Scala Foundation

10/01/2024

On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, in Philadelphia, two of the most interesting people I've ever met-- Pageau and Eric Metaxas will meet to discuss "What is the Meaning of Meaning? The Influence of Symbolism and Art on Culture."

The growing followings each of them have--Pageau as an artist, speaker, publisher and entrepreneur--and Metaxas as an author, interviewer, and media host--shows that people are dying to hear how great traditions in art can rescue our culture from darkness.

Why is so much art today meaningless--incapable of communicating across time and space? Well, it wasn't always that way and the future can be different.

I'm honored to be chairing this event, which means I'm reaching out to my friends because anyone who is my friend should be there to hear 2 of the people I've learned so much from talking to!

The event will take place at the Union League Club in Philadelphia, PA.

Rachel Hendricks Daniel Austin Green Henry Burt Suann Malone MaierFrancis X. Maier Peter A. Carter Ioana Belcea Kelly Hanlon Howard Lucas Muncy

09/27/2024

I'm honored to announce that I'm partnering with Baker Publishing Group, one of the most prestigious theological publishers in the Protestant world for my new book, "Mary, Mother of All: Woman, Image and Christian Wisdom."

The reactions I've received to teaching about Mary at Princeton Theological Seminary and writing about Mary for Comment magazine led me to propose this partnership to Baker. We signed the book deal in September 2024.

In a world grappling with cynicism about truth and despair that overshadows joy, In a world grappling with spiritual emptiness and division, I hope this book responds to this urgent call to encounter Mary anew, bridging ancient wisdom to bear on modern longings.

"I had a spiritual void for Mary," one woman in my class said.

"Now I know that all the early church fathers revered Mary. Yet my church never spoke about her. That just can't be right," one man in my class said.

"Margarita's writing and speaking about Mary has it all: art, Visio Divina, material culture, motherhood, Mary. What depth of insight, and what graceful way of educating us. She's not at all preachy, but inspiring," a refugee to the US and writer said in response to my webinar with Comment magazine.

"Margarita! I had a Marian miracle I must tell you about," a devout Evangelical Christian man wrote me.

Mary is a complex figure. She's tender and powerful; silent and active; she’s our advocate, she’s the New Eve. She’s the Mother of God and the spiritual mother of us all.

Using Scripture, art, tradition, popular devotion to Mary and my own Marian encounters that bound me to Christ and his church, I hope to show why Mary speaks to our deepest needs as humans to find meaning in a chaotic world, build unity in a fractured society, and experience joy even when it seems a sword has pierced our hearts.

Thanks to Joseph Durepos for representing me as my agent in this project!

09/17/2024

I'm honored to be a panelist for this amazing event at Koinonia Academy in Plainfield, NJ, on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 7 pm. It was put together by the unstoppable Peach Smith. How do we educate for eternity? I'm delighted to meet Brett Salkeld and learn from him.

As a Catholic who teaches in non-Catholic institutions, I will share how my Catholic philosophy, theology and practice imbibes everything I do, inviting others to look at why they do what they do. As Luigi Giussani said, educators are models, and when we acknowledge the models we follow as educators we are all better off.

https://givebutter.com/catholicclassicaled

Peach Smith Rachel HendricksDavid Clayton

What is the goal of a Catholic education? And how should a Catholic education differ from others?

09/06/2024

Here's the audio podcast of my conversation with Tammy M. Peterson about Mary, the Mother of God. Who else than the New Eve can teach us about prayer, hope, joy in the spirit, and how all that leads to healing, giving of oneself, and finding true freedom in unity with the Trinity?

This episode was recorded on July 16th, 2024. Margarita Mooney Clayton, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and a Visiting Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University. She holds advanced degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Yale and...

08/08/2024

In just over a month, on Thursday, September 12 · 6 - 8:30pm EDT, I'll be honored to speak about my friend Fran Maier's new book highlighting faithful lay voices in the Catholic Church. This event will be in Philadelphia, hosted by the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture.

Hope to see some of you there!

"True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church" Fall Special Event and Reception featuring Francis X. Maier.

07/16/2024

Just finished a 2-hour recorded interview with Tammy Peterson. I heard more of her story of prayer and courage, and we discussed my teaching and writing on Mary, and my journey from psychology and sociology into theology. It should be released in August. Stay tuned for more info!

06/08/2024

Why does Sir James MacMillan--one of today's most famous composers--say that beautiful music is meant to prepare us to find God in silence and suffering?

In just a few days, I'll be interviewing MacMillan as part of Scala's efforts to renew culture by training young musicians through the Catholic Sacred Music Project. Don't miss our public discussion and concert with MacMillan on Sat. June 15 at 11 at the Princeton Theological Seminary, where I will ask him questions such as:

Why do most secular or agnostic people say that music (folk, classical, or sacred) is a spiritual experience?

How has Sir James MacMillan's music, with its deep spiritual resonance, influenced collective worship and personal faith?

