Category: Catholic School Matters

Dr. Gail Donahue, Professor at Notre Dame University (Maryland), submitted this guest blog on Educating to Fraternal Humanism as part of the Church Documents PLC. Do I have time to read a Church document and reflect on it? Not usually, but having listened to Catholic School Matters podcast series on Church documents, I was intrigued […]

We can all get a little desensitized to news about closing Catholic schools. However, the announcement in January that the Jubilee Schools would be closing after the 2018-19 year deserves special recognition.  First, we need to recognize how significant the Jubilee Schools were to Catholic urban education as well as to consortium models.  I spoke […]

Jim Collins (Good to Great) is often quoted about the bus, getting people on the bus, driving the bus, etc.  But people often don’t talk about the hedgehog concept.  Catholic schools do one thing really well—build community.  In a wide variety of Church documents, the Church calls us to build faith communities and communion within […]

Nicole Garnett, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame and Senior Policy Advisor, Alliance for Catholic Education, submitted this guest blog on Educating to Fraternal Humanism as part of the Church Documents PLC. In their recent letter, the leaders of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi and Archbishop Angelo […]

One of my professional goals for this year was to read the Church documents on education.  I started this project with a list of 10 Church documents on education and included a link to the document, a podcast conversation with another thought leader, a blog or two from another reader, and links to articles about […]

When I became principal of Catholic High in New Iberia in 2006, I was aware that the school played a role in the book Dead Man Walking (published in 1993) by Sr. Helen Prejean. I found out that the couple murdered were David LeBlanc, a senior at Catholic High Class of 1978, and Loretta Bourque, a student […]

I opened my phone and listened to my podcast conversation with Fr. Gene Merz, SJ.  Fr. Gene is an old friend and mentor and it was so great to hear his voice reminding me about how to be holy—by reflecting on my life, by spending time in prayer, and by appreciating the grace in my […]

Happy Easter!  I enjoyed a couple of weeks break from curating and am back for a final 5-week push to the end of the school year. (Sounds like one of your teachers, right?) Last week, Pope Francis released Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad).  It’s a great document and I encourage you to put […]

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation of Catholic Education, joins Dr. Tim Uhl and Dr. Tom Burnford, President/CEO of NCEA, on the Catholic School Matters podcast from the NCEA’s annual Convention & Expo in Cincinnati.  He discusses the purpose of the Congregation for Catholic Education and his background and contributions to Catholic […]

  We celebrated Passion (Palm) Sunday as we turn our attention to the crucifixion and resurrection.  It is often said that Catholics have a sacramental (or as David Tracy coins The Analogical Imagination) imagination.  In other words, they can see deeper meaning in life’s events.  Last month, St. Francis Catholic School in Billings was challenged […]