Episode 20: Sr. John Dominic OP
The Making Every Class Catholic Podcast
In this episode of the Making Every Class Catholic podcast, I’m joined by Sister John Dominic Rasmussen of Openlight Media for a conversation on virtue, formation, and the renewal of Catholic education. Sister shares her journey from classroom teacher to school administrator to founder of a rapidly growing apostolate serving hundreds of schools, all rooted in a desire to recover the Church’s rich tradition of virtue formation in everyday school life. Together, we compare and contrast classical virtue ethics and contemporary approaches like social-emotional learning. What does modern neuroscience get right about human development—and where might its findings be misunderstood or misused without a grounding in Catholic anthropology? Sister offers a compelling vision: one in which virtue provides not only the moral framework for education, but also the language, habits, and interior freedom students need to flourish. Along the way, we discuss everything from the role of relationships in brain development to the dangers of an overly self-focused approach to emotional awareness. The conversation gets especially fun as we dive into the vocabulary of virtue—those rich, often-forgotten words like magnanimity, circumspection, and eutrapelia. Far from being too advanced, these concepts capture students’ imaginations and give them practical tools for interpreting their experiences and making better decisions. Again and again, virtue emerges not as mere rule-following or “gritting your teeth,” but as the path to joy, freedom, and authentic human excellence. We also get practical: how schools can build a culture of virtue that endures despite teacher turnover, how educators can integrate virtue into every subject area, and what it looks like to “cultivate” virtue in light of both theology and neuroscience. Finally, Sister shares about Openlight Media’s growing library of resources and offers concrete ways teachers, parents, and school leaders can begin renewing their communities today. Music by Braden Kuntz