Padre Pio Academy Named a Newman Guide Recommended School by the Cardinal Newman Society

There are thousands of Catholic schools across the United States. Only a handful are recommended by the Cardinal Newman Society.

Padre Pio Academy is now one of them.

We are proud and humbled to announce that PPA has been officially recognized in the Newman Guide Online and recommended by the Cardinal Newman Society, joining just 44 K–12 Catholic schools nationwide that have earned this distinction.

For a school rooted in the classical tradition and the fullness of the Catholic faith, there may be no more meaningful external recognition than this one.

What Is the Cardinal Newman Society?

For nearly two decades, the Cardinal Newman Society has served Catholic families across the country by identifying schools and colleges where students can receive a genuinely faithful Catholic education. Their flagship publication, The Newman Guide, has long been the trusted resource for families navigating the landscape of Catholic education, and in its landmark 2025–2026 edition, the Guide expanded for the first time to recommend elementary and secondary schools alongside colleges and graduate programs, creating what the Society calls a seamless path of faithful Catholic formation from kindergarten through graduate school.

A Newman Guide Recommended School strives for the very best of Catholic education. By affirming its commitment to established standards, a Newman Guide School stands as an exemplar of faithful Catholic education for other schools nationwide. 

Those standards are not self-reported checkboxes. Becoming a Newman Guide Recommended school requires a thorough review for compliance with Newman Guide policy and curriculum standards, ensuring fidelity to Catholic teaching and the mission of Catholic education. The Society's standards are derived from guidance provided by Church councils, popes, Vatican congregations, bishops' conferences, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and other Church documents. 

Why This Recognition Matters

We live in a moment when the word "Catholic" can mean many different things when applied to a school. Not every school that calls itself Catholic forms students in authentic faith, virtue, and the intellectual tradition of the Church. Schools and colleges are increasingly assailed by secularization, ideological pressure, and loss of Catholic identity , which is precisely why the Newman Guide exists, and precisely why its recommendation carries so much weight.

When the Cardinal Newman Society places a school in the Newman Guide, it is telling Catholic families: you can trust this place with your children.

For PPA families, that trust is not news. You chose this school because you already knew what it stood for. But this recognition means that families across the country — families who have never heard of Lakewood, Ohio, who are searching and praying for a school that will educate their children in the fullness of truth — will now find Padre Pio Academy when they open the Newman Guide.

What This Says About PPA

The Newman Guide recommendation affirms what our faculty, families, and students live out every day: that classical Catholic education is not a niche curiosity or a nostalgic experiment. It is the most complete and human form of education there is — one that forms the whole person in mind, body, and soul, rooted in the Great Books, the sacramental life of the Church, and the truth that every child is made in the image and likeness of God.

The vision at the heart of the Newman Guide is education as the formation of the whole person, integrating intellect, conscience, character, and faith, rather than the mere transmission of information. That is not a description of what we aspire to be at Padre Pio Academy. It is a description of what we already are.

We are grateful to the Cardinal Newman Society for this recognition, grateful to our teachers and staff who make it possible every day, and most of all grateful to the families who have entrusted us with their children. This honor belongs to all of you.

Learn More

To explore the Newman Guide and learn more about what sets Newman Guide Recommended schools apart, visit CardinalNewmanSociety.org/Guide.