Meet Founding Principal Erin Heule
Erin has spent the over a half dozen years in education and brings a wealth of strategy and leadership to the school, especially in a Classical context. She most recently served as a faculty member at the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, the premier national educator and school training organization for Catholic Classical institutions. She lives in Denver with her husband and three young children.
Learn more about Erin through a brief interview about her vision for the school and her passion for Catholic education.
Want to learn more? Contact Mrs. Heule here.
What is your vision for St. John Paul the Great?
I want St. John Paul the Great to be a place of salt and light: for our students, first and foremost; but also for our school parents and faculty, and for those who know our community. I pray that our robust and human formation, rooted in the Catholic liberal arts tradition and strengthened by co-curriculars that encourage wisdom and virtue, will add flavor, zest, clarity, and hope to a world suffering from self-inflicted wounds. And I want SJPG to be a place of joy: the joy that comes from real community and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
What made you start teaching? What are some of your favorite areas?
I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was in 6th grade. After exploring the rich inheritance of Catholic intellectual thought my senior year of college, I fell in love with the idea of teaching all over again, so long as it was founded upon Truth himself: Jesus Christ. After teaching at Our Lady of Lourdes, where I delved deeply into the Church’s educational vision, I knew I would spend the rest of my professional life seeking to augment the renewal of authentic Catholic education in whatever way God called me.
My intellectual interests include Arthurian legend, medieval literature, Baroque music, the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the history of the world wars, and the works of many authors: from Homer to Sigrid Undset, from Jane Austen to Michael O’Brien. I intend to remedy my uninspiring mathematics formation by learning to love Euclid in the near future.
What is your hope for Catholic Education as a whole?
I hope that Catholic institutions of learning reclaim Jesus Christ as the metric against which to measure every reality of their communal and intellectual life. As Benedict XVI wrote to his fellow clergymen: “Every other truth is a fragment of the Truth that he is, and refers to him”-- from our curriculum choices to our student code of conduct, from the talk around lunchroom tables to the way that we worship in the Holy Mass. Holding Our Lord at the center of everything we do sets Catholic schools apart from other educational pursuits, however noble. If we aren’t doing this important work, no other type of school will do it for us.
What words of wisdom do you have for parents discerning enrolling their students in JPG?
I would say two things to prospective parents. Firstly, dear parents, I re-echo the simple but critical words of our school’s patron, Pope Saint John Paul the Great: “Be not afraid.” Scripture tells us: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). If your apprehension about SJPG stems from fear (Maybe they will not provide the athletics program my student desires. Will they offer adequate opportunities for AP credit? What if my student is not ‘college ready’?), I invite you to pray with the words of our spiritual father.
I would also say: Come and see. Reach out: talk to us. Let us answer your questions. We are eager to have honest, pointed conversations about how we can build the best school possible with your help. We are ready. Will you join us?
