Featured Story

An award presented this week to ACE founder Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., is sparking new awareness of an ongoing legacy that goes beyond the remarkable achievements and aspirations of one man. This narrative of perseverance toward a brighter future for kids is described well in the Nov. 5 New York Post, in a commentary titled “Catholic Schools Work for Kids.”

Distinguished journalist and author Naomi Schaefer Riley outlines the ways in which Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), during its first 20 years of service, has worked with schools in some 75 dioceses to bring hope to low-income, minority children.

Her commentary ties together three things for which ACE is deeply grateful: this expanding series of providential partnerships; Notre Dame’s commitment to educational excellence for all children, as highlighted by its Fighting for Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour; and Father Scully’s Nov.5 acceptance of the Manhattan Institute’s William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship.

Riley quoted Timothy Cardinal Dolan: “Fr. Timothy Scully — and the work that he has done in founding the Alliance for Catholic Education — is one of the reasons why I believe Catholic education has a bright future in this country.”

Photo: Father Scully accepts prize from Howard Husock, Manhattan Institute vice president of policy research and director of its social entrepreneurship initiative. (Photograph copyright Elsa Ruiz)

DALLAS (Oct. 3, 2013) -- This morning, the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, and the George W. Bush Institute will host a timely conversation on the unique and integral role that faith-based K-12 schools play in urban settings.

This event, titled “Sacred Spaces: Faith Based Schools and American Cities,” will take place at the George W. Bush Institute on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

The event brings together policy makers, philanthropists, school leaders, and academics for an honest and action-oriented conversation on what faith-based schools mean to the development and revitalization of many of our cities.

Speakers will include George W. Bush Presidential Center President Margaret Spellings, former Washington DC Mayor Anthony Williams, former St. Petersburg, Florida Mayor Rick Baker, Boston University’s Charles Glenn, and Notre Dame’s Rev. Timothy R. Scully, CSC.

“At a time when the dialogue about K-12 education often seems unnecessarily polarized and stultifying, this is an opportunity for leaders across the political and ideological spectrum to re-imagine what faith-based schools can mean to our cities," said Rev. Timothy R. Scully, CSC, ACE’s founder and Director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI).

“Across the country, we see so much evidence that faith based schools are indispensable instruments of both intellectual formation and social transformation. These schools truly are sacred places serving a valuable civic purpose, and we owe it to our communities and our children to do whatever it takes to support their revitalization.”

“Many faith-based schools are national treasures, particularly those that are producing meaningful results in the inner city with disadvantaged students,” said Secretary Margaret Spellings, President of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. “At a time when more than three-fourths of the fastest-growing jobs require at least a high school diploma, we need every school in America to have success rates like many of our urban faith-based schools.”

The invitation-only event will be webcast live, beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT, at www.bushcenter.org/live.

The University of Notre Dame’s involvement in the event marks the kickoff of the Fighting for Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour, a cross country effort to raise awareness for the profound impact that K-12 schools have on the future of our children’s lives, and to celebrate the unique role that Catholic schools play in nurturing the soul of our nation. The branded bus, scheduled to visit nearly 50 cities over the next nine months, begins the tour in Dallas, with visits to local schools on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4. For more information, visit http://ace.nd.edu/20.

###

About the Alliance for Catholic Education

The University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education impacts the lives of several hundred thousand children nationwide by preparing highly talented teachers, principals and school leaders, while offering an array of professional services for US Catholic Schools—the world's largest private school system. ACE works in partnership with hundreds of schools to ensure that the students in their communities, many of them from low-income families in high poverty communities, have access to a high-quality education.

About the George W. Bush Institute: 

The George W. Bush Institute advances freedom through education reform, global health, human freedom and economic growth. In all its programming, the Institute integrates initiatives that empower women and military service personnel. The Bush Institute is the policy arm of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which includes the Presidential library and museum, located on the campus of SMU in Dallas.

For more information, please visit www.bushcenter.org, Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheBushCenter) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/TheBushCenter).

This story, like the event it describes, is the result of a partnership expressing shared concern for the availability of an excellent education for all children.

