HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Latest Episodes:

Tom Cox on Being a Faculty of Friends: Making Schools into Communities Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

The joy of "being known here" is not just for the students. When a faculty cultivates friendship, it benefits the entire school community.

Tom Cox has been a middle and upper school Latin and Greek teacher at The Heights since 2009. Tom also hosts The Forum Faculty Podcast, now in its second year, which gives a slice of teacher breakroom culture: the kinds of conversations, rapport, and friendship that are born of our shared work and life as teachers. Tom joins us today to talk about how important faculty friendship is to making a school into a community, and what schools can do to support the planned and unplanned interactions that feed friendship.

Chapters:

1:53 Tom Cox's history at The Heights

6:35 School as a community of friends

10:15 Using school trips for faculty bonding

14:58 Regional schools: community or society

17:01 Creating community over large distances

26:53 Building up faculty friendship

36:04 Friendship requires shared life, work

38:57 Facilitating that shared life

47:09 Planned and unplanned interactions

50:49 Real communities pass on a culture

57:26 The fruit of staying in one place

Links:

"A Faculty of Friends" from Gregory the Great Academy in Elmhurst Township, Pennsylvania

Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox

The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis

Man and the State by Jacques Maritain

The World-Ending Fire Collection by Wendell Berry

True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness by John Cuddeback

"Charles" by Shirley Jackson

"The Work of Local Culture" in What Are People For? by Wendell Berry

Also on the Forum:

The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox

Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy featuring Alvaro de Vicente

Friendship for Fathers featuring John Cuddeback

On Friendship after Senior Year featuring David Maxham

Featured Opportunities:

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)

The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

Dr. Melissa Moschella on Parental Rights in Natural and Constitutional Law Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

What are parental rights? Are they a legal stance—or a philosophical one?

In today's conversation, Dr. Melissa Moschella of the University of Notre Dame discusses the profound and practical implications of the parent-child relationship. She then explores how those conclusions operate in the American legal tradition, tracing from natural law to John Locke to historic court cases and the public discourse today.

Chapters:

3:46 True rights imply true duties

10:04 Natural law: knowable through reason

15:00 The rights and duties of parents

22:32 Role of the state in the American tradition

28:44 Twentieth-century shift, John Rawls

37:29 Whether schools can be value-neutral

43:34 Parental rights in American courts

46:47 Beyond religious liberty

55:00 School choice as parental choice

1:00:57 Public discourse: how to talk to friends, family, neighbors

1:05:30 Her book on natural law

Links:

Melissa Moschella, Ph.D., McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame

To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy by Melissa Moschella

Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing by Melissa Moschella

Democratic Education by Amy Guttman (argued against by Dr. Moschella)

Brief of Amica Curiae in Support of Petitioners by Melissa Moschella

"Nonreligious Parents Have Rights Too," WSJ op-ed by Melissa Moschella

Also on the Forum:

The Mortara Case: Parental Authority and Thomas Aquinas featuring Dr. Matthew Tapie and Dr. Lionel Yaceczko

Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan

Featured Opportunities:

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)

The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

Michael Moynihan on A Whole Education: Teaching Persons, Not Just Subjects Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

There should be no contradiction in pursuing hard sciences, humanities, and moral virtue all in one day.

For upper schoolers switching classrooms every hour, or for teachers siloed in a single subject, it can be easy to mistake "education" for a series of distinct academic categories. In this rebroadcast from 2015, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan gives us a better framework. He urges us to look at how our school's different departments present a unified and infinitively connective worldview—one that invites inquisitive engagement and exercises the full scope of human reason.

Chapters:

4:39 The strength of "entertainment culture"

8:16 Successful families

9:28 Assessing the educational landscape

11:32 Fragmented school subjects

14:20 Teaching persons, not subjects

17:18 Appreciating the full scope of human reason

Links:

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton (see chapter 8, "The Romance of Orthodoxy")

By the Communion of Persons Man Becomes the Image of God by Pope St. John Paul II

The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers

The Idea of a University by St. John Henry Newman

Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI

Laudato Si by Pope Francis

Also on the Forum:

The Art of Teaching Sovereign Knowers by Michael Moynihan

Featured Opportunities:

Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Alvaro de Vicente on Parental Expectations: Being Both Perfect and Anxious for Nothing Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

"Be perfect" (Matt. 5:48) and "anxious for nothing" (Phil 4:6).

This tall order from the New Testament may put modern parents into a cold sweat. Parental perfectionism and anxiety are surely on the rise, but in his annual Headmaster's Lecture at The Heights School, Alvaro de Vicente talks us down. He shows us the compatibility and wisdom of these two Biblical encouragements by refocusing on the process of growth—moral, academic, athletic, and spiritual—over simply the apparent results.

