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Here is the text of the homily for the Mass with Blessing of the Christ the Teacher Chapel and Dedication of the Altar, celebrated on July 19, 2013, reprinted with permission of Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. We thank Bishop Rhoades for the great gift of his presence and support during a wonderful time of grace for the whole ACE community.

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!” These words of psalm 84, our responsorial psalm today, express our prayer today as we celebrate the blessing of this beautiful chapel and the dedication of this altar. This Chapel becomes a sacred place today, a place of worship and prayer, where the lord indeed will dwell. His presence in the tabernacle makes this chapel truly the dwelling place of the Lord.

The most important part of this ceremony is the dedication of the altar. The altar is a sign of Christ. It is the focal point of every Catholic church and chapel because, at the altar, the memorial of the Lord is celebrated and, from it, Christ’s Body and Blood is given to the people.

The altar is both a table of sacrifice and a table of the paschal banquet. It is a table of sacrifice since on it the sacrifice of Jesus, His oblation on the cross, is perpetuated and made present. We heard in our first reading about Joshua building an altar to the lord on Mount Ebal. On that altar, the people of Israel offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. In the Old Testament rites, sacrifices of animals and crops were offered to God for the expiation of sins, for purposes of atonement, as well as thanksgiving and praise. In the new covenant, Christ is the offering, the sacrifice. He is also the priest, the Mediator who offers Himself in the perfect act of love on the cross for our salvation. The Holy Eucharist, offered on the altars of our churches, makes present the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and applies its fruits for us today. Every time the community will gather at this altar for the Eucharist, the community unites itself to Christ’s sacrifice. We offer our praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, indeed our entire lives, to the Lord, uniting ourselves with Christ and His offering. Here the ACE community will be united with Christ and His sacrifice through the great sacrament of the Eucharist.

The altar is also a banquet table as well since here God’s children receive as spiritual food the Body and Blood of Christ. As Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians, the bread we break is a participation (a communion) in the Body of Christ and the cup we drink is a participation (a communion) in the Blood of Christ. In The Eucharist, we become one Body in Christ. The Eucharist makes and builds the Church, Including the ACE community that will gather here in this chapel for Holy Mass.

In the Gospel today, we heard part of that profound dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well. They are talking about the divine worship and where it takes place. Our Lord makes it clear that the most important thing about worship, true worship, is that it be done in Spirit and truth. With the blessing of this chapel, we recognize that it is not just a gathering place. Rather, it signifies and makes visible the Church living in this place, the Christian community of the Alliance for Catholic Education, the members of which are called to be built into a spiritual house and to be temples of the living God. We are to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, united to Christ, the spiritual temple from whom living waters flow.

Given the mission of ACE, it is most appropriate that this chapel bears the title “Christ the Teacher.” We recall that the people who heard Jesus teach were astonished at his teaching because he spokes with such authority, unlike the scribes. The authority was constituted especially by the power of the truth contained in Christ’s preaching, the source of the authority being God himself. Jesus himself said: “My teaching is not my own, but is from the one who sent me.” (John 7:16) He was the Teacher of the truth which is God, he bore witness to thus truth unto the end. We recall Jesus’ reply to Pontius Pilate during the passion: “I have come to bear witness to the truth.” His teaching manifests to humanity the eternal Wisdom of God. ACE serves this truth as do our Catholic schools. We look to Christ as the teacher of eternal truth about God, humanity, and the world.

Let us also be reminded that in Christ the Teacher, there is a profound conformity between his deeds and his teaching. Jesus not only taught that love is the supreme commandment, be he himself fulfilled it in the most perfect manner. The Eucharist sacrifice celebrated in this chapel reminds us of this. In the testimony of Jesus, divine truth and divine love are united. In our Catholic schools too, there must be profound conformity between what we teach and what we do, how we act.

In this chapel, for many years to come, may God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be worshiped in spirit and in truth! In the chapel dedicated to Christ the Teacher, may all who pray here learn from Him the wisdom and love of God! May this Chapel be the heart, the center, of the ACE building, since it is here that the Lord will dwell and, from here, His graces will abound and be poured forth upon the ACE community!

“Fighting for our Children’s Future,” the watchword emblazoned on the bus for ACE’s upcoming National Tour to celebrate Catholic schools, accentuates the call U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly issued recently to graduates at the 2013 ACE Commencement exercises.