This week, 48 students from Catholic schools in Los Angeles, partnering with the Catholic School Advantage Campaign (CSA), an initiative of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), will participate in a community forum on Hispanic education at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The forum kicks off Univisión’s third annual Education Week and highlights the television network’s national campaign, ¡Es El Momento! (The Time is Now), aimed at improving academic achievement among Latino students in K-12 schools.

Twelve Catholic schools will be represented at the forum—ten elementary schools that work directly with the CSA campaign’s field consultant in Los Angeles, Sylvia Armas-Abad, and two East L.A. Catholic high schools.

In addition, the forum will give ten of these students the opportunity to speak on behalf of their schools and ask questions of the panelists whose focus will be on how to increase Latino educational attainment, assist with college financing, and pursue pathways to higher education.

A one-hour webcast, in English, will be streamed live from the community forum on Friday, Oct. 4, at 3:00 p.m. EDT (12:00 p.m. PDT). The entire town hall, conducted predominately in Spanish, will be aired on local Univisión television stations around the country on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 4:00 p.m. EDT on the program El Futuro Es Hoy.

Univisión Communications, a leading media company serving Hispanic America, launched the national education initiative, ¡Es El Momento!, in 2010, with special focus on increasing high school graduation rates, college readiness and completion, and the engagement of both Hispanic parents and the broader community in these efforts. The ¡Es El Momento! campaign is conducted in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and various other community, education, and civil rights organizations from around the country.

Six students from Salesian High School and six students from Sacred Heart High School, schools in East L.A. that draw graduates from schools with partnerships in ACE’s Catholic School Advantage campaign, took part in one of the roundtable discussions and will represent Catholic schools in the Oct. 5 program.

Sylvia Armas-Abad, who, in addition to serving as the CSA campaign’s field consultant in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is also a native of East L.A. and a product of K-12 Catholic education, has been instrumental in preparing these students for the opportunity to speak in both the forum and the roundtable discussion. For the past 20 years, Sylvia has dedicated her work to advocating for the educational needs of Latino students, especially in the inner-city. In her role with the campaign, she works with a cohort of Catholic elementary schools to help them implement new and innovative recruitment and marketing strategies and better respond to the needs of the Latino community.

In conjunction with the events surrounding ¡Es El Momento! and Education Week, Univisión will air a segment focusing specifically on Catholic schools in Los Angeles on the network news program, Aquí y Ahora, Sunday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 p.m. EDT. The segment will feature interviews with Sylvia Armas-Abad and Archbishop José Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, among other supporters of increased access to Catholic schools for Latino children.

“Working with both our Catholic high school and Catholic elementary students these last few weeks in preparation for the Univision Town Hall meeting has been a beautiful reminder of the importance and urgency of the Catholic School Advantage campaign,” said Armas-Abad. “This experience really deepens my commitment to share the gift of Catholic schools with the Latino community and continue to break down the barriers that keep them from enrolling their children in our schools.”

Photo: On Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 6 young men from Salesian High School and 5 young women from Sacred Heart High School participated in a roundtable discussion, with Maria Hurtado from Univision (pictured here with the students), focused on issues that impact college readiness for Latino students. Footage from this taped roundtable will be featured during the Town Hall telecast on Univision on Saturday, October 5, 2013.

The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) is constantly on the go especially during June and July at the University of Notre Dame.  These so-called "ACE Summers" are looked back upon with fond memories for teachers, principals, and Catholic school supporters. What makes these brief weeks so special? The following pictures will tell the tale as ACE celebrates its first 20 years.

After a year of teaching at locations all over the country, some people haven’t seen their friends in many months. This joyful scene is recreated dozens of times as ACErs also meet new community members for the first time.

---

Paired walks and retreats like Midsummer Retreat offer opportunities for people to really get to know each other and reflect on their spiritual growth.

---

The ACE Advocates sponsor an annual retreat for the graduating class on the shores of Lake Michigan. This is a prime opportunity to celebrate two wonderful years and reflect on moving forward.

---

The Commencement ceremony is very small and personal for the ACE family. Students from the Remick Leadership program and the M. Ed. Program formally walk across the stage and receive their diplomas.

