Close to three hundred students, alumni, family, and friends of the Academy packed St. Hedwig’s Parish this Saturday, May 3rd, to celebrate the closing of the 2007-2008 school year at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy. Over the course of the afternoon, event speakers referred to the many great challenges that the school has endured throughout the past year, yet the entire community radiated a sense of unity, joy, and gratitude for God’s many blessings upon them, most especially the return of our President, Dr. David Warner.

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast was the main celebrant at the mass, which was accompanied by the Academy choir directed by Maestro Uwe Liefländer.

Directly afterwards, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Jean-Paul Patenaude, presided over the inauguration ceremony of Dr. David Warner as the Academy’s new President.

President Dr. Warner congratulating Kelly Sanders of Manitoba, receipient of the Divine Infant of Prague Scholarship.		Vice President Dr. Christine Schintgen presenting Sean VanBakel with his Basic Certificate of Christian Humanities.

During afternoon’s events, politicians representing all three levels of government expressed their warm support for the Academy and their confident hope in its future. The Honorable Mrs. Cheryl Gallant, MP, addressed the gathering, saying, “You will be making a difference.” Local MPP John Yakabuski also underlined how the Academy is a testimony to faith, determination and commitment. Finally, Barry’s Bay Mayor John Hildebrandt voiced the local community’s support for the Academy and encouraged students to go out and spread the good news that they are learning.

Addressing students and staff in his keynote address, Archbishop Prendergast touched on the tragedies of the past year, saying, “You have lived the Paschal mystery in a particularly powerful way…” The Archbishop went on to describe his own experiences as a student and later as a teacher during the tumultuous times of moral confusion that began in the 1960s. The Archbishop further described a future pastoral letter in which he plans to remind the Catholic faithful of the importance of Church teaching on human sexuality. Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, this letter would challenge Catholics to embrace the truth of Catholic teaching surrounding sexuality and the dignity of the human person. The Archbishop concluded by underlining the great privilege enjoyed by Academy students who are able to study the truth of Church teaching. Recalling the words of Pope Benedict the XVI, he emphasized the unity of the truth and its continuity with the past. He urged them to commit to learning the wisdom of the past and to tackle the challenging task of “passionately and articulately” sharing this truth with the world.

The graduating valedictorian was Nikolaas Zylstra, the Academy’s hard-working Residence Assistant from Brampton. Over the past three years, he could be found studying furiously, helping out his fellow-students, driving the Academy van on school trips, or raising smoke on the volley-ball court and hockey rink. Basing the theme of his speech upon the school’s motto, Veritas Vos Liberabit, he stated, “We now have a great responsibility that the truth places upon us…We must witness to the world so that the truth that has set us free may, likewise, set others free.” He noted the Academy’s remarkable ability to deal with the recent tragic deaths of Paul and Janine. He attributed this recovery to the fact that as Catholics, the community possesses the truth—the assurance of hope in the resurrection—that has freed them from despair, thereby allowing them to come to grips more easily with such a devastating blow.

Mr. Zylstra also testified to his own well-rounded experience during the past three years, primarily through the intellectual life, but also through daily interaction with staff and students, the routine manual chores that are an intrinsic part of the Academy experience, the personal relationships built up between professors and students during communal meals, and the outdoor sports that students play all year long. Pointing out how the Academy life especially encourages prayer and frequent use of the sacraments, he emphasized that there is “no point in knowledge without Christ.”  Click here for the complete valedictorian address.
The Academy’s recently returned president, Dr. David Warner, concluded the official ceremonies with words of hope and great encouragement. Shortly after weathering the crisis of the two student deaths, the school was struck again when Dr. Warner was diagnosed with multiple-myeloma, a cancerous disorder of the plasma cells. As a consequence, he had to undergo intensive medical treatment that required his absence in the United States for nearly two months. Roaring applause filled the hall, however, as students, faculty members, staff and friends welcomed him back. He thanked the community for their prayers, speaking of the past seven weeks as a “blessed time of healing,” and enthusiastically congratulated the graduating students.