Chapters:

2:41 Introduction: being "good enough"

8:15 A new way to see perfection

10:07 Context changes our expectations

17:34 Setting reasonable expectations

24:46 Acknowledging our son's freedom

29:28 Parental anxiety: danger ÷ opportunity

36:54 Surrounded by goodness, a twitch upon the thread

40:53 Perseverance through hard times

47:42 Addressing real problems

53:15 Ultimately, in God's hands

Links:

Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente's Substack

Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Minority Report (2002)

The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Also on the Forum:

Failure Is a Great Tutor—Don't Fire Him by Alvaro de Vicente

Having Better Mentoring Conversations by Alvaro de Vicente

Featured Opportunities:

Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025)

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Alvaro de Vicente on Conversation: The Medium of Mentoring Oct 03, 2025

Show notes

The art of mentoring is not just for teachers and coaches, but also parents—who can never really be out of mentoring mode.

In a recent Substack article, Alvaro de Vicente named five pitfalls for our attempts at mentoring young men. This week, he talks us through some of the takeaways, reminding us that mentoring is not a profound lecture but an ongoing conversation, and the goal is not to modify but to form.

Chapters:

3:49 What mentoring is

4:35 Conversation as the basis

8:55 Parents: always in mentor mode

10:13 Presence over "meaningful content"

16:01 Weighty conversations

18:25 Daily conversations

21:24 Love unlocks a child

30:48 Urgent conversations

33:34 When to mandate

35:36 When to end the conversation

37:33 Formation is a game of inches

Links:

Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente's Substack

Five Conversational Temptations Mentors and Parents Commonly Face by Alvaro de Vicente

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Only the Lover Sings by Josef Pieper

Also on the Forum:

Having Better Mentoring Conversations by Alvaro de Vicente

Forming Others: What Mentoring Can and Can't Be featuring Colin Gleason

Anthropological Foundations of Mentoring featuring Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti

Mentoring without a Program: Joe Cardenas on Teaching the Whole Person featuring Joe Cardenas

Featured Opportunities:

Fall Open House at The Heights School (October 18, 2025)

Headmaster's Lecture on Freedom in the Home at The Heights School (October 4, 2025)

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Kyle Blackmer on Building Parent-Teacher Rapport Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

In the broader society, mistrust increasingly defines the parent-teacher relationship. But it doesn't have to be this way.

As a Heights parent and seventh grade core teacher, Kyle Blackmer shares a practical vision for sound parent-teacher relationships. It begins with understanding parents and teachers in their true, cooperative roles for a child's good. And it ends with developing real friendship between parents and teachers as they pursue this good together.

Chapters:

1:29 Decline of the parent-teacher relationship

4:51 Parents' true role as primary educators

10:18 How teachers relate to parents

13:40 How parents relate to teachers

18:28 Shared understanding of the goal

20:52 School as a community

26:39 Building parent-teacher relationships

Links:

We Need to Talk About Parent-School Relationships by Daniel Buck

Also on the Forum:

Partnering with Parents: Some Implications for Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan

Communicating with Parents by Kyle Blackmer

The Role of Parents in the Conspiracy for the Good featuring Alvaro de Vicente

Order and Surprise: Lionel Yaceczko on Beauty and the Western Tradition featuring Lionel Yaceczko

Humility and Teaching: On Leading While Walking Backward by Joseph Bissex

Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan

Featured Opportunities:

Headmaster's Lecture on Freedom in the Home at The Heights School (October 4, 2025)

Fathers' Conference at The Heights School (November 1, 2025) link coming soon

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Fr. John Nepil on Theology at Elevation Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

"One of the best places to cultivate a Catholic worldview in the hearts and minds of young people … is in the backcountry," writes Fr. John Nepil in his recent release, To Heights and unto Depths.

Fr. Nepil, who has led dozens of group treks through the mountains of Colorado and said Mass atop every fourteener in the state, joins us to talk about adventure and a young man's theological education. The backcountry, he says, is rich in lessons of creation, dependence, suffering, and beauty—restoring our sense of being created and loved by a self-giving God.

Chapters:

5:18 What draws us to the mountains

9:04 "Nature" vs. "creation"

13:16 Fatherhood

16:00 Dependence

20:44 Cultivating a worldview

25:54 Guiding the conversation (or not)

28:13 Redemptive suffering

31:23 Starting with beauty

38:59 Physical vs. metaphysical limits

46:46 Men doing hard things together

48:29 The backstory of the book

50:39 A habit of reading

Links:

To Heights and unto Depths by Fr. John Nepil

Rethinking Mary in the New Testament by Edward "Ted" Sri

Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church's Marian Belief by Joseph Ratzinger

Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton

Also on the Forum:

Why We Go: Seven Benefits of the Backcountry by Elias Naegele

The Way of Encounter by Joe Breslin

Why We Need Exposure to Nature by Eric Heil

Featured Opportunities:

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Andrew Reed on Developing Your Son's Will Sep 11, 2025

Show notes

How many times a day do I tell my son what to do next?