---

Father Sean McGraw, the other co-founder of ACE blesses the candles of members of the English as a New Language (ENL) 8 cohort at the Grotto. The ENL program provides training so teachers can get certified in English as a Second Language or its equivalent with two weeks of class at Notre Dame and online classes for a year.

---

The annual Powderpuff game between first and second years is a sight to behold. Most ACE activities begin with prayer and some motivation.

---

Out on the field, the game can get intense but it’s an opportunity for the cohorts to bond together.

---

ACE teachers do plenty of work and collaborate in group projects throughout the summer.

---

Run entirely by ACE teachers, ACEStore has a three on three community bracket and a five on five component.

---

The ACE staff fields a team each year with Father Sean McGraw looking to find an opening while spectators look on.

---

The ACE talent show held at the end of each summer shows individuals in a new light. Whether it’s the ukulele, Muppet voices, film editing or incredible voices, the audience gets blown away.

---

ACE Teachers hit the ground running with classes in everything from technology to classroom management and how to teach content. First year teachers get a week on campus before the veterans return to build their community.

---

This is the first year that an ACE in Chile (ChACE) reunion dinner was held. Seven teachers will be sent for 18 months to Santiago, Chile where they will teach English at schools supported by the Congregation of the Holy Cross. This is the 13th year for the program and this photographer is excited about the adventures to be had.

---

Father Lou DelFra is a shining example of devoted faculty and staff members who support the program. His homilies have given many people the little boost they need.

---

New ACE teachers experience many emotions as they listen to a whirlwind of speakers and learn from a myriad of sources. They are not alone in their journey with many levels of support around them.

---

Dr. Susie Beesley is just one of countless teachers inspiring ACErs in how to treat their students and how to best help them realize their true potential. Catholic schools educate the whole child by reaching their mind, body and brain.

---

Each summer, the new ACE shirt is revealed. The color is a closely guarded secret. This year’s revelation had a twist with the ACE Bus also being unveiled for the national Fighting for our Children’s Future bus tour. Father Tim Scully, one of the co-founders of ACE is very approachable and takes time to check on ACErs.

---

Communities take a photo in the new shirt with some surprising results. After taking a beautiful picture of the ACE Mobile community in St. Mary’s Lake, the group launched into an impromptu water fight. Though wet, everyone’s had a great time.

---

The Alliance for Catholic Education also hosts several conferences during the summer bringing in speakers and educators from across the country. In this Play Like a Champion conference, coaches and administrators are shown the importance of good sportsmanship.

Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis presided at the Alliance for Catholic Education’s (ACE) Missioning Mass on July 26, invoking blessings for 260 teachers and leaders at the University of Notre Dame as they fan out around the country to serve students in Catholic schools.

“May their faith be enlivened and deepened as they bear witness to the Gospel,” Archbishop Tobin prayed during the ceremony that sent forth 173 recent college graduates enrolled in the ACE Teaching Fellows program and 48 aspiring Catholic school principals in ACE’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program.

The Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart also missioned 39 teachers in ACE’s English as a New Language program, who will help diverse student bodies overcome language barriers.

Missioning caps the summertime tradition when an array of graduate-level courses and topical conferences bring to campus hundreds of people dedicated to ACE’s goal to sustain, strengthen, and transform Catholic schools.

Archbishop Tobin said in his homily that he shares ACE’s commitment to keep Catholic schools operating as “an instrument of evangelization.” He urged the educators to “welcome in Jesus Christ” as they go forth to their classrooms, heeding and incorporating the Word of God in their work. “Then, brothers and sisters,” he said, “we have something to give.”

He blessed medals depicting Christ the Teacher and crosses depicting Jesus washing disciples’ feet and accompanying children of the world. ACE founder Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., joined other concelebrants and ACE program leaders in distributing the icons to educators who soon would travel to numerous partner dioceses.

ACE will celebrate its 20^th anniversary during the 2013-2014 academic year. Father Scully and Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., founded the Alliance for Catholic Education in 1993 to form college graduates as teachers for under-resourced Catholic schools, especially those serving disadvantaged children. That program, now ACE Teaching Fellows, became a springboard for other initiatives of formation and service.

Photos by University Photographer Barbara Johnston