Donnelly, a Notre Dame alumnus who represents Indiana in the U.S. Senate, addressed the 111 master’s degree recipients as their Commencement speaker, as a fellow advocate among the Fighting Irish, and as a policy-maker who has seen the high stakes in educating today’s young people.

“There’s no graduate program more important than what you have just finished,” said Donnelly at the July 13 event on campus. “This is the future of our country and our world that you’re going to be working with. You will be the face of Notre Dame, the face of our Church, the face of Jesus Christ, to people in some of the toughest areas we have in our country.”

He continued, “As principals and as teachers, part of being Fighting Irish is that you will fight for each child…. You will fight for an excellent education so that they have a chance.” Among many inner-city youths trapped in lives of turmoil and violence, a common thread is their disconnection from education.

“You provide hope, you provide [a] future, for many of these people,” Donnelly told the 85 graduates of the ACE Teaching Fellows program and the 26 graduates of ACE’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program. “You are the face of what they can achieve.”

The graduates and their families, convened in the Leighton Concert Hall of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, had joined ACE faculty and staff in welcoming Donnelly after ACE founder Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., introduced the first-term U.S. Senator as “a tireless advocate for justice” and “a son of Notre Dame whose life and work stand as a powerful witness to the transforming power of education.”

Donnelly’s remarks invoked the graduates’ service to the Church, reflecting the “love and compassion” that Jesus taught, plus wise discernment between right and wrong. He also invoked service to the United States—“making our nation a stronger, better place.” School teachers and leaders in under-served areas are crucial in giving students a chance for success, he said, “so no pressure on any of you—but the future of our country is on your shoulders.”

Such a responsibility also brings satisfaction, especially from the students one serves, the Senator reminded his audience: There may be more glamorous jobs than teacher or principal, but nothing can beat “the reward you’ll get at the end of the day when these young people come up and say, you’ve changed my life.”

Following the ceremony, in response to questions, Senator Donnelly called himself “very fortunate” to be a product of Catholic grade school and Catholic high school. Catholic schools teach values and give a great education, he said, and they combine with the country’s public school system “to make sure every child has a chance” to be part of the range of educational opportunity.

We do have to fight together for our children’s future, Donnelly agreed. “So much of the challenges we face as a country—those challenges can be met if we’re able to get every child educated, have every child graduate from high school, have a chance for every child to gain the skills necessary to have a good job and great opportunity. So everything we aspire to as a country is directly related to how well we educate our people.”

Where does ACE fit into this effort? “One of the distinctive roles for ACE and Notre Dame is to be a backbone of the Catholic education system,” said Donnelly in response to the question. “When you look at this graduating class, they are going forth throughout not only our country but the whole world, in both teaching and administration…. As Catholic education continues on into the future, I think you will see the University of Notre Dame and the ACE program become an even more critical part of its future success.”

The University of Notre Dame will advance its role as the nation’s leading provider of Catholic school leaders on Saturday, July 13, when more than 110 graduates from the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) receive master’s degrees at the 2013 ACE Commencement exercises.

The Commencement, to be held in the Leighton Concert Hall of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, is an important milestone for the teachers, principals, and leaders of the ACE ACE Teaching Fellows and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Programs who have spent the last two and three years respectively living out ACE’s mission to sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools while completing their coursework within ACE’s innovative instructional models.

Master of Education (M. Ed.) degrees will be conferred upon 85 graduates within the 18^th cohort of ACE Teaching Fellows, which sends forth young teachers to serve in under-resourced Catholic schools in 26 dioceses across the country. The Remick Leadership Program, an initiative that prepares Catholic school educators for roles as principals and other leadership roles in Catholic schools, will award 26 graduates in cohort 10 with Master of Arts degrees in educational administration.

The keynote speaker for this year’s exercises will be Senator Joe Donnelly, United States Senator of Indiana and Notre Dame alumnus.

Representing the University of Notre Dame will be Christine Maziar, Ph.D., who is Vice President, Senior Associate Provost, and Acting Dean of the Graduate School. Also addressing the group of graduates, parents, and friends of the Alliance for Catholic Education will be ACE’s founder, Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.

The Commencement ceremonies, a ticketed event scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., will also feature the presentation of awards for distinguished service in support of Catholic schools. The Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education and the Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Education Field annually go to outstanding ACE graduates who have continued their careers enhancing ACE’s mission.

The Pressley awards are named for the prodigious and world-renowned scholar Michael Pressley, who served as the inaugural academic director of ACE’s teacher preparation program.

