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Adding to what had already amounted to the largest and most significant set of gifts to support the University of Notre Dame’s efforts to strengthen and transform Catholic K-12 education, Mary Ann and Jack Remick, of Rochester, Minnesota, have made an additional $10 million leadership gift to the University’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).

This most recent gift will more than double the endowment of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, the nation’s preeminent formation program to shape a generation of faith-filled and talented principals for America’s Catholic schools. The gift also ensures that ACE can attract the nation’s top talent to successfully engage the challenges that face contemporary Catholic schools, fully integrating executive management and instructional leadership, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel.

“This wonderfully generous gesture from Mary Ann and Jack adds to the already remarkable foundation that Notre Dame has built to sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “In thanking Mary Ann and Jack for this gift, I am deeply mindful of Pope Francis’ expression of gratitude to the University Trustees on our recent visit to Rome, for ‘the commitment which Notre Dame has shown over the years to supporting and strengthening Catholic elementary and secondary education throughout the United States.’ ”

“Transformational school leaders are world-builders, architects of the soul who bring to life for the members of their Catholic school communities a compelling vision of the core values and goals of a Catholic education,” said Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and founder of ACE. “Though the challenges faced by Catholic schools have changed rather dramatically in the current American context, the core values and goals remain ever the same: to invite our students to an encounter with the living person of Jesus Christ while at the same time engendering a deep love of learning.”

Jack Remick earned his bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame in 1959, and his support of the University began almost immediately after graduation. While at the same time engaged early in his career with IBM, Jack became a founding partner of the Fastenal Co., an exceptionally successful construction supply and services company based in Winona, Minnesota.

Jack currently serves as chair of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering Advisory Council. Among the many gifts he has made to his alma mater is Stinson-Remick Hall, the state-of-the-art engineering building near the entrance to Notre Dame’s campus.

Mary Ann Remick earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the College of Saint Teresa, whose campus is now part of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona. After a successful career in nursing, Mary Ann became increasingly involved in the Catholic schools in Rochester and ultimately joined the board of trustees of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in 2004. Combining her passion for quality education and increased access to under-served children, Mary Ann created an endowment that enabled the founding of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program in 2008.

She recently stated: “It has been a distinct privilege for Jack and me to share in the work of those in the Alliance for Catholic Education and to assist in the formation of leaders for Catholic schools throughout the country. In our view, there is nothing more essential to the survival and success of a Catholic school.”

Four years later, Mary Ann made possible a new home for the Alliance for Catholic Education, providing the resources for the renovation of the historic Institute for Educational Initiatives Building, including the very popular Remick Commons, at the heart of campus adjacent to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Grotto and the Main Building. To mark and celebrate the Remicks’ most recent gift, the University announced the renaming of this landmark Sorin-era building as “Visitation Hall,” in honor of the encounter between two women whereupon the church was born.

Jack and Mary Ann are the parents of five children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates.

The Alliance for Catholic Education has been serving under-served Catholic schools for the past 20 years in communities across the United States and abroad. Each year, the mission of ACE impacts the lives of several hundred thousand children by preparing high-talented, faith-filled teachers, principals and administrative leaders while offering an array of professional services to strengthen and transform Catholic schools. ACE works to ensure that children in these communities, many of them from low-income families in high-poverty areas, have access to the highest quality Catholic education. Mary Ann currently serves as a member of the ACE Advisory Board.

Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., Hackett Family Director of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, received a prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO) at a ceremony in New York on Saturday, May 10. He also provided the invocation at the event.

NECO presents the Medals of Honor every year to a group of American citizens who live a life dedicated to helping others; preserve and celebrate the traditions and values of their ancestry group; encourage tolerance and acceptance among ethnic, racial, and religious groups of the world; and share their gifts for the benefits of humanity, “proving themselves valuable citizens of the United States.” Past medalists include six U.S. Presidents, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders of industry, education, the arts, sports, and government. NECO honors those who make freedom, liberty, and compassion a part of their life's work. 

Father Scully was recognized for his exemplary service and commitment to Catholic schools through his founding of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at Notre Dame. Since its founding, ACE has prepared thousands of Catholic school teachers and leaders to serve as teachers and school leaders in predominantly under-resourced schools. ACE strengthens and transforms Catholic schools through an array of research-based programs, including the innovative Notre Dame ACE Academies which have closed the achievement gap for inner-city students. ACE's efforts also include building support for Catholic education at the national and local level. 

The Medal of Honor ceremony took place on Ellis Island, the iconic gateway through which 12 million immigrants passed during the first half of the 20th century in their pursuit of the American Dream. For more details: http://www.neco.org/medal-of-honor/

Photo:Father Scully is pitured with a member of the Joint Service Color Guard, who presented him with his Ellis Island Medal of Honor during the Saturday, May 10, ceremony. Courtesy National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations.

Contact: Bill Schmitt  / 574-631-3893

Last month, the Catholic School Advantage Campaign (CSA) released a monograph entitled Renewing Our Greatest and Best Inheritance: Our Historic Opportunity to Empower Latino Families through Catholic Schools. This informative booklet is available to the public and can be ordered or downloaded as a PDF.

