Ten Years Ago, Scala Began
Your Gift Matched!
Dear Patrons,
I can’t believe it—Scala is turning 10 this month! We are launching our next decade with a matching gift: every gift given this August — including your first month as a monthly patron — will be matched up to $15,000.
Why I started Scala in 2016
During my nearly three decades as a student or professor in higher education, I’ve witnessed first-hand how students’ misery was deeply connected to the desecration of tradition and faith. It’s not merely that the intellectual giants of the Western tradition have been forgotten. Too often in education, ideals around family and nation are mocked. Mindless activism replaced creativity, the true engine of a free and joyful society.
Scala’s approach is invitational, not confrontational. We help people connect the hunger they have for beauty to the love of God.
When I met my husband David, we dreamed of finding a way of sharing the intellectual, spiritual, and artistic practices David wrote about in his book The Way of Beauty. Thanks to our patrons, our dreams are becoming reality.
Scala’s work has benefited from so many like you who support us in reversing cultural decline we all can see.
Patrons Are Part of the Creative Process
Donors to Scala do more than give money. They are patrons of the creative process that underlies all we do. Whether you are a reader of this magazine, have attended a conference, or have read our books and articles, or watched our videos, we invite you to help us spread The Way of Beauty.
For example, Daniel Gorenburg, a former student of mine at Princeton Theological Seminary who also participated in Scala’s summer program, is now Assistant Pastor at Providence Presbyterian Church in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and is today a Scala patron. He grew up in California, joined a Christian church in high school, and studied philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley.
As Daniel said:
“Scala was my first serious exposure to Christian philosophical anthropology. The more I remain engaged with Scala the more I am equipped, as a minister, to engage the various perspectives that confuse or distort the human being as made in the image of God.”
When one person like Daniel shares what he has learned with others, the chain of lovers of beauty and truth spreads goodness much faster than any ideology can spread misery. I vividly recall during our summer seminar at Portsmouth Abbey, Rhode Island, how Daniel took some of the younger students under his wing, praying with them after breakfast and encouraging them in the often difficult texts we read.
Now, as a recurring donor, Daniel helps us keep expanding our network of students, artists and families. Would you join Daniel as a patron of the Way of Beauty? Patrons also learn from our network of culture creators how to spread the joy that comes from an encounter with the divine through beauty.
“The Culture Wars Go Silent”
Now is the time to support Scala. The tide is turning; important seeds have been sown that are flowering, and a beautiful culture is once again re-emerging. Take, for example, a frequent Scala collaborator, composer Sir James MacMillan. Born in 1959 in an impoverished Catholic family in Scotland, he has risen to world prominence as a composer and conductor.
He was one of our guests at Scala’s 10th anniversary board meeting. He shared how his faith, once mocked by many in the secular music world, is now sparking curiosity.
“All music, in a sense, opens the door onto the numinous,” MacMillan explained. Among lovers of music, “the culture wars go silent, and the believer and the non-believer can engage in a common enthusiasm, a common love, a common journey towards a sense of the numinous in this art form that we love.”
Soon, I’ll share more from MacMillan and two other special guests, a second musician, Andrew Goldstein of the Vigil Project, and Dominic Keim, an art student at the Stabat Mater Atelier in Texas. They shared with our board and supporters about how partnering with Scala has amplified their work in education, church life, and the arts.
Will You Help Spread The Way of Beauty?
But today, I simply want to ask: will you join us, as a monthly patron, in this next decade of Scala?
If you become a monthly patron at $100 or more (or $1,200 annually), your first month’s gift will be matched dollar for dollar! And you’ll receive a signed copy of my recent book, When Mary Calls: Surprising Encounters with the Mother of God, whose hopeful message has reached hundreds of thousands who have heard me interviewed.
The book continues to receive attention in unexpected places. For example, MacMillan recently introduced me to journalist and music lover Damian Thompson of The Spectator-UK, who interviewed me in July for his podcast “Holy Smokes”, an apt title for exploring the enduring presence of the sacred in highly secular England.
If you can’t commit to a recurring gift, a one-time gift of any amount still matters enormously — and it will be doubled if you give this month.
Words simply can’t say how much I appreciate your support, friendship, prayers and encouragement. I hope our mission graces your life.
Gratefully,
Margarita
P.S. This match is only available in the month of August. Thank you for supporting our mission to renew culture!