Libsyn Directory

Dr. Jonathan Buttaci on the Art and Act of Knowing—and What That Means for Teaching

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Release Date: 09/10/2026

Dr. Jonathan Buttaci on the Art and Act of Knowing—and What That Means for Teaching

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

by Dr. Andrew Abela, notes on a presentation by Dr. Jonathan Buttaci, papal encyclical by Pope Leo XIV by Josef Pieper by John Henry Newman Also on the Forum: by David Maxham featuring David Maxham featuring Tom Steenson by Michael Moynihan Featured Opportunities: Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 3, 2026) – link coming soon at The Heights School (October 24, 2026) Fatherhood Conference at The Heights School (early November 2026) – link coming soon at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)

Dr. Paul Shrimpton on Newman and his Idea of a School

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

The most famous work of our newest Doctor of the Church is, of course, The Idea of a University—a collection that explores the essence of a Catholic university education. But fewer people know about St. John Henry Newman’s extensive efforts in primary and secondary education: Newman’s part was not just as an educational theorist, but a school founder, who played every nitty-gritty role from fundraising to parent relations, from essay grading to student mentoring, even processing repair orders and playing second violin to fill out the little school’s orchestra. Dr. Paul Shrimpton...

Alvaro de Vicente on Boy-Girl Socializing: Fostering Healthy Peer Groups

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Statistics show that young people today are spending significantly less time socializing in face-to-face mixed company, across genders, than previous generations. This week on HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente looks at how we might assess and address boy-girl socialization for our sons, helping the modern boy to develop healthy relationships in the right context. Chapters: 2:46 “Normal” is not necessarily the measure 5:53 Healthy group dynamics 7:30 Growth comes in stages 12:12 The role of schools 19:25 The role of families 26:43 Manners and the virtue of charity 32:56 When to make...

Austin Hatch and Tom Steenson on True Convivium: Friendship with Fellow Teachers

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

“Friendship is one of the most indispensable requirements of life,” says Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics. But, adds Alasdair MacInytre, it’s also “difficult and often enough impossible—especially under the conditions characteristic of contemporary modernity.” Today on HeightsCast, long-time colleagues (and friends!) Austin Hatch and Tom Steenson reflect on the nature of friendship, and why it was chosen as the theme for the , hosted by The Heights Forum this November. What is the value of friendships among fellow faculty? What are the ingredients of that friendship?...

Michael Moynihan on Reducing Anxiety through the Meaning of Work

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

In the charged “Achievement Culture” we live in today, both parent and student anxiety have skyrocketed. There are the usual culprits, from a changing economic landscape to social media and comparison culture. But ultimately, Michael Moynihan believes our professional and academic anxieties come from a crisis of meaning for the term ‘work.’ Drawing on his experience as a math teacher, head of the upper school at The Heights, and father of a large family, Mr. Moynihan suggests that we can reduce anxiety by understanding ‘work’ not as a means of self-optimization or self-advancement,...

Eric Heil on an Introduction to Natural History: Beauty, Science, and Philosophy for Boys

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Natural History is a largely outdoor, discovery-based class for our lower school students, where they see the Valley as a textbook and the seasons as its chapters. Eric Heil has taught Natural History to his third graders for decades now, and in this rebroadcast from 2021, he unpacks the class’s lessons of close observation, pattern recognition, scientific inquiry, identification, wonder, and the foundations of philosophy—all among 8- to 11-year-olds. Chapters: 3:10 Personal observation and discovery 5:35 The outdoors: an alternative textbook 9:55 Boys and nature journals 19:49 Intrinsic...

Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti on Theology and Masculinity: Men’s Creation and Calling

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Our headmaster often uses this paradigm for the ideal Heights graduate: he’s the kind of young man you’d want your daughter to marry. In a recent article for the Forum, Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti asked: in our current culture, how does a boy grow up to be the kind of man who desires that life? Delving into Church sources, both scriptural and magisterial, he has assembled the outline of a theology of masculinity. Responding to Pope St. John Paul II’s description of the “feminine genius,” Dr. Lanzilotti considers the prospect of a complementary “masculine genius,” and what it...

Mark Grannis on Knowing How to Know: Law School and Other Professional Discernments

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

by Mark Grannis , online lectures featuring Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis featuring Fr. Michael Himes Also on the Forum: featuring Rob Liotta, Mark Grannis, and Josue Zelaya on the Forum Faculty Podcast featuring Fr. Carter Griffin and Alvaro de Vicente featuring Mark Grannis by Mark Grannis Featured Opportunities: at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)

Alvaro de Vicente on Crafting and Sharing a School Vision

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

This year’s Heights Forum Art of Teaching Boys Conference brought together motivated educators from across the country (and beyond) to discuss a new vision for boys’ education. The overwhelming follow-up questions: How can I craft and communicate a new vision back at my school? How does a school community grow united in its vision and sense of mission? This week on HeightsCast, Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offers his advice, first, for building a substantial and specific vision, and second, for translating that vision into action as a school community. In the notes below, you can...

Dr. Matthew Mehan on Compiling an American Book of Fables

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

“Something old, something new, something red white and blue.” The American Book of Fables is Dr. Matthew Mehan and artist John Folley’s latest children’s book—or, rather, family book—presented for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It offers a delightful education in civics, geography, history, and love of country by combining the American founding documents, short poetry, new and ancient fables, and whimsical oil paintings all mapped to the American landscape. This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Mehan shares the ideas behind the book’s creation and what he...

How do we know whether we know something? How do we know whether our son or student has apprehended a lesson?

Sometimes we hear the liberal arts discussed as a “beholding of great things.” But Catholic University professor Dr. Jonathan Buttaci reminds us they are liberal arts—implying a craft or adept handling of knowledge. In other words, coming to know something is not passive at all. It’s an act. And that act does not primarily belong to the teacher.

This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Buttaci talks epistemology and what the role of the teacher really is in bringing young people to knowledge.

Chapters:

3:59 Knowledge: active, not passive

12:56 Practical ends of knowledge

18:02 Contemplation: Buttaci v. Pieper

24:04 Liberal arts

30:16 Knowing bestows freedom

35:29 Where truth and creativity meet

42:27 The power of the teacher

43:52 How teachers can preserve the joy of discovery

57:59 Teaching rote, grindstone skills

01:05:08 A teacher’s job is joyful

Links:

Education Is Not about Content Transmission by Dr. Andrew Abela, notes on a presentation by Dr. Jonathan Buttaci
Magnifica Humanitas, papal encyclical by Pope Leo XIV
Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
The Idea of a University by John Henry Newman

Also on the Forum:

Automaticity and Creativity by David Maxham
Automaticity: Where ‘Rote’ Fits into the Liberal Arts featuring David Maxham
The Teacher’s Voice featuring Tom Steenson
Teaching Sovereign Knowers Series by Michael Moynihan

Featured Opportunities:

Headmaster’s Lecture at The Heights School (October 3, 2026) – link coming soon

Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 24, 2026)

Fatherhood Conference at The Heights School (early November 2026) – link coming soon

Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)