Dear Friends,

I pray that you all are having a blessed Fall! It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating our 30th Anniversary Gala with so many members of our community. 

During the Gala, we rolled out a special initiative honoring Laura’s late husband: the Marcus Berquist Scholarship Fund. Mark, one of the founders of Thomas Aquinas College, was also pivotal in the establishment of Mother of Divine Grace School, and he stands tall as one of the pillars of the movement to restore Catholic, Classical education. 

We are in urgent need of this sort of education in our world today. As I frequently remind our students, you no longer have to travel great distances to encounter opportunities for evangelization. We are continually surrounded by a world that is counter to the truths of our Faith, and you, our community, are no strangers to being called to question for our shared beliefs. The education that MODG provides is a necessary foundation for our children to stand firm in the truth, while witnessing to those around them that we are made to know, love, and serve God in this life.

Thanks to Mark and Laura’s clear vision for Classical, Catholic education, we can rest assured that our students are being raised up to be saints for the modern world. They are being given the tools and formation needed to move against the crowd and be counter-cultural in all the right ways. I could speak at great length about Mark’s virtues, but Laura says it better than I ever could, so I encourage you to review her wonderful letter about her husband.

As we approach the anniversary of Mark’s passing into Eternal Life on November 2nd, All Soul’s Day, we wrap up our campaign to establish the Marcus Berquist Scholarship Fund. As a reminder, all donors to the fund will have their names commemorated on a plaque that we are commissioning to be displayed in the entryway of our Ojai Headquarters, honoring you as inaugural donors to the Fund. We are so grateful for anything you can give to help our families and students fulfill the mission of Catholic, Classical education that Mark dedicated his life to, alongside his wife, our beloved founder. 

Know of my continual prayers for your families, and please keep MODG in your prayers as we embark on a 4th decade of forming students in the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. 

God bless you,

Paul Lazenby

President