Category: Catholic School Matters

On this week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast, I bring on four super guests to explore different aspects of our work in Catholic schools. First, Dr. Massimo Faggioli of Villanova joins me to discuss the crisis in the Church. As a professor of Church History and a native of Italy, Dr. Faggioli has a unique perspective.  He […]

A few weeks back, I became aware of a blog post by a parish priest arguing that children don’t necessarily belong in the sanctuary. I heard echoes of what people often argue about school culture—that is elusive and only understood by a select few. His central argument: There is something in Catholic Church culture that […]

On this week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast, I bring on three great guests with unique perspectives. Dr. Brandi Odom-Lucas, the principal of Verbum Dei HS in South Central LA, comes on to discuss her work at the Cristo Rey high school in Los Angeles. The “Verb” is a historically African-American high school which transitioned to a […]

During my first year of graduate school, I lived in a dorm with medical students. I learned that the choice of specialty for them was much more than simply which branch of medicine looked interesting or which ones they could get into. It was about personality, lifestyle, and tolerance for further training. I saw that […]

On this week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast, I am previewing the NCEA Convention April 23-25. First, Matt Russell gives an overview of the convention. Matt is the Chief Development Officer and previews the convention in Chicago and gives an overview of the ins and the outs of the convention. It promises to be one of the […]

Fresh off of Catholic Schools Week, we should all be feeling great about our schools. Before that great feeling wears off, remember that Catholic Schools can tend to become isolating. We all subscribe to a certain degree to the principle of subsidiarity—meaning that as many decisions should be made at the local level. We all […]

On this week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast, I have a great podcast with three great leaders in Catholic schools. First my old friend Kent Hickey, the current president of Seattle Prep, discusses lessons learned from the Amanda Knox trial. In his first year as president, Amanda Knox was arrested for an international murder which became […]

If you don’t go to somebody’s funeral, they won’t go to yours. – Yogi Berra Robert Putnam used the above quote to illustrate his point about the importance of reciprocal social connections and the loss of community in Bowling Alone, his 2001 work on the loss of community in America and the need to re-establish […]

Episode 144 of the Catholic School Matters Radio Hour spotlights School Choice. I begin the podcast with a short conversation with John Schoenig, the Senior Director of School Policy and Teacher Formation for ACE at Notre Dame. He shares information about the Reform Leaders Summit (and there is still time to get in your application). […]

In honor of National School Choice Week, I have a special issue of Catholic School Matters.  We are in support of School Choice in order to give more students opportunities to attend excellent schools—especially poor and disadvantaged students.  Catholic Education Partners published an article describing their efforts to support School Choice in Catholic education. This […]