When I was growing up, I lost my mother at age 11 after watching her endure a long battle with cancer. During that time, my father worked four jobs to keep a roof over our heads, all while caring for her both at home and in the hospital.

Despite everything he was going through, he raised me with strong, traditional values. His sacrifices taught me what real strength, honour, and duty look like. As I got older, I realised how lucky I was to have had a role model like him. Not everyone gets that kind of example.

Losing a parent at an early age shaped how I developed. The naive, “sunshine and rainbows” outlook of childhood gave way to a more cautious, critical, and analytical mindset. I began exploring both the physical and spiritual world, drawn to the underworld and alternative culture as much as to traditional paths. Being lost gave me the freedom to encounter many faiths, beliefs, and ways of life. Yet through it all, I’ve remained grounded in the core values passed down to me growing up. Today, I live with a synthesis: part inherited, part discovered.

Over the years, I’ve watched society drift further from the values my dad taught me. The role models that used to shape us in our homes, churches, and communities are harder to find. In their place, we’re offered noise, distraction, and hollow influence. The old wisdom that once passed from generation to generation is quietly being lost.

That’s why I started Aquinas Academy.

It’s a space to rediscover virtue, tradition, and the enduring light of faith. I created it not only to serve others, but to live as an example to my wife and children, to practice the change I want to see in the world, not just make small talk about it.

If this speaks to you, I invite you to stay. If you'd like to help more people discover it, a monthly subscription helps keep it going.

Thank you for being here.

"Wonder is the desire for knowledge."
Thomas Aquinas

Best,

Charles