At the Commencement luncheon, Father Scully will present the Maureen T. Hallinan Award for Excellence in Catholic Education to Katie Baal, a graduate from the first cohort of ACE teachers, who assembled at the initiative’s founding almost 20 years ago. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies at Loyola University Chicago and pursued a distinguished career as a science teacher and administrator in Jesuit and public education. Dr. Baal has been principal of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., since 2011.

ACE presents the Hallinan Award for Excellence in Catholic Education in honor of Dr. Maureen Hallinan, the founding director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, a world-renowned scholar and deeply beloved colleague who continues to inspire with her love of learning and truth. The annual award is bestowed in her honor upon an ACE graduate whose life and work reflect Dr. Hallinan's lifetime of service to the Gospel through the field of Catholic education.

The public events of ACE’s Commencement day will conclude with a Mass in Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart at 6:30 pm.

Watch the live stream at http://ace.nd.edu/livestream

The Year of Faith is a celebration of our calling to follow Christ and how we can come to know Jesus in our commitment to the ACE community and Catholic schools. Our prayer is that we can learn to find Jesus in the ordinary and routine things of our lives. ACE Teaching Fellows calls men and women to live a simple life as teachers in Catholic Schools.

Let us reflect on John 13: 1 – 15. This is where Jesus is at his best as a teacher because he has come together with his disciples at the Last Supper to share the Paschal Meal. He washes their feet and then says to them:

“You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am.So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

This passage is read at Mass on Holy Thursday. Jesus, the teacher, teaches a powerful lesson by what he does for the disciples. There are a few words used to get the lesson across, but the most important part is what he does. Jesus shows us love through service.

There are countless stories that teachers can tell about great lessons that they have presented in the classroom and how that is what can keep them motivated to teach well. It is that day when everything goes well and the students respond and are excited about learning. Those are extraordinary days, and a teacher feels good about what has happened. It would be nice if that happened every day, but teaching has its ups and downs because of a variety of things that can be going on in the life of the teacher as well as students.

An ACE teacher finished his first summer of studies and then went to his assignment of teaching third grade. He was excited and so happy to have his class and teach them and help them learn. He felt God was calling him to be a teacher, and he was encouraged by the feedback he had received during the summer. He began teaching and quickly discovered that he had a disruptive student. The disruptions went on day after day, and he began to think it would be a long and discouraging year of teaching. He began to think that teaching was not his calling in life.

I was able to observe this teacher and the troublesome student early in the year, and I tried to help the teacher see that it was not through any flaws in his teaching that the student was out of control. I encouraged him to see that all he could do was be Christ the Teacher and love the student and be patient and kind. The lesson was to be shown by the teacher’s actions rather than strong and harsh words. Hold him accountable, but do it lovingly.

I visited the teacher’s classroom several months later. I saw the same student was cooperative and willing to learn—and even sitting at his desk most of the time. There were moments when he was not great, but the improvement was inspiring. The teacher knew that the student had made great strides, but he did not realize the amazing difference until his mentor and other observers—and the student’s parents—told him how this student was beginning to like school.

The teacher had been encouraged by his principal and faculty, his ACE local community, and the ACE faculty and staff. There were many people who affirmed him as the year progressed. But he was also helped through reading and reflecting on the example of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Jesus teaches us to wash each other’s feet. This may not change the behavior of the students, but it will make a difference in the life of the teacher as he or she becomes Christ the Teacher.

The ACE Commencement exercises scheduled for Saturday, July 13, 2013, will confer master’s degrees upon participants in ACE Teaching Fellows and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, but the event also honors graduates of those programs who have continued their careers with excellence in the spirit of the ACE pillars of education, community, and spirituality.

Awards this year will go to three leaders who have played influential roles that support Catholic schooling.

The annual Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education will be presented to two past graduates of ACE formation programs: Jessica Gray Werner, Ph.D., who graduated in 2003 in the eighth cohort of ACE Teaching Fellows; and Michael Zelenka, who also was in “ACE 8” and also in the sixth cohort of the Remick Leadership Program, graduating in 2007.

David Yeager, Ph.D., who graduated from ACE Teaching Fellows in 2006 and is now assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, will receive the Michael Pressley Award for a Promising Scholar in the Education Field.

The three Pressley Awards are named for the prodigious and world-renowned scholar Michael Pressley who served as the inaugural academic director of ACE’s teacher preparation program.

Here is more information about the recipients:

JESSICA GRAY WERNER

