Canyon Heights Academy implements the
Integral Formation® method of education developed by the Legion of
Christ. Active in twenty countries on five continents, they
serve the Church by preparing and motivating lay Catholics to take
an active part in the Church’s mission: to love Christ and to live
their Catholic faith to the fullest.
Background
The Legion of Christ was founded in 1941, and was granted Vatican
approval in 1948 by Pope Pius XII. In 1965, Pope Paul VI awarded
the congregation the “Decree of Praise," which gave the Legion full
Church recognition due to its accomplishments, above all in
education. Such work in education began eleven years earlier with
the establishment of the Cumbres Institute in Mexico City, the
congregation’s first school. This would be first of many schools
and universities founded by the Legion around the world, in
countries such as Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Columbia, Spain, the United States, Italy, Ireland, Mexico,
Switzerland and Venezuela. The Legion currently educates over
115,000 students in 162 schools, 15 universities and 30 formation
centers worldwide.
The spirituality of the Legionaries of Christ should be familiar to
Catholics, as it is in line with the teachings of the Catholic
Church. The name “Legionaries of Christ” sums up a Christ-centered
spirituality in which Jesus Christ is the center, standard, and
example of a Legionary’s religious, priestly and apostolic life.
Love for the Church brings Legionaries to support and follow the
Pope in a spirit of ardent, personal love. They study and spread
the Pope’s teachings, and promote his charism of primacy and
magisterium (teaching authority). In a spirit of faith, they honor
all bishops in communion with the Pope as successors of the
Apostles and witnesses of the Catholic faith. Legionaries seek to
cooperate with bishops in the realization of diocesan pastoral
programs, especially education, the family, social services and the
mass media. Preaching and extending Christ’s Kingdom constitute the
ideal which inspires, motivates, directs and shapes the apostolic
goals of the Legion. To make Jesus Christ reign in the hearts of
people and of societies, to transform minds and souls according to
the ideal of the new man in Christ, and to create the civilization
of love and justice: This is the mission which gives meaning to the
name “Legionaries of Christ.” The charity preached and commanded by
Christ in the Gospel is the heart of the entire spirituality of the
Legionaries. "Love Christ, Serve People, Build the Church,"
summarizes the mission of the Legion. Today, the Legion is the
fastest growing congregation within the Church, with over 2,500
seminarians and 650 priests serving throughout the world.