How has his devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, and the principle of lex orandi, lex credendi (how we worship is what we believe) influenced his compositions for sacred music such as the Stabat Mater--Mary's powerful lament of suffering?

Behold, I Make All Things New: A Discussion on Sacred Music and Popular Culture and a Concert of New Sacred Music by Living Composers

03/25/2024

On March 25, we remember the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to cooperate with the divine plan. Today, I'm inviting you to say "yes" to Scala's Fellowship of the Annunciation, people who commit to recurring donations (monthly, quarterly, or yearly).

By supporting Scala today with a recurring donation, you will join our global network of friends who are renewing great traditions in art and supporting a renaissance in education and culture.

With your support, we can continue to fund artists training at the Chichester Workshop of Liturgical Arts. Scala is committed to supporting young composers and choral conductors coming to Princeton in the summer of 2024 to one of the great programs run by the Catholic Sacred Music Project.

Our public event earlier this month, the Sarum Vespers, was attended by 1,000 live and seen by 15,000 online. As one young woman who attended the Sarum Vespers said, "Being surrounded by astounding music, architecture, and works of art brings such wonder; you can’t help but feel inspired and joyful.”

We need to double Scala's monthly support to support young culture creators who bring light to a culture in darkness. Will you say yes to supporting an artistic feeding of thousands?

Your donation allows Scala to further its mission of cultural renewal by supporting apprenticeships with master liturgical artists Aidan Hart, Martin Earle and Jim Blackstone at the Chichester Workshop for Liturgical Art.

02/29/2024

Tomorrow, Friday, March 1st starting at 6 pm in the Princeton University Chapel Scala Foundation is co-hosting a Sarum vespers along with a presentation on sacred art. If you can't come in person, we will record and share after.

By participating in beautiful worship, we can reverse what Josef Pieper calls the mentality of “total work,” whereby our worldly ambitions are cut off from our calling to affirm the goodness of creation.

True leisure is not a passive lack of activity. Happiness is not just "work hard, play hard." Worship is meant to form us so that as we work in the world, we retain a contemplative outlook, humbly remembering that in our work, we co-create with God. The beauty of art reminds us that some things are good in and of themselves.

We should never try to dominate ourselves or manipulate outcomes in the world. Sharing beautiful art, music, and architecture creates a bond of solidarity among the participants and forms the virtues needed so that all our work becomes co-creation with God.

02/18/2024

Honored to be giving the inaugural Maritain lecture this coming Wed. Feb. 21 at 5 pm at the U. of Notre Dame.

The event won't be live-streamed but I'll make a transcript available afterwards!

https://maritain.nd.edu/events/2024/02/21/inaugural-maritain-lecture-margarita-mooney-clayton-jacques-maritain-the-recovery-of-reality-in-education/

01/22/2024

What does beauty have to do with human nature and human happiness? To find out, I suggest you listen to my recent video interview with Eric Metaxas about my book The Wounds of Beauty, which is part of the new Socrates in the Studio series.

Some things we discussed include:

• How beauty can unveil transcendent—universal—aspects of reality
• Why the modern emphasis on art as self-expression is flawed
• How a graced imagination helps order our passions
• How the traditional master-apprentice model for training artists is being reborn
• How prototypes in art of Mary, the God-Bearer, affirm the dignity of motherhood
• Why Christian liturgy is important to lift people’s minds and hearts to God

In the fall of 2023, I was honored to be one of the first three people Metaxas interviewed for this new series of in-person video interviews recorded with a small live audience in NY. Released just this past week, for a subscription of $5 a month or $50/year, you can hear me speak with one of today’s most eloquent interviewers about beauty. Other interviews just released include Andrew Klavan on what the Romantics get wrong about human happiness, and Hadley Arkes on why natural law matters to constitutional interpretation.

This week, I will launch a three-part seminar on revolutions in art for high school students, sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute. Stay tuned for more on how art is supposed to transform our inner lives and form a graced imagination that shapes practical and moral virtue!

Socrates+ is a premium digital content subscription platform, offering thought provoking and entertaining streaming content.

01/08/2024

On March 1, 2024, starting at 6 pm, Scala Foundation ​ is delighted to co-sponsor this FREE choral vespers with Gallicantus, a UK choral group. Prior to the vespers, David Clayton​, Scala's artist in residence and Provost of Pontifex University, will describe why and how to pray using sacred art.

Peter A. Carter​ of the Catholic Sacred Music Project and Gabriel Crouch of Princeton University's Music Department made this event happen. The event is being hosted by the Aquinas Institute at Princeton University, where David and I are honored to sing in the choir that Peter leads so masterfully.

No registration is required. The event will be recorded if you can't be there in person!

There will be a solemn choral Vespers according to the medieval Use of Sarum on March 1st in the beautiful neo-gothic chapel of Princeton University. The service of Vespers and Benediction is to be co-sponsored by Scala Foundation, and is organized by our great friend Peter Carter of the Catholic Sa...