It is with great pleasure and honor that I write today to introduce myself as the next headmaster of Holy Family Classical School. My visit to the school and parish at the beginning of March was a fantastic culmination and confirmation of a prayerful discernment process, and I feel so very blessed to know that many of you have been praying for me and my family through these past few months. The Holy Spirit works in remarkable ways.

I was born and raised in a strong Catholic family in a small town in western Pennsylvania, Johnstown, with a rich heritage from Eastern Europe. I’m often asked about my last name which isn’t common in most parts of the country: my father’s family immigrated in the 1910s from what is now the country of Slovenia. I grew up with stories from my great-grandparents about the critical role that the Church played in establishing and solidifying their new lives in America, and they reminded me that service to Christ’s Church wasn’t optional, it was the point of life. My Slovenian parish, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, was the central node in my family’s social life and extended network, and my love of Christ was fostered there serving at mass, attending catechism, and dutifully following through when my grandmother volunteered all her grandkids for every function and fundraiser at each planning meeting.

I also recognized early that I would never really leave school. Every August I continue a childhood tradition by sending a picture to my kindergarten-teacher mother on the first day of school of me leaving my front door. I think this year will be the thirty-second addition to that collection. Likewise, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated with the ancient world of Greece and Rome. Whether it was hearing about Roman magistrates in the Good Friday liturgy or pouring through picture books with red-clad legionaries, something always drew me to those first centuries—BC and AD. Through college and then graduate school I became more and more drawn to the heritage of the Western tradition, and I am blessed to have begun my career at a point when classical education was beginning to blossom across the country.

Leading and teaching in a school is fundamentally a vocation: a calling by Jesus Christ who is the model for all teachers and administrators. I take that calling seriously. I know that this is the path that God has mapped for my life and I pray everyday for his grace to advance the mission of Catholic liberal arts and classical education. Free people need a liberal arts education, and I do believe the future of our country, world, and especially Church depend on us to raise children who, to paraphrase St. Paul, hold fast to their traditions and grow to advance Christ’s great commission to make disciples of the nations.

Perhaps I am most excited, however, for my beautiful family to find a new spiritual home among the flourishing body of the Diocese of Tulsa and her cathedral. My loving and gracious wife, Elizabeth, is leaving her south Louisiana roots for the first time but is excited to introduce any uninitiated to the splendor of gumbo and crawfish étouffée. And we both are so happy to know and trust that Charles Edward, our little Charlie, who turns one at the end of March will be able to grow up in a parish and school united in a shared mission to make him a saint.

In the first months of my tenure, I want to listen and learn: about the history of the school and parish, the ups and downs of the past, and your hopes for the future. I’m excited to hear from parents and students, faculty and staff, clergy and laity, and parishioners who care deeply about the school as a parish ministry. Everything I have heard points to a bright and radiant future, but I am also ready and eager to confront the challenges that inevitably come with the care of 260 children.

Academically, HFCS will continue to produce students who love the Great Books and can use them to defend and proclaim the Faith. Spiritually, I am overjoyed to work with Christ’s True Eucharistic Presence steps from my office and I promise to strive everyday to bring our students closer to their Lord. And finally, no school can be successful without a rich and deep cultural life. A student life that radiates joy and fraternity builds upon the mission of a classical school to educate mind, body, and soul. Students ought to love coming to school for reasons that excite the spirits of boys and girls. Only then can faculty deepen their joy with the immense but demanding depths of the curriculum. Put simply students must have fun at school if they are to grow to love what a classical education offers.

As I begin this new chapter, I’m drawn to reflect again on my confirmation patron, St. John Bosco. This great educator and servant reminds us that the institution—Holy Family Classical School—exists not for itself, but rather it serves as an instrumental means to improve the lives of our children. I am blessed and eager to serve alongside parents in this mission to strengthen the hearts, minds, and souls of our precious youth.

In Christ,

Alexander Skufca
Incoming Headmaster of Holy Family Classical School