ACE Advocates News

For the second year in a row, the Christmas Card fundraiser sponsored by New Jersey ACE Advocates on behalf of their partner school raised over $1000.

Megan Watkins, chair of the New Jersey region, reports that Sacred Heart School in Jersey City, NJ, elected to put this year's revenues twoard a variety of small "wish-list" purchases.  She adds, "They were thrilled!"

On December 19^th, members of the Philadelphia Advocates for Catholic Education (PHACE) came together for an Advent prayer service with the ACESJU community.

As Flannery O'Connor, an ACE 13 graduate and chair of PHACE affirms, "PHACE has made a commitment to support these first-year teachers in their Alliance for Catholic Education journey."  Catholic education supporters in the city are excited to have this new program working, as stated on the program's website, to "revitalize and preserve quality, Catholic education in the region."

Decades of research affirm the positive, life-altering effects that Catholics schools confer on those who learn and grow spiritually and intellectually in their “privileged environment.” And yet, many of these precious national resources face mounting financial challenges, risk loss of their iconic Catholic identity, and more.

We could talk here about how many of these uniquely effective institutions, facing exceptional odds, are fragile and are at risk of closure. We could emphasize the fact that without Catholic schools, entire generations of children – especially children in our urban cities – will lose the only real opportunity they may have to earn a quality, transformative education.