Congratulations to our third-year graduates: Matt Gunnarson, Scott Murray Nik Zylstra, Anthony Burchat, Leslea Cranmer-Byng, Melissa Riese, Rebecca Mombourquette, Heather MacIntyre, Mary Sawchuk, Lindsay Gallagher

Academy students are heading many separate ways this spring. They are diving into summer jobs, preparing for new careers, and looking towards further studies in the fall. Some are returning to the Academy while others have been accepted into various universities and colleges throughout North America. Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy congratulates them for all their hard work over the past year, thanks them for holding together as a community during the difficulties of the recent winter months, and wishes them the very best in their future paths.

On February 15 and 16, 2008, OLSWA and St. Hedwig’s parish were privileged to host three Sisters of Life.  Students Janine Lieu and Ana Pugh provided the inspiration to invite these vibrant Sisters, who are newly arrived in Toronto, at the request of Archbishop Collins, to discern a mission to serve the people of Toronto and Canada.

On Friday evening, Sister Mary Clare, Sister Antoniana Maria, and Sister Monica Faustina came with a message of encouragement for our young people, who are discerning God’s plan for them as young men and women of faith.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy mourns for two beloved students, Janine Lieu and Paul Sanders, after a tragic accident that took place on the first weekend in February.

On Saturday afternoon, four of our students drove down to Combermere in a minivan belonging to one of them, on a personal trip. At some point during the trip, they drove onto the frozen lake with the minivan and it went through the ice.  Two students made it out but Janine and Paul did not survive. 

The trip was not an Academy-sponsored event, and the school was at the time on a pre-scheduled three day study break, February 2-4.  The entire community is shocked and saddened, and our focus is on prayer, mutual support, and consolation of family and friends. We invite all concerned to add their prayers to those of the families and friends.

Students are visibly saddened but are finding comfort in the support of their friends, faculty, staff, and concerned members of the community.  Several priests, deacons, and trained psychologists have been continually present to the Academy community for consolation and grief counseling.

There has been a steady stream of both spontaneous and organized prayer services in response to this tragic accident, most of them held in the very supportive local parish church of St. Hedwig.  Masses, rosaries, and
all-night vigils have been and will continue to be held.

We greatly appreciate the continued prayers of all concerned people throughout what will no doubt be a long and difficult grieving process.

OLSWA extends its deepest sympathy to the families of Janine and Paul.  We are keeping you close in prayer.

On January 28, 2008, the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, we were blessed with the first official visit of our new bishop, His Excellency Michael Mulhall, to Saint Hedwig’s and Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy.  Appointed for the diocese of Pembroke last spring, and ordained on the feast of Saint Matthew on September 21 last fall, Bishop Mulhall is new at his task, but young, orthodox and enthusiastic.  In his homily to the parishioners and students, the bishop focused on the role of the teacher in transmitting truth:  the teacher, whether from the pulpit, in the classroom or within the home or workplace, is in fact a window on the truth; this requires humility, and a submission to God’s word and His Church.  In an iconic representation of this submission, the professors at the Academy then knelt before the bishop and recited the Oath of Fidelity, required of all Catholic university teachers according to Ex Corde Ecclesiae.  Such a sacramental sign gives those who teach the grace to fufill their roles as transmitters of the truth more fully, clearly and easily by uniting us to our bishop and, through him, to Christ and His Church.

Winter 2008 

January 24, 2008 marked the opening night of the Academy’s latest theatrical production, Molière’s full-length, hilarious comedy, The Learned Ladies.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy is one of only twenty-one Catholic post-secondary institutions—and the only one in Canada—to be listed in the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College: What to Look for and Where to Find It. The fruit of much painstaking research, the Guide presents Catholic parents and students with detailed information about a core group of colleges in the United States and Canada that are truly Catholic, according to the standards set out by Pope John Paul II’s Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

OLSWA is proud to be recognized by the Newman Society as a post-secondary institution that faithfully imparts the teachings of the Church within a Catholic environment. The Guide is endorsed by such eminent Catholics as Father Benedict Groeschel, Father John McCloskey, and Dr. Peter Kreeft.

For more information about the Guide, to be published this October and jointly marketed with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, click here.