2025 Pietas
Pietas: An Intellectual and Contemplative Retreat For Teachers
—PIETAS—
June 22-27, 2025
Portsmouth Abbey School
Pietas invites teachers from all educational backgrounds and disciplines into a contemplative celebration of the Catholic intellectual life. Participants encounter the best in literature, philosophy, and theology in a communal, monastic setting.
By becoming students once more—and reencountering the wellsprings of their own passion for learning—Catholic teachers are thus equipped to share with their students a love of learning grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Pietas explores the essential questions facing Catholic educators: What is the purpose of Catholic education? What is distinctive about the Christian teacher and student? How can I orient my discipline towards God? How can I bring the wisdom of Christian education into my classroom?
These questions are addressed in an intensive six-day program of shared seminars, lectures, and meals. We read, discuss, and pray alongside the writings of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Henry Newman, Flannery O’Connor, C. S. Lewis, and more.
Pietas imparts intellectual formation and spiritual rejuvenation. Engagement with the monastic rhythms of prayer inspires contemplation and cultivates a space to recognize grace at work in our lives.
PIETAS
Pietas Information
Where is Pietas held?
Pietas is hosted at Portsmouth Abbey, a Catholic Benedictine monastery and boarding school in scenic Rhode Island. The monastic life and horarium (daily schedule) informs much of our daily itinerary. The Abbey is situated on a 500-acre campus stretching along the Narragansett Bay. Our campus is just a few minutes north of famous Newport, Rhode Island, thirty minutes from Providence, and an hour from Boston.
What is the cost?
Residential Tuition: $1,850. Includes seminars, accommodations, meals (breakfast, lunch, and communal dinners), cultural excursions, and materials.
Non-Residential Tuition: $1,500. Includes seminars, meals (lunch and communal dinners), cultural excursions, and materials. Overnight accommodations and breakfast are not included.
Graduate credit offered by the University of Dallas Classical Education Graduate Program. Email institute@portsmouthabbey.org to inquire.
Scholarships: Thanks to the support of generous donors, scholarship support is available on a limited basis by application. Early application is encouraged, with scholarships being awarded as funds are available. For questions, please contact Darryl De Marzio at ddemarzio@portsmouthabbey.org
Can I stay on campus overnight?
Yes! Please choose the residential tuition rate when enrolling in Pietas. Residential tuition includes accommodations & breakfast. PLEASE NOTE: Accommodations are in modest dormitories on the campus of Portsmouth Abbey School. Rooms are single occupancy with a shared bathroom on a first-come, first-served basis. Linens and a pillow but not toiletries will be provided. A small window fan is provided for comfort. Late registrants may be limited to double occupancy.
What will we read?
Readings Include:
The Rule of St. Benedict (excerpts)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Disputed Questions on Truth: On the Teacher
Raymond Carver, “Cathedral”
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (excerpts)
Simone Weil, Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God
Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and Desire for God (excerpts)
What will we study?
We will read, discuss, and pray alongside the writings of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Thomas More, St. John Henry Newman, Jacques Maritain, Jean Leclercq, O.S.B., and many others in order to discern the truly distinctive character of a Christian education. Questions we will explore include:
What is the purpose of Christian education?
What is distinctive about the Christian teacher, or the Christian student?
How can the discipline I teach—whether explicitly religious or not—be oriented towards God?
How can I put the wisdom of Christian education to use in my classroom?
What is the schedule?
The program begins on Sunday, June 23rd at 6:00 pm with an opening reception and dinner, with check in beginning at 3 pm. Mass is available at 9:30am on Sunday. The program ends the following Friday, June 30th, around 2:30pm. All meals are included in the registration fee for Sunday dinner through Friday lunch. Participants are expected to be present for all sessions, including dinners, cultural excursions, evening film screenings, etc., as the program is cumulative.
What can I expect?
Pietas is designed to be an intimate cohort experience, limited to around 15 participants. In addition to an opening dinner on Sunday evening, participants will gather for three seminars per day, two prior to lunch and one following lunch. Each seminar will include remarks by the faculty and in-depth discussion of the text. A culminating project will ask each participant to prepare a short presentation on the final day of the seminar.
There will be an opening Mass, reception, and dinner on Sunday evening for all participants with opening remarks from Executive Director, Dr. Darryl De Marzio, and a closing lunch at the conclusion of the program on Friday afternoon. Participants are free to depart Friday after 3:00 p.m. Limited accommodations may be available on Friday night for guests departing on Saturday. Please contact institute@portsmouthabbey.org to make this request.
In addition to seminar discussions, we will participate in the Divine Office with the monks, pray lectio divina, the ancient monastic form of prayer, receive the sacraments including confession and the Eucharist, receive spiritual direction with our monastic community, and more.
Ample leisure time is provided over lunch and throughout the day to encourage friendship among participants. We also encourage time for exploration of the local culture and participation in recreational activities that our campus and Rhode Island has to offer. Time and space is also given for moments of personal writing and reflection.
Daily mass is available each morning in the monastery Church of St. Gregory the Great at 7:20am. Evenings include poetry readings, social gatherings, evening prayers with the monastery, dinner, after-dinner lectures, film screening, and more.
How do I get to Portsmouth Abbey?
You can find out about best ways to access Portsmouth Abbey here: TRAVELING TO PORTSMOUTH ABBEY. If you are flying or training in, we recommend renting a car: public transportation is limited, and even taxi and uber are unreliable in our part of the state. You will also have free time to explore nearby towns and cities—even head to the lovely Newport beaches! Having a car is by far the most convenient means for getting around.
I would love to support teachers and administrators who want to attend Pietas. Are sponsorship opportunities available?
