Meet Randy Aust

When asked why he was joining the JPG team, Theology Fellow Randy Aust said:

At St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School, like our namesake, we understand what a human being is and what brings about authentic human flourishing. We recognize that holiness and virtue are cultivated in the classroom, the chapel, the athletic field and the hallway. In an age characterized by confusion about fundamental questions, I am excited to help build a school with a joyful, robust and unapologetically Catholic culture. True Catholic education aims at and coheres in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Logos. He is the answer to the deepest longings of the human heart. The vision of education that animates this school is organic and holistic, not artificial and compartmentalized. Our students will encounter Christ in the daily celebration of the Eucharist and in Theology, but they will also encounter Him in History, Literature, Math, Science, Latin and Fine Arts as well. Joining this community of learners as one of its founding members and teaching, discussing and being formed by the greatest ideas that human beings have ever had is the opportunity of a lifetime. I am eager to get started with our good work.

In the fall, I will begin my fourteenth year as a high school teacher. For the last seven years, I have been teaching Church History at a coed Benedictine school in Illinois. There, I have had the tremendous privilege of introducing students to St. Augustine’s Confessions, Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and St. Benedict’s Holy Rule, three of my favorite books from the Catholic intellectual tradition. My wife and I are both originally from southern California, and we are excited to begin the next chapter of our life in Denver along with our three small children and a fourth due in August. In my free time, I enjoy running, watching baseball, reading old literature (Homer and Dante are two of my personal favorites), memorizing poetry, and playing with my children who never fail to make me laugh.