Since the CSA Campaign was launched in 2010, it has become abundantly clear that the opportunity and challenge of increasing Latino participation in Catholic schools is among the top priorities in (arch)dioceses throughout the country. This document, the vision for which evolved out of recognition that episcopal and pastoral leaders possess a unique authority to articulate both the urgency and importance of this mission, synthesizes the insights of four cardinals, three archbishops, eleven bishops, and five pastors. Renewing Our Greatest and Best Inheritance focuses specifically on the integral role that bishops and pastors play in extending the Catholic school advantage to Latino families.

The insights offered by the bishops and pastors who contributed to this work are guided by three overarching themes:

1. We must convey and embrace the urgency – the data on sacramental participation, educational outcomes, and civic engagement all indicate a “demographic imperative” that the Church more effectively serve Latinos through K-12 Catholic schools.
2. We must celebrate the opportunity – empowering Latino families through our Catholic schools represents an exciting new chapter in the Catholic Church’s tradition of service to newly arrived people and communities.
3. We must provide authentic witness – our efforts to increase the participation of Latino families in Catholic schools are most effective when they are fully embodied by our pastoral and episcopal leadership, encountering the people of the emerging Church on a direct and personal level.

We are deeply grateful to each one of the bishops and pastors who so generously offered their experience and well-informed perspective on this historic opportunity facing the American Catholic Church today. Our hope is that this document will be most instructive as we forge a strategy to position Catholic schools as indispensable instruments of the New Evangelization and make them accessible to the Latino families who have so much to gain from them. There is so much at stake. May God continue to bless this work that he has entrusted to us.

Download the CSA Monograph

Order the CSA Monograph

The General Mills Foundation contributed a $40,000 grant to the Notre Dame ACE Academies of the Tampa Bay, Fla., area in support of nutrition and wellness programs for the students they serve. This grant is the latest example of corporate community partnerships to ensure educational excellence at the two ACE Academies, Sacred Heart School in Pinellas Park and St. Joseph School in Tampa. The grant was presented Feb. 19 by Shawn O’Grady, Senior Vice President of Sales at General Mills, and General Mills Sales Director, Michael O’Connell.

O’Grady and O’Connell presented the oversized check to school leaders and representatives of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), who were in town as part of Notre Dame’s Fighting for Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour. Christian Dallavis, ACE senior director for leadership programs, accepted the grant on behalf of the Notre Dame ACE Academies.

The contribution, one of many that the General Mills Foundation makes to communities that are home to its employees, strengthened the schools’ science programs as well as their health and wellness efforts. With the support of General Mills Foundation, the schools installed hydroponic learning gardens from local vendor Hydro Harvest Farms and made significant playground improvements at both schools.

O’Grady said General Mills wanted to encourage those gathered from the school community and the Tampa area. “At General Mills, we believe not only in nourishing the lives of people who enjoy our products, but we also want to be a part of your community,” he said. “You should all believe that you can do great things one day, because you can. And that’s why we’re here.”

On the days when the ACE bus visited Sacred Heart (Feb. 19) and St. Joseph (Feb. 20), a dozen volunteers from General Mills, clad in yellow General Mills shirts, graciously donated their time to install borders and lay hundreds of cubic yards of playground grade mulch around the newly installed playground equipment. This volunteer day also served as a kick off event for continued partnership between General Mills and Notre Dame ACE Academies.

The hydroponic learning gardens are an innovative and ecologically advantageous addition to the students’ hands-on experience with nutrition and wellness and they will be integrated into the schools’ science programs, with support from Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education. Eighth grade student leaders were invited to cut the ribbons on the gardens in a ceremony with General Mills employees during ACE’s National Bus Tour visit.

Notre Dame ACE Academies advancement coordinator Cristina Espino applauded the partnership between General Mills and Notre Dame, saying, “The teachers and leaders at St. Joseph and Sacred Heart are committed to the education of the whole child, and this contribution from the General Mills Foundation establishes new playgrounds and learning spaces where more children will learn, grow, and thrive.”

The General Mills Foundation is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year. The mission of the General Mills Foundation is to nourish communities.  Continuing its tradition of generous giving and global community support, General Mills contributed more than $150 million to charitable causes in fiscal year 2013.  General Mills invests in and collaborates with community organizations and programs that focus on alleviating hunger and advancing nutrition wellness.  In addition, 83 percent of U.S. employees volunteer.  

Notre Dame ACE Academies are an initiative of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education established to strengthen and sustain existing urban Catholic elementary schools, a comprehensive university-school partnership combining research-based insights with a game-changing, positive Catholic school culture to close the “achievement gap” that burdens so many disadvantaged students. Notre Dame ACE Academies seek to provide a Catholic education of the highest quality to as many children as possible, preparing students for college and heaven. Currently, there are five Notre Dame ACE Academies between the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Tucson and St. Petersburg.

Notre Dame representatives at the Sacred Heart School event presented a University of Notre Dame Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools to the Most Rev. Robert Lynch, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg.

Photo: Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facilities being added at Sacred Heart, one of the Notre Dame ACE Academies. Students, school leaders, and other members of the ACE and ACE Academies communities were present, along with leaders and volunteers from General Mills. Photo by Matt Cashore, University of Notre Dame.

William McGurn of the New York Post offers his view of what makes Catholic schools so necessary and successful.

Whether it's the 99 percent of Catholic school students who graduate or the fact that a Latino child is 2.5 times more likely to graduate from college if he or she has attended a Catholic high school, Catholic schools are coming through for children in a big way.

The full article by William McGurn can be found in the January 31, 2014 edition of the New York post entitled Catholic Schools' Secret: Love.