News

Will the proposed changes to Indiana’s voucher program prompt the expansion of educational options for at-risk children? Given the gap between the per-pupil funding provided to Indiana charter schools and the maximum scholarship amount available to K-8 children through the private school voucher, it may be difficult to encourage growth in the private school sector, according to John Schoenig, director of the Program for K-12 Educational Access at the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). Schoenig, who analyzes the effects of school choice laws around the country, pointed out that the proposed increase in the K-8 voucher amount could provide incentives for both charter school and private school growth.

Schoenig was interviewed in a story aired Feb. 28 on National Public Radio stations in Indiana as part of the StateImpact/NPR initiative. The story pointed out that the vouchers have helped fill 9,100 open seats in private schools, but it is unclear whether the vouchers would generate so much student demand that new schools would have to be built. Estimates indicated that private schools in the state had 20,000-24,000 seats waiting to be filled as of 2010. Legislators in the Indiana House have voted to increase the value of vouchers for K-8 students. The legislation awaits review by the Indiana Senate.

Dear ACE Advocates Community and Friends of ACE,

I am delighted to announce that one of the most relentless, effective, and joyful Advocates for Catholic education that we all know – Sarah Greene – has accepted the position as the new director of ACE Advocates! We have been so blessed in our movement with all of your gifts – the gifts of so many energetic, talented, inspiring, and zealous supporters of Catholic schools. We could not have a director of Advocates more in tune with, and more committed to, the mission about which all of us care so passionately!

As you know, Sarah has given no less than most of her recent life to the ACE mission! Placed as a member of ACE 13 at McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile, AL as a high school English teacher, Sarah taught freshmen and seniors in one of ACE Teaching Fellows's original dioceses. For the past five years, Sarah has served on the ACE Teaching Fellows pastoral staff, supporting with incredible pedagogical and pastoral insight, and a ceaselessly encouraging personality, ACE teachers in Arizona, Washington DC, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. During these years, Sarah has also been a bedrock member of the South Bend Regional Network of ACE Advocates, where she has also served as communications chair and, this past year, as regional chair. Most importantly, through all of these positions, Sarah has brought a vibrant faith in Christ as the center of her life and the ACE mission, an untiring (and contagious!) hope in the future of Catholic schools, and an ultra-generous love for all her fellow disciples with whom she shares this ministry and mission.

So please join me in welcoming Sarah as she begins her new ministry as director of ACE Advocates!

May God continue the works of freedom and salvation in each of our lives through these Lenten days. Onward to the challenges of the Cross, and the triumphs of the Resurrection, as they are making themselves manifest in our lives!

Yours in ACE,

Fr. Lou DelFra, CSC
Director of Pastoral Life

Click here to read Sarah's greeting to ACE Advocates.

ACE teachers and other friends of Catholic schools raced in the 2013 ACE Marathon in Jacksonville, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 17. These enthusiastic participants thereby sustained what could be called a long-running tradition (since 2002) within Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education, always geared to raise money for under-resourced Catholic schools served by ACE teachers. This year, ACE runners in the annual Jacksonville Marathon sought financial backing that went to support two Catholic elementary schools, called The Guardian Schools, in Jacksonville. Participants in the day’s events also honored Pat Tierney, retired superintendent of schools for the Diocese of St. Augustine, Fla., with an award for her many years of service to Catholic education. More information at http://www.acemarathon.org/.

The hopefulness and community-building that undergird Catholic schools’ outreach efforts to Latino students were captured in a story in the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section on Feb. 28.

Spotlighting ACE’s Catholic School Advantage campaign “at the forefront” of those outreach efforts, the story focused on grass-roots situations in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles—such as the aspirations that have prompted Martha Rodriguez to send her children to Catholic school and the desire to serve low-income students at schools like St. Teresa of Avila.

Helping to give context to these situations was Sylvia Armas-Abad, the ACE campaign’s field consultant in the Los Angeles area. Her own outreach efforts among the Latino community (which represents such a growing, vibrant part of the Catholic population) “include canvassing neighborhoods surrounding parish schools and forming parent volunteer groups called madrinas (Spanish for godmother) at schools around the city,” wrote Religion News Service correspondent Aaron Schrank in the “On Faith” article.

Popes do not often have high levels of engagement with the world of K-12 Catholic schooling, but Benedict XVI will be long remembered and often quoted by Catholic educators in the United States.

“How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news” (Romans 10:15). Saint Paul wrote those words to Christians in Rome, but it was Pope Benedict XVI who spoke them to a group of Catholic educators. The occasion was a pastoral visit to the United States in April 2008.The venue was a conference hall at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

With this biblical phrase first formulated by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 52:27) and then quoted by Saint Paul, Pope Benedict praised the dedication and commitment of Catholic educational leaders, including teachers, principals, diocesan superintendents, religious educators, university presidents, and professors.

It was a grand and blessed moment for all involved in the ministry of Catholic education, for such high praise does not often come from such a high office.

His Holiness offered additional words of support and encouragement to vowed religious women and men, urging them to stay committed to educational ministries and especially not to abandon Catholic schools, which he characterized as “an outstanding apostolate of hope.”

Such a resounding endorsement from the Pope himself served as a great inspiration.

Citing the sacrifices made by countless vowed religious women and the religious communities and congregations they founded to serve in Catholic schools, Benedict XVI called for a renewed sense of sacrifice in our day in order to meet the material, intellectual, and spiritual needs of millions of students. Addressing the financial challenges of many Catholic schools today, Benedict spoke forcefully about the future and a way forward:

“[Catholic schools] provide a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.”

U.S. Catholic educators, especially those serving in K-12 Catholic schools, will never forget the Pope’s encouraging words and pastoral visit.

Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, Ph.D., is senior director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program in the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education. A priest of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, Father Nuzzi is a nationally recognized author and speaker on the Catholic school system in the United States.

The remarks of Pope Benedict XVI about Catholic schools in April 2008 contributed inspiration--and the title--for the 2009 report of the Notre Dame Task Force on the Participation of Latino Children and Families in Catholic Schools. See the report, titled To Nurture the Soul of a Nation: Latino Families, Catholic Schools, and Educational Opportunity, which gave rise to the Alliance for Catholic Education's "Catholic School Advantage" campaign.