About us
Our purpose is cultural renewal through truth, goodness and beauty. We seek education that builds character and wisdom, art and culture that participates in the true and the transcendent, and a society of conviviality centred around faith and festival.
We are an association with a principal office and members who work with us and form chapters which share our objectives and wish to further them in their local communities, parishes, families and organisations.
Common Grove is Catholic in identity and ecumenical in that we welcome and collaborate with all Christians and curious non-Christians who share our goal of renewing culture.
Guiding principles
Contemplation
Knowledge as a good pursued for its own sake and received as a gift through the illumination of philosophy, scripture, poetry and prayer
Education
Possession of the riches of our intellectual tradition passed down through the classical and Catholic inheritance
Festival
Festivity as a communal celebration of goodness and the divine through worship and ritual as well as folk traditions and practices
Beauty
Art, music, architecture, literature and poetry that is beautiful and transcendent that gives meaning to life
Conviviality
A relational revival based on interdependence and voluntary acts, and technology and prosperity ordered to the common good
Community
The Common Grove community is made of educators, families, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, academics, philosophers, intellectuals and the religious. We have local leaders who share our objectives and wish to realise them in their lives, institutions, workplaces, parishes, schools and families.
To express your interest in joining, fill in this form.
Participate in or lead initiatives to infuse life with ritual, meaning and festival
Develop friendships defined by virtue and rooted in a local concept of community and conviviality
Discover wonder and explore the rich symbolic world of the Christian tradition through art and culture
Read the great books as an adult and participate in a shared project of intellectual renewal
Strengthen your parish, school, community or family culture
Attend events with leading local and international thinkers, writers, intellectuals, artists and theologians
Support Australian institutions to reclaim their Catholic or Christian mission and identity in order to renew their organisations and transform their governance, founding doctrines and activities.
Support Christians to influence the culture and make them capable of forming new institutions such as monasteries, universities, new ecclesial movements, publishing houses, arts organisations, schools and more.
Support the establishment of new classical Christian schools and help other schools transition to classical, liberal arts and Catholic liberal arts models, reaching a material proportion of primary and secondary school students.
Cultivate a love of learning among adults rooted in the perennial tradition that sharpens discernment; increases an ability to appreciate truth, goodness, and beauty; produces good citizens; and leads to faith and worship.
Build, cultivate and seed new cultural institutions and initiatives, including festivals, parish and community events, and convivial opportunities.
Objectives
Services
Education
We support education systems to implement classical education in the Catholic tradition, including corporate vision and strategy, organisational transformation, leadership and staff formation and development programs and curriculum development.
Governance and strategy
We work with education systems and other faith-based institutions to renew their mission and purpose for the common good and put human flourishing at the centre of their activities and bring truth, goodness and beauty to life.