In this rebroadcast from 2015, our Head of Middle School Andrew Reed offers his ideas on cultivating an environment at home (and in the classroom) where boys can develop their own academic will. This entails not only greater freedom but also—just as necessary—a close and reliable family bond. Mr. Reed explains how this counterintuitive pair works together to teach a boy to choose the good for himself.

Chapters:

6:32 The will: a marker for success

9:02 Overmanaging: telling them what to do

10:54 Boys grow from experience and challenge

12:33 The indifferent boy

14:43 Prompt the will with a question

17:31 Create an environment of freedom

20:16 But keep a close family bond

22:33 Manage the influences

24:21 A parenting examination of conscience

27:10 Patience and optimism

29:00 The will, freedom, and good academic habits

Links:

Developing Academic Habits: A Guide for Parents by Andrew Reed

The Key to Success? Grit, a TED Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth, May 2013 (transcript here)

Also on the Forum:

Academic Habits and a Student's Developing Will by Andrew Reed

Featured Opportunities:

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Michael Moynihan and Austin Hatch on Teaching the History of our Strange New World Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

To help our seniors synthesize the many ideas, events, and texts they've surveyed across high school—and to help them better understand their own cultural moment—Heights teachers have developed a senior core class titled "History of Western Thought." In this episode, Upper School Head Michael Moynihan and long-time teacher Austin Hatch discuss the course and its guide-text: Carl Trueman's Strange New World (2022).

HOWT covers essential texts from Plato's Republic to Pope Benedict XVI's "Regensburg Address.". Its goal is not only to prepare students for college work but to prepare them to meaningfully engage with the culture they will inherit, understanding its origins and its underlying assumptions.

Chapters:

00:02:31 History of Western Thought course 00:08:10 The "HOWT" syllabus 00:11:31 Strange New World, a primary source guide 00:14:13 Teens and the intellectual tradition 00:16:39 Seeing ideologies in motion 00:18:48 Pairing philosophical threads 00:27:26 Understanding our cultural moment 00:29:25 Pushing back on 'authenticity' 00:33:31 How students respond to the course 00:35:09 Thinking about friendship 00:41:04 Big ideas in a short class 00:44:32 Reading Trueman alongside your son

Links:

Strange New World by Carl Trueman

"Canada Is Killing Itself" by Elaina Plott Calabro, The Atlantic, September 2025

Texts from the HOWT course:

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman

Republic by Plato

Phaedo by Plato

The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

De Officiis by Cicero

Moralia, vol. 1, featuring "How to Know a Flatterer from a Friend" by Plutarch

Confessions by Augustine

Summa theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas

Utopia by Thomas More

Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau

Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Idea of a University by St. John Henry Newman

Regensburg Address by Pope Benedict XVI

Also on the Forum:

American Restlessness featuring Dr. Benjamin Storey

A Study for All Seasons: On the Western Tradition featuring Lionel Yaceczko

Is The Heights a Classical School? by Michael Moynihan

Featured Opportunities:

Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

Dr. Matthew Mehan on Imagination: The Raw Material for Thinking Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

Properly understood, the imagination is not something you escape to; it's something you draw upon every day to make decisions, understand events, and communicate.

This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Matthew Mehan explores the purposes of the imagination and the habits of wit and wisdom that help us insightfully process our world. We may think of the imagination at odds with reality. But, he says, cultivating the imagination actually makes us more capable, "wittier" thinkers about reality.

Chapters:

00:03:05 Defining the imagination 00:05:31 "Good mother wit" 00:08:25 How LLMs undermine the wit 00:11:05 Beyond the "moral imagination" 00:15:33 Imagination of the Founding Fathers 00:20:03 Aesop and governing your animal spirits 00:24:28 The mistakes of Naturalism 00:27:57 18th century ABCs 00:32:13 Role models for the civic imagination 00:40:38 Who chooses what goes in 00:43:26 Reality educates us 00:46:39 Recommendations for parents 00:52:24 Metaphor control: guarding your hope 01:02:33 Humor and joy

Links:

mythicalmammals.com, Matthew Mehan's website

"Restoring America's Founding Imagination" by Matthew Mehan

Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals by Matthew Mehan

The Handsome Little Cygnet by Matthew Mehan

The Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox

Illustrated Aesop's Fables by Aesop, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton

Fifty Years on the Old Frontier by James Cook

Saints Series Podcast by The Merry Beggars

The Boy Stories Series by Tom Longano

Also on the Forum:

Metaphor Control: A Modest Hope for Civilization by Matthew Mehan