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The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) sent forth 272 Catholic school teachers and leaders to nearly 200 Catholic schools across the country in the annual Missioning Mass, capping two months of professional formation and spiritual renewal. The ceremony, held Friday, July 24, 2015, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, celebrated and blessed the next steps on the educators’ journeys to their respective schools and classrooms.

The Most Rev. Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., Bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, presided at the Mass, joining ACE’s co-founders, Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., and Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., in sending forth 187 participants in ACE Teaching Fellows; 57 participants in the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program; and 28 participants in the teacher licensure program for English as a New Language.

In his homily, Bishop Jenky said the Eucharist, as God’s “gift of endless love,” is key to the mission of Catholic schools to children from all backgrounds.

“In different ways, this supreme truth must always be proclaimed in every class, in every subject, in every Catholic school where you may happen to teach,” he said. “So ACErs, harvest-gatherers, teachers in the school of Christ, get out there and be fearless, creative, generous, and, in the power of Jesus Christ, teach your hearts out!”

ACE Teaching Fellows, an initiative founded in 1993, forms outstanding college graduates to teach in elementary and secondary schools in 30 dioceses, including Peoria. ACE Teachers earn a Master of Education after two summers of coursework and two academic years teaching in under-resourced Catholic schools. Most are also members of ACE’s partner organization, AmeriCorps.

The Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program is a 25-month graduate program (conducted over three summers and two academic years) for educators seeking to develop skills to become transformational leaders in their Catholic school community. Upon completion of the program, participants earn a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from the University of Notre Dame and can be eligible for K-12 administrative licensure.

English as a New Language, a one-year licensure program that responds to teachers’ growing need to assist English language learners in their classrooms, advances those skills through ongoing coursework and mentoring while those educators remain in service in the schools that employ them.

The Mass which sent forth these groups was preceded by missioning ceremonies Thursday evening (July 23) at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.

As part of the array of missioning events, the Alliance for Catholic Education also presented the 2015 Scott C. Malpass Founders’ Prize to two graduates who have gone on to careers of special distinction. Jennifer Ehren, Ph.D., taught science at St. John High School in Biloxi, Mississippi, and later earned a Ph.D. Amid her own successful fight with cancer, she has contributed to important therapeutic advances at the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  

Greg Gomez, who taught science and religion at St. Malachy School in Los Angeles, later continued graduate studies at Columbia University and served as special liaison to the inner-city schools of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston before accepting a principal’s post at St. Francis of Assisi School in inner-city Houston.

The Alliance for Catholic Education impacts the lives of several hundred thousand children nationwide by preparing highly talented teachers and school leaders, while offering research and an array of resources for Catholic schools in the United States—the world’s largest private school system.

Bishop Jenky of Peoria is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which founded the University of Notre Dame and in which ACE founders Fr. Scully and Fr. McGraw are priests and scholars. Fr. Scully is the Hackett Family Director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. Holy Cross is known internationally for its mission of education to help make God known, loved, and served.

Contact: Bill Schmitt at 574-631-3893 and

The Alliance for Catholic Education's ACE Teaching Fellows program has received a $135,000 AmeriCorps grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) to support 154 AmeriCorps members who will serve as teachers of record in rural and urban schools throughout the United States.

AmeriCorps members supported by these grants will serve in 108 schools in 31 communities across the country. This grant will allow ACE to expand its impact and to ensure the placement of carefully formed teachers in the most high-need schools. This partnership with AmeriCorps enables ACE to recruit highly talented candidates; supports ACE’s cohesive, research-based high quality academic teacher training; and enables ACE to place these members as teachers.

“AmeriCorps is an indispensable resource to help meet critical challenges facing our communities,” said John Staud, senior administrative director of ACE. “We’re thrilled that the Corporation for National and Community Service has recognized the value that AmeriCorps members serving with ACE offer to communities across the United States. These AmeriCorps members will meet pressing local needs as they develop civic and leadership skills that can last a lifetime.”

“AmeriCorps members are an indispensable resource for nonprofits, communities, and the individuals they serve,” said Corporation for National and Community Service CEO Wendy Spencer. “Through AmeriCorps, individuals come together across the nation with the common goal to make a lasting impact on the toughest challenges facing our nation. We salute these AmeriCorps members and their commitment in serving our country.” 

The 2015 AmeriCorps grant cycle was highly competitive, due to the strong and growing demand by organizations seeking AmeriCorps resources. The 2015 competition prioritized investments in economic opportunity, education, veterans and military families and disaster services and continued a new initiative for governors and mayors.

In addition to the grant funding, CNCS will make available $175 million in education scholarships for the AmeriCorps members funded by these grants. After completing a full term of service, AmeriCorps members receive an award of $5,730 that they can use to pay for college or to pay back student loans.

AmeriCorps engages more than 75,000 members in intensive service annually to serve through nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations at 25,000 locations across the country. These members help communities tackle pressing problems while mobilizing millions of volunteers for the organizations they serve.

Since 1994, more than 900,000 Americans have provided more than 1 billion hours of service addressing critical challenges from poverty and hunger to disasters and the dropout crisis through AmeriCorps.

ACE is a leading program of the University of Notre Dame that recruits, educates and supports talented college graduates who serve as teachers in under-resourced schools across the United States. ACE teachers simultaneously participate in an innovative two-year Master of Education degree that prepares them for the rigors of the classroom and to become the next generation of educational leaders for America’s elementary and secondary schools. For more information, visit ace.nd.edu/teach.

AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than 5 million Americans in service through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund and the Volunteer Generation Fund. CNCS also leads the president’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit www.NationalService.gov.

Contact: Kathleen Fulcher, 574-631-7052, 

Here is a look at some highlights from the ACE Summer thus far. 

Coach Lou Holtz brought his witty, inspirational advice to ACE’s Commencement Exercises July 11, serving as principal speaker and earning the “master teacher” title Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C.,  used in introducing him. His remarks brought a standing ovation from the 83 ACE Teachers receiving Master of Education degrees and the 25 Remick Leadership Program graduates receiving Master of Arts in Educational Leadership Degrees.

Before the weekend, Coach Holtz praised the work of the teacher and leaders. “I think it is marvelous the difference the ACE program has made in the lives of so many young people,” he said. "The sacrifice these educators have made to help younger people has been invaluable."

Read more of the Notre Dame football coaching legend’s comments in recent coverage by Fox Sports, WSBT-TV, and The South Bend Tribune, among other media. He and his wife Beth received the 2015 Notre Dame Prize for Catholic Education. 

More photos of Coach Holtz's return to Notre Dame below: