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A homecoming of sorts for Rev. Joseph Corpora, C.S.C., director of university-school partnerships in Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education, was captured on Feb. 1 by The Catholic Sun in the Diocese of Phoenix. The story offered a glimpse of the priest's early instincts for what has become the Catholic School Advantage campaign.

The people of St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, Ariz., welcomed Father Joe as the guest of honor at their annual "Reach for the Stars Dinner"--a fund-raiser for students in the parish school that he founded and led there starting in 1992.

His determination to open a school in one of the diocese's poorest parishes, with the goal of giving the area's Hispanic children access to the benefits of a Catholic school education, has borne enduring fruit--and lessons to emulate. He is director of ACE's campaign to increase Latino enrollments in Catholic schools around the country.

The Year of Faith is a celebration of our calling to follow Christ. We are called to come to know Jesus in our commitments as members of the ACE community. I hope our faith journey is helping us discover Jesus in the ordinary things that we do as teachers and leaders in Catholic schools and as advocates for Catholic education.

You know how some people read the end of a book before they start reading it from the beginning. This makes me think of Jesus’ disciples when they discovered that He was raised from the dead. That leads me to a proposal I’ll make for living Lent this year.

Let us begin by reading Luke 24: 13–35.

This is a great Easter reading. Two of the disciples meet the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus, a town about seven miles from Jerusalem. They are walking along and meet a stranger who is the Risen Lord. They are not able to recognize him, but they discuss all that has been going on with Jesus, whom they had hoped would be the one to redeem Israel. They share a meal with this person and discover in the breaking of bread that this is Jesus. They later say to each other that their hearts were burning within them as Jesus spoke to them.

Here is something to consider. There is nothing more ordinary than sharing a meal with friends. When I think about meals, I think of the words of a priest who used to tell us this: “A meal is a social gathering at which food happens to be present.”

I like this because I know that some of the best moments occur when I am gathered with friends to share a meal. ACE communities come together at the end of a day for dinner. But it is more than the meal that happens. The time of preparation can be special. There is conversation, laughter, and sharing stories while someone is cooking and others gather in the kitchen to help or just be together. I see meals beginning with the time of preparation and extending to the actual praying together and then enjoying what is being served.

There are two important discoveries that can happen in the breaking of bread by a small community of teachers. The first discovery is the friendship, love, and support that the community gives to each other. Stories are told, and people laugh and delight in being together. The second discovery—a really important thing that happens—is to find that it is Christ who is in the midst of the food, stories and enjoyment of being together.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 13. I pray that all of us in the ACE movement will discover that, when we come together for a meal, it is time to look for Christ in the midst of the people we are with. I cannot think of a better way to build community than to see that our hearts are on fire with the love of Christ. If we notice Christ in our midst at a meal, we will see Christ in our students and school community.

Let us pray that we will find Christ during this Lent in the ordinary events of our lives.

Danny Jackson has a message for anyone considering the ACE Teaching Fellows program: "Anyone who wants to truly make a difference, anyone who is passionate about helping others, anyone who wants to see faces of young people light up because you've just helped them understand a concept they never would have otherwise understood, anybody who wants to work hard with the satisfaction of knowing that their hard work is making a great impact, anybody who wants to be a role model should join ACE. Words cannot describe the impact that you can make as a positive role model. If you're willing to work hard, give it a shot."

This fifth grade teacher in South Central Los Angeles explains what drew him to the program and, more generally, to Catholic schools. "They are dedicated to giving all students the chance for a great education... Kids should be given every chance to have dedicated, loving teachers, regardless of their socioeconomic status or zip code."

Now one semester into the experience, Danny has lived that mission and continues to be inspired by it. As an example, he tells the story of a quiet and hard-working student in his class at his K-8 school "where kids truly feel safe in an otherwise tough neighborhood." At his first parent teacher conference, the mother of that quiet and hard worker came in.

After hearing assurances about her daughter's progress, Danny recounts that the mother said something he will never forget. "She said that her daughter comes home every single day and talks about how she is going to college one day. 'Mr. Jackson talks about it so much,' the mother said, quoting her daughter, 'and says that we can all go there. I can go, too.'"

Danny continues, "Some days I wonder whether or not I'm making an impact. Stories like this throw all doubts out the window. Whether or not she remembers how to properly identify articles in a sentence or all fifty state capitals is irrelevant. That girl has been inspired to change her life forever and go to college. By the way, she is ten years old. How's that for inspiration? These kids are incredible."

To learn more about ACE Teaching Fellows, click here.

A spirited exchange of learning between fourth graders at the Taylor Elementary School in Foxborough, MA, and seventh graders at Christ the King Catholic School in Oklahoma City, OK, came alive recently thanks to digital technology—Skype for connecting, an iPad for viewing, and Facebook networking between two friends who hatched the plan.

But this event also was powered by a more traditional set of connections—the ability of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) to form friendships and shape career paths that transcend not only distance, but also time. The event symbolized enduring ties between Erin Bergin Earnst, who graduated from ACE teaching in 1998, and Brittany Riesenberg, who drew inspiration from ACE teachers like Erin as a grade-school student. Brittany graduated last year from ACE's Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program (RLP).

"I'm a second-generation ACEr," says Brittany, who now teaches middle school religion at Christ the King. That's the Oklahoma school where Erin taught as part of the ACE 3 cohort of volunteers, about 15 years ago.

Erin stayed in teaching for a time after her ACE formation and then became a professional development consultant, working closely with teachers in areas like educational technology and social media. Now she works for an education non-profit in Massachusetts. Erin and her husband, Collin, have a son in second grade and a daughter in fourth grade—the grade she used to teach when she was an ACE teacher in Oklahoma City.

A few years ago, recalling her Oklahoma City days fondly, Erin started communicating with the ACE teachers—and some former ACE students—in that town. Brittany became one of her contacts through ACE's Facebook network because she came to teach at Christ the King and enrolled in the Remick Leadership Program. She had been feeling a gravitational pull toward the field of education and toward Notre Dame since childhood.

"I was in middle school at Christ the King when Erin was teaching fourth grade. I got to know her, and I had other ACErs as teachers in grade school and high school," explains Brittany. "I saw their love for learning and the evidence that their faith was important to them. They inspired me to be a teacher."

Brittany aspires to leadership roles in Catholic education, but right now she's enjoying teaching religion and anticipates using her leadership skills in school athletics programs within the Oklahoma City Archdiocese. During her M.A. studies in the RLP 9 cohort, her action research project focused on grade-school coaching, and she earned certification to conduct workshops as part of ACE's Play Like a Champion Today program.

For her part, Erin was happy to be back in contact with Brittany. "I remembered her as an amazing student with a great volunteer spirit," she says. When school resumed in January this year, Erin's daughter's class was studying U.S. geography and was about to study the Southwest.

Erin immediately thought of Oklahoma City—how good it would be for her daughter (and the whole class) to connect to the place where she had taught, and how a partnership with Brittany's class might allow students in the two cities to see and hear each other via Skype.

When Brittany agreed on Facebook, Erin approached her daughter's teacher with the idea. That teacher also embraced the attempt to link up Foxborough and Oklahoma City. Erin came to class on Jan. 10 with her iPad, ready to use Skype. Brittany had worked with her technology-coordinator colleague to enable Skyping at her school.

The students in both schools enjoyed a lively conversation, with the fourth graders asking the older kids questions like, "Do you have tornados?" and "Do you have Pizza Huts in Oklahoma?" Erin says of her daughter's class, "It made what they were studying come alive."

Students of today benefited from student-teacher relationships, commitments to education, and varied expressions of those commitments that had been forged years ago in ACE—still evolving, still innovating. Students in Oklahoma and Foxborough may continue to benefit as both schools consider possible Skype connections in the future.

For Brittany, the connection to ND that she made early on as a student will continue to have a variety of positive effects. "I got engaged at the Notre Dame-Oklahoma football game this season," she points out.

Erin and Brittany's connection is a great example of how technology has helped to strengthen the power of the ACE network and support the unique calling to serve through education, says Erin. "It's a credit to the lasting relationships that have been built through the ACE programs. There's an enduring legacy from the ACE experience."

Photo: Erin Bergin Earnst and her iPad, tapping into technology and enduring ACE connections, helped students in Erin's daughter's fourth grade class learn along with a far-away RLP grad's seventh graders.

The ACE Collaborative for Academic Excellence and its new partnership with the Diocese of Savannah will promote a fresh look at curriculum in the diocesan schools and help standardize learning objectives, The Augusta Chronicle reported on Jan. 30, 2013.

ACE's unit focused on encouraging schools and faculties to work together, sharing ideas on curriculum improvements, "has helped several dioceses across the nation strengthen instruction in Catholic schools," said the newspaper. The ACE Collaborative, led by ACE Teaching Fellows senior director Dr. Tom Doyle, began its work in southern Georgia last summer.

Separately, The Texas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Dallas, has published a feature article describing the life and work of teachers from ACE Teaching Fellows who reside in the diocese and serve Catholic schools in the area. The article was published late last year, but excerpts have just been posted online.

Reporter Cathy Harasta, in one part of the article, quoted Kate Dailey, president of Dallas's Bishop Dunne Catholic School, as she described ACE teachers: "They are mission-driven, enthusiastic, positive, and immersed in that great Catholic tradition of educating the whole person for the common good, all the while integrating 21st century skills."