Languages for Catholics grew from a simple observation: most language curricula are either secular and bland, or secular and worse. Catholic families wanting to teach French or Italian faced a choice between sanitised textbook fare and material that actively conflicted with their values.
We set out to offer something better: language education that takes both the language and the faith seriously.
Simon and Isabelle are a Catholic couple living in Bedfordshire, England, with their five (soon six, grâce à Dieu) children, four of whom are bilingual in French and English. (Their eighteen-month-old has yet to master the passé composé.)
Isabelle is French and a qualified secondary school teacher in Modern Foreign Languages and History. Simon is English, a medical doctor, and has over twenty years' tutoring experience across a range of subjects. They educate their own children in both languages.
Both know what it means to learn a language to fluency—Isabelle learning English, Simon learning French—and are passionate about sharing the joy of that process with others. The family is relocating to Versailles in 2025.
Matthew is a father of four and an experienced teacher and educator. Born in the UK, he has spoken French for over twenty years and obtained his PGCE at the University of Oxford. He works extensively in Catholic youth mentoring and is a Troop Chief for the Bedfordshire branch of the Scouts of Europe, a traditional Catholic scouting movement. He is also a handyman, cook, musician, and general polymath.
Ester is Italian and has lived and worked in the UK for the past sixteen years. She leads the development of Italian for Catholics and has five years' experience tutoring adults in Italian. She holds a degree in International Relations from the University of Bologna and a Master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and spent two years living and working in Spain—she's fluent in Spanish as well as English and Italian. Ester is a keen gardener, cook, artist, and crafter, and loves nothing more than sitting in a piazza with a glass of wine, chatting with friends.
We believe language learning is formation, not just instruction. To learn French or Italian properly is to enter into a culture, a way of seeing the world, a history. For Catholic children, that means encountering the France of the cathedrals, the saints, the great tradition of Catholic thought. It means meeting the Italy of Rome, of Assisi, of Dante's Commedia.
We believe children rise to expectations. We don't dumb down. We teach grammar properly because grammar is how language actually works. We expect effort, attention, and a willingness to be stretched.
We believe this should be joyful. Languages open worlds. We want our students to feel the thrill of understanding, the pleasure of a poem, the satisfaction of a sentence well-constructed.