ACE Advocates News

As a product of Catholic schools, Caitlin Wrend (3rd from right, above) was drawn to the mission of ACE when she applied to the ACE Teaching Fellows (STT) program. "I wanted to work to make the gift of a Catholic education a reality for all children," she says, and become "part of this group that is wholeheartedly dedicated to the mission of strengthening Catholic schools."

Now in Tucson at San Xavier Mission School, Caitlin has one semester of 3rd grade teaching under her belt. Already she is aware of how the ACE mission applies in areas large and small. "This experience has opened my eyes to the many challenges our education system is facing today," she tells us. At the same time, it has narrowed her focus to the children. "It really is all about the kids," Caitlin says.

The "17 smiling faces" that greet her every morning remind her of the beacon of hope a Catholic school can be. And no matter the teaching hurdles she may cross on a given day, it's the students' "little ah-ha moments that make it all worthwhile!"

Some may wonder how soon young STT teachers know they're making a difference, especially because the job can be, as Caitlin says, "daunting and overwhelming." But Caitlin tells of a day in October when she saw that her instruction was taking hold. "My mom came to visit my classroom, and while she was reading with one of my students, my mom misunderstood something that had happened on the previous page. My student looked up at her and patiently said, 'Mrs. Wrend, you need to back up and re-read.' I realized that my students really are learning and using the strategies I am teaching them."

Click here to learn more about this program that brings hopes to schools, students, and teachers alike.

Put to music, the genealogy of Jesus, as it's found in Matthew's Gospel, takes about 2 minutes to sing. The list--3 sets of 14 generations each--includes the names of thieves (Jacob, who stole his brother's birthright) and murderers (David, who stole Uriah's wife and then had him killed), foreigners (Rahab and Ruth), and even a prostitute (Rahab again). In his book on Advent, Father Raymond Brown suggests why: Matthew's genealogy reflects the essential theology of Christianity: salvation by grace.

Of this, Gail Godwin writes, "Matthew's genealogy is showing us how the story of Jesus Christ contained--and would continue to contain--the flawed and inflicted and insulted, the cunning and the weak-willed and the misunderstood. His is an equal opportunity ministry for crooks and saints..."

"And this, of course," Godwin continues, "is where the message settles directly upon us...Isn't this a pretty hopeful testament to the likelihood that God is using us, with our individual flaws and gifts, in all manner of peculiar and unexpected ways? Who of us can say we're not in the process of being used right now, to fulfill some purpose whose grace and goodness would boggle our imagination if we could even begin to get our minds around it?" (Paraphrased from Watch for the LIght, p. 159.)

Listen to the song that brings this genealogy to life.

For Greg Rustico (pictured with his community, bottom-left), service was the draw to join ACE Teaching Fellows. "Jesus' message in the Gospel clearly commands us to think first of others," he says. "I felt that I could most effectively serve by being a teacher."

Now, after a semester on the job, he adds that teaching is unique as a type of service. "Teaching requires patience," he says. "The results aren't immediately apparent like other forms of service." Thus, Greg has to remind himself now and again that he is making a difference, whether or not he can see it.

His ACE community "of 8 awesome people" in Brownsville, Texas helps him in that regard. So, too, does the recognition that the impact of his service reaches beyond the middle school social studies and language arts he teaches. "I sense that many of my students, especially the boys, are starting to look up to me," he says. "I hope that I can be a strong role model for them."

Click here to learn more about the ACE Teaching Fellows program.

The Dallas and Austin ACE Advocates invite you to join them this February for a regional retreat at Balcones Springs, a retreat center located an hour outside of Austin.This weekend of reflection and prayer will take place from Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 19, and welcomes all who love Catholic schools.

Spend your Presidents' Day weekend reconnecting with friends, resting in this peaceful and much-loved site of ACE Teaching Fellows's annual December Retreat, and being reinvigorated to continue the mission of ACE Advocates. Fr. Lou and other members of the ACE staff look forward to spending the weekend with you!

Register now!  Or, if you have any questions, contact Elizabeth Stewart at .

Turmoil besetting the Catholic Church in Ireland has deepened the challenges facing the country's Catholic schools, and ACE has been working with leading Irish educators to respond to these challenges.

ACE, which has had various involvements in Ireland from the late 1990s, has increased its activity in Ireland since 2006 with a vibrant ACE Advocates community and the hosting of several conferences in Ireland and at Notre Dame for high level educational leaders from the primary and secondary sector.

ACE also recruits and selects two Irish teachers to participate in the ACE Teaching Fellows program each year. The upcoming 2012 visit by Notre Dame to Ireland provides ACE with an excellent opportunity to deepen our mission in Ireland.

The ACE Ireland mission, which has been set by Irish educators themselves, has three basic goals, says Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., co-founder of ACE and a leader in ACE's work in Ireland.

"The goals are to develop future leaders for the schools, to support the faith life of teachers, and to build partnerships between educators in Ireland and the United States," says Father Sean.

Those goals address concerns about the Catholic identity embodied in Ireland's Catholic schools at a time when the Church there is reeling from a clergy sexual abuse scandal and rapid declines in regular church attendance.