, Fr. Carter and Alvaro discuss the methods and limits of vocational discernment—and the moral courage of commitment. Chapters: 3:45 Christian discernment 6:09 Misuses of the word "discernment" 9:39 Whether we can wrongly discern vocation 14:46 Choice paralysis 20:25 Submit to the process 25:48 Dating and marriage 29:55 Mentors and spiritual directors 33:21 Principles for discerning well 39:38 "Throw your life away"?! 46:17 The need for prayer 52:36 Crisis of vocations or crisis of faith? 59:59 Church choice and church-hopping Links: "The Catholic Church Has a Manpower Problem", 22 September 2025, WSJ 2026 Men's Discernment Retreat for the Archdiocese of Washington 2026 Men's Discernment Retreat for the Diocese of Arlington Forming Families, Forming Saints by Fr. Carter Griffin Forming Fathers: Seminary Wisdom for Every Priest by Fr. Carter Griffin Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World's Questions by Fr. Carter Griffin Why Celibacy? Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest by Fr. Carter Griffin Also on the Forum: You're the Man for the Job: The Vocation of Fatherhood featuring Alvaro de Vicente Fostering Vocations in a Digital Age featuring Fr. Carter Griffin Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (May 6-8, 2026)

Please, thank you, after you… Do manners matter? Are they artifice or virtue? In this rebroadcast from 2019, lower school head Colin Gleason shares how manners can be the building blocks to a richer moral life—the habituation of virtue. He then offers practical advice for families and schools to help even young boys strengthen their "moral muscle" through manners that matter. Chapters: 1:34 Why start in the lower school 3:12 Manners: artifice or virtue? 5:34 Orienting them towards the needs of others 10:06 Manners that matter 13:31 Social manners for small children 17:57 Intergenerational social experiences 21:30 Coaching in advance 27:23 Our example Also on the Forum: Manners: The Art of Happiness by Robert Greving Manners Make (More Than) the Man, review of A Gentleman in Moscow by Robert Greving Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities, donations for Jamaica hurricane relief The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

In our school communities, we talk a great deal about moral and intellectual formation. But physical development, too, has an essential place in the whole-person, long-term vision of what our sons and students can become. Heights Athletic Director Dan Lively reminds us that the goals of athletic training don't begin and end with high school sports. In fact, lifelong functional fitness is in service to every vocation. It ensures that we and our sons are capable of having a positive impact—on the world and in our families—for as many years as we're on this earth. Chapters: 3:22 A long-term vision for your son's physical development 10:41 The goal: robust longevity 14:34 Health: more than avoiding disease 21:05 Mark Baker on functional fitness 24:14 Fitness increases one's potential for self-gift 25:58 Role of the school 31:51 Role of the family 40:09 Parents can play too 45:39 The thrill of middle school gains 47:32 Embrace your inner gym bro 52:01 The reluctant athlete Links: GuruAnaerobic, Mark Baker eBooks Also on the Forum: Athlete or Academic: What's the Real Priority in Schools? on the Forum Faculty Podcast Movement as Foundation of Fitness featuring Dan Lively Character Formation in Elite Athletics featuring college coach Brad Soderberg Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities, donations for Jamaica hurricane relief The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

One philosopher of our time claims that "today, the experience of beauty is impossible." Dr. Jason Baxter, director of the Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College, begs to differ. Dr. Baxter joins us on HeightsCast to unpack his latest book, Why Literature Still Matters, which looks at why such a claim might feel true in our digital age. Then, he talks us through why and how we should reclaim our experiences of beauty for the health of our soul. Chapters: 00:03:34 The experience of beauty 00:08:44 Byung-Chul Han: the possibility of beauty today 00:15:41 Marc Auge: still living in the Enlightenment experiment 00:20:46 The soul is not a machine 00:24:57 Our task as parents, educators 00:35:05 Likes and emojis: the simplification of our interior life 00:49:23 A near-death experience in Sardinia 00:56:24 Beauty and mental health 00:57:40 Franny and Zooey: interiority matters 01:03:41 Recommended reading Links: Why Literature Still Matters by Jason Baxter Help! Where do I go from here? Part I: Poetry by Jason Baxter Beauty Matters, Substack for Jason Baxter jasonmbaxter.com featuring articles and lectures Center for Beauty and Culture at Benedictine College Saving Beauty by Byung-Chul Han Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity by Marc Auge The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich A Letter to Our Daughter by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan "A Prayer for My Daughter" by W. B. Yeats Recommended reading: "Burnt Norton" from Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger "A Hill" by Anthony Hecht "Advice to a Prophet" by Richard Wilbur The Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy Middlemarch by George Eliot Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Also on the Forum: Breathing Narnian Air: Loving Modernity as a Medievalist featuring Dr. Jason Baxter Receiving Beauty: A Liberal Arts Education featuring Dr. George Harne Order and Surprise: On Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Dr. Lionel Yaceczko Featured Opportunities: Mustard Seed Communities The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

The joy of "being known here" is not just for the students. When a faculty cultivates friendship, it benefits the entire school community. Tom Cox has been a middle and upper school Latin and Greek teacher at The Heights since 2009. Tom also hosts The Forum Faculty Podcast, now in its second year, which gives a slice of teacher breakroom culture: the kinds of conversations, rapport, and friendship that are born of our shared work and life as teachers. Tom joins us today to talk about how important faculty friendship is to making a school into a community, and what schools can do to support the planned and unplanned interactions that feed friendship. Chapters: 1:53 Tom Cox's history at The Heights 6:35 School as a community of friends 10:15 Using school trips for faculty bonding 14:58 Regional schools: community or society 17:01 Creating community over large distances 26:53 Building up faculty friendship 36:04 Friendship requires shared life, work 38:57 Facilitating that shared life 47:09 Planned and unplanned interactions 50:49 Real communities pass on a culture 57:26 The fruit of staying in one place Links: "A Faculty of Friends" from Gregory the Great Academy in Elmhurst Township, Pennsylvania Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis Man and the State by Jacques Maritain The World-Ending Fire Collection by Wendell Berry True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback "Charles" by Shirley Jackson "The Work of Local Culture" in What Are People For? by Wendell Berry Also on the Forum: The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente Friendship for Fathers featuring John Cuddeback On Friendship after Senior Year featuring David Maxham Featured Opportunities: Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

What are parental rights? Are they a legal stance—or a philosophical one? In today's conversation, Dr. Melissa Moschella of the University of Notre Dame discusses the profound and practical implications of the parent-child relationship. She then explores how those conclusions operate in the American legal tradition, tracing from natural law to John Locke to historic court cases and the public discourse today. Chapters: 3:46 True rights imply true duties 10:04 Natural law: knowable through reason 15:00 The rights and duties of parents 22:32 Role of the state in the American tradition 28:44 Twentieth-century shift, John Rawls 37:29 Whether schools can be value-neutral 43:34 Parental rights in American courts 46:47 Beyond religious liberty 55:00 School choice as parental choice 1:00:57 Public discourse: how to talk to friends, family, neighbors 1:05:30 Her book on natural law Links: Melissa Moschella, Ph.D., McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy by Melissa Moschella Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing by Melissa Moschella Democratic Education by Amy Guttman (argued against by Dr. Moschella) Brief of Amica Curiae in Support of Petitioners by Melissa Moschella "Nonreligious Parents Have Rights Too," WSJ op-ed by Melissa Moschella Also on the Forum: The Mortara Case: Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas featuring Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)