If you are interested in sponsoring an attendee or group of attendees, please contact Dr. Darryl De Marzio, Portsmouth Institute Executive Director at ddemarzio@portsmouthabbey.org or 401.643.1255.
“Ecce pietas est sapientia.” Behold: piety is wisdom.
—St. Augustine
PIETAS
Testimonials
Sponsors
Sponsored by the Saint Ambrose Center for Catholic Liberal Education and Culture.
The Saint Ambrose Center supports K12 schools through teacher professional development, school leader coaching, parent formation, curriculum resources, and school operations assessments. We assist educators with forming students in wonder, faith, virtue, and wisdom.
Pietas
Pietas Faculty
Darryl De Marzio, Ph.D.
B.A., Philosophy, Drew University
M.A., Elementary Education, Montclair State University
M.Phil., Philosophy and Education, Columbia University
Ph.D., Philosophy and Education, Columbia University
Dr. Darryl De Marzio, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture. Prior to joining the faculty at Portsmouth Abbey in 2022, Dr. De Marzio was Professor of Foundations of Education at the University of Scranton since 2007 where he taught courses in philosophy and educational theory. He completed his M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia University in Philosophy and Education with a scholarly focus on the role that the study of philosophy plays in the ethical formation of teachers. He was awarded the Merryman Prize for excellence in the graduate study of philosophy and education and his dissertation, The Teacher as Ethical Subject, was awarded distinction by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. He has served as President of the Middle Atlantic States Philosophy of Education Society and on the Committee for Pre-College Instruction in Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association. He has worked and researched in education for over twenty-five years.
Kale Zelden
B.A., Literature, Thomas More College
M.A., English, Louisiana State University
Kale Zelden is the chair of the Humanities department at Portsmouth Abbey School, where he has previously served as both Academic Dean and Dean of Faculty. After graduate school and a stint in teaching, Kale went to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry, where worked with other writers in story development as a creative producer and was a programmer for the top student film festival The Angelus Awards. After returning to teaching, Kale won Portsmouth Abbey’s Dom Peter Sidler Award for teaching excellence. He became the Academic Dean in 2010 and in 2015 he became the Dean of Faculty. He notes that nothing is more thrilling than introducing students to the best that has been thought and written. “Reading the classics, and allowing them to delight and instruct the contemporary skeptic, has been challenging and rewarding.” Kale has worked in education as a teacher and administrator for over twenty years.
Dan Caplin
B.A., History, Providence College
B.A., Theatre, Providence College
M.A., History, Providence College
A Portsmouth Abbey alum, Daniel met his future wife, Catherine, at freshman orientation in 2006. After graduating from Providence College in 2014, Daniel decided to come back to Portsmouth in the Fall of 2018. In 2020, he received his Master’s in History from Providence College. Daniel has given lectures at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, as well as Northeastern University. In 2023, he received the Dom Peter Sidler Award for Excellence In Teaching. Daniel has been an instructor at the Portsmouth Institute since 2022, and recently presented “The Subversive Self: Rules for a Discursive Formation on Artificial Intelligence” at the Institute’s 2024 Hildegard Forum. Daniel and his lovely wife live in Saint Mary’s dormitory with their sons Westley and Walker, their dog Fagan, and their cat, Duck.
Stephen Zins, Ph.D.
B.S., Biochemistry, University of Michigan
Ph.D., Pathobiology, Brown University
Stephen Zins co-directs the Center for Science and the Liberal Arts at the Portsmouth Institute and Portsmouth Abbey School which seeks to inspire both knowledge of and a sense of wonder towards the created world. He earned his Ph.D. at Brown University in the pathobiology program where he studied how human polyomaviruses are controlled by the human immune system. He developed a desire to teach high school students through the Summer@Brown program, where he developed his own course on infectious disease and introduced students to scientific research through laboratory modules. He has co-authored eight manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, and his Ph.D. research is published in the Journal of Virology.
In 2017 Stephen was awarded Portsmouth Abbey School’s Dom Sidler Award for Excellence in Teaching, and he currently teaches AP Biology, Honors Biology, and a highly popular Infectious Disease elective that he created in 2019.
Katie Zins, Ph.D.
B.A., Art History, University of Rhode Island
B.A., Classics, University of Rhode Island
B.A., French, University of Rhode Island
M.A., Art History, Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D., Art History, Pennsylvania State University
Born and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island, Dr. Zins graduated from Portsmouth Abbey in 2004. She received a B.A. in Art History, French, and Classics from the University of Rhode Island in 2008. Attracted to the interdisciplinary nature of art history, she pursued her M.A. and Ph.D. at Penn State University. Her graduate work focused on Italian art from the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Combining her interests in mendicant patronage, hagiography, and fresco painting, her doctoral dissertation explores how the Order of Augustinian Hermits represented their self-proclaimed founder, St. Augustine, in images from 14th- and 15th-century Italy.
In 2016 Dr. Zins returned to Portsmouth Abbey to teach Humanities and Latin. Inspired by outstanding high school teachers and university professors, she realized early on her desire for a career that was centered on the classroom experience. She hopes to develop in her students an appreciation for the Western intellectual tradition, which was so vital to cultivating her own interests.
Lauren Revay
B.A., Philosophy, Catholic University of America
M.A., Theology, University of Notre Dame
Lauren Revay works at the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture and Portsmouth Abbey School. Her academic interests are in the intersection of philosophy and theology particularly in aesthetics, virtue theory/ethics, and political philosophy as they relate to the common good. She’s presented at the University of Notre Dame and with the American Maritain Association. She received her Master of Arts in Theology from the University of Notre Dame through the McGrath Institute’s Echo Graduate Service Program. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Pre-Law from The Catholic University of America.
