The Miracle in Memphis

Written by: Eric Prister

As the ACE bus pulled up to her house in Germantown, TN, Dr. Mary McDonald beamed. She came out to greet us wearing a blue and gold Notre Dame sweater covered in images of the Golden Dome, an outfit she said she saves only for special occasions.

Throughout the next ninety minutes with Dr. McDonald, over a lunch that included a rousing rendition of the Notre Dame Fight song with accompanying accordion and tambourine, it became clear just how full of love she was—love for Notre Dame and the ACE program, love for Catholic schools, and love for children.

When McDonald was appointed superintendent of the diocese of Memphis by Bishop Terry Steib in 1998, a position she held for the next 14 years, a once-thriving school district was down to 16 schools, with another five on the verge of closing. Rather than allow Catholic education to fade in Memphis, McDonald and Steib—with the help of an anonymous multi-million dollar donation from two local businessmen—began reopening schools that had closed. Called the “Miracle in Memphis,” these “Jubilee” Schools were opened to specifically serve under-resourced areas and low-income families.

Today, Jubilee schools are thriving in Memphis. These schools “combine the best of Catholic schooling from the past with current best practices to deliver a superior education. . . . Students not only get a quality education but are also formed spiritually and morally” (www.cdom.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=JS_Solution).

While most Jubilee schools only extend through sixth or eighth grade, the Jubilee scholarships extend through middle school and high school. Due in large part to the success of the Jubilee schools, the Memphis diocese now has 29 Catholic schools and record-high enrollment.

Closing schools were not the only problem facing Memphis, however.

“At that point [in 1998], we only had 15 Catholic schools in the diocese and only four percent of the population was Catholic,” McDonald said. “We recognized a great need, not only for teachers, but for Catholic teachers who were not only trained in teaching, but also steeped in their Catholic faith.”

Around that same time, McDonald heard about ACE from a current ACEr, and said she knew she had to find a way to bring ACE teachers to Memphis. The sixth ACE cohort was the first to send teachers to Memphis, and that class included Jim Rigg, now superintendent of the diocese of Cincinnati, and Tony DeSapio, president of Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle.

Six years later, as a part of the twelfth ACE cohort, Nick Green came to Memphis and began teaching at Memphis Catholic High School. Green, a 2012 national “Teacher of the Year” nominee, is now principal at Memphis Catholic, a school which sends nearly 100 percent of its students to college.

“ACE was an answer to a prayer,” McDonald said. “I was never sure what would happen with Catholic education in Memphis with so many schools closed. I prayed for guidance, and God guided me to ACE. They planted a seed, and that seed continues to grow, and our community has benefited so much from it. I would just like to say thank you to ACE, that they are still answering our prayers today.”

But even before ACE arrived, McDonald and Steib were working to strength, sustain, and transform the Catholic schools of the Memphis diocese, and their success—through the foundation of the Jubilee schools and their tireless efforts—are the true causes of the “Miracle in Memphis.”