SPEAKER:
Deacon Christopher C. Roberts, Ph.D.
President of the Board and Founder
Martin Saints Classical High School
East Norriton, Pa.
TOPIC:
“The Martin Saints Story as an Example of the National Renewal in Catholic Classical Education”
Deacon Chris Roberts is the founding president of Martin Saints Classical High School, which opened in 2017-18 in Oreland, Eastern Montgomery County, with under 20 students. Now located on the former St. Titus School property in East Norriton, Martin Saints is enrolling close to 70 in this 2025-26 academic year. Students come directly from K-8 schools, homeschools, and as transfers from other high schools.
Martin Saints is named for the Martin family of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”), headed by parents St. Louis and St. Zélie Martin, who were canonized 10 years ago this October.
A native of Baltimore, Deacon Chris is a convert to Catholicism and a permanent deacon at his home parish, Our Mother of Consolation, in Chestnut Hill. He earned his bachelor’s degree in religious studies and environmental studies at Yale, followed by graduate degrees from Oxford University (MPhil, Christian Ethics) and the University of London (Ph.D., theology). He also completed a master’s degree in theology at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary.
Chris and Hannah Roberts are the parents of four daughters. They met as theology students at Oxford, she from a small village in North Yorkshire, England. They married at Ampleforth Abbey, a Benedictine school and monastery in Yorkshire. They relocated to Philadelphia so that Chris could teach at Villanova University and the Collegium Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Pope Francis awarded Deacon Chris the Benemerenti Medal for his work as primary writer and editor of Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, which was the official catechism for the 2015 World Meeting of Families. He also wrote Creation and Covenant: The Significance of Sexual Difference in the Moral Theology of Marriage and was a reporter for “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,” a PBS program. He was ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2017.
Chris cites Hannah’s accomplishments in education and in sharing our faith, as well, from assisting poor churches in London’s East End and helping in their restoration, to teaching the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and co-writing A Child’s Book of the Mass with friend Betsy Puntel to help adults and students understand the liturgy more deeply.
TOPIC:
“Renewing Catholic Classical Education: Martin Saints High School Shows How”
While many traditional Catholic schools across the country are either closing or consolidating, schools adopting a Catholic classical education are growing. In fact, it’s the fastest growing segment of Catholic education in the country today.
Martin Saints Classical High School is a member of the Chesterton Schools Network as one of approximately 60 Catholic classical high schools located throughout the world. The network also now includes Chesterton Academy of the Immaculata, which opened its doors for the first time today, in Framingham, Massachusetts. Catholic classical schools can be K-8, as well.
Catholic classical schools integrate faith and reason, faith and the classical curriculum, as they heavily reference the Great Books and often employ the Socratic Method to draw students into constant questioning, critical thinking, and strong analysis.
Not all classical Catholic schools are members of the Chesterton Network. Not all classical schools are faith-based, such as those forming Great Hearts Academies. Variations of the Catholic classical vision exist, for example, with the network of Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE) schools, and many classical Catholic schools share certain characteristics and features in common.
For Serrans, the concept of a classical Catholic high school within the world of Catholic education is significant. Shared in our August 9 email promoting our August meeting was an article that cited the strong impact of Catholic education on the rise in priestly vocations, especially in the Diocese of Bismarck. That diocese experiences the highest rates of ordinations in the country:
“There’s definitely a lot of vocations coming from the Catholic schools,” explained Father [Jordan] Dosch, [Bismarck, North Dakota’s recent vocation director]. Since the ’90s, Bismarck has placed a strong emphasis on its schools, both in making them authentically Catholic and in making the sacrifice of assigning priests to serve in them. Importantly, they serve not just as chaplains, but also as teachers, giving them the opportunity to interact with students on a daily basis. … Many of those boys inspired to become priests while in high school are now the energetic, young priests inspiring the next generation. …”
– Luke Larson, “Bismarck’s Secret: Strong Families, Catholic Schools Fuel Vocations Boom,” National Catholic Register, July 27, 2025.
READ NOW
Join us on September 16 to learn more about this one example of a classical liberal secondary education and the benefits that a classical Catholic experience can offer an entire school community.
* 12:30 p.m. — general business meeting; members, past speakers and SerraUSA-International guests invited *
* App. 12:45 p.m. — guest speaker; members, past speakers, and SerraUSA-International guests invited *
* Immediately following, app. 1:20 p.m. — Board Meeting
* Single-meeting access by others may be requested by contacting Patricia.canning@comcast.net by September 13.
* The Zoom link will be sent to registered members past guest speakers, SerraUSA-International guests, and those requesting single-meeting access closer to the date and again on the morning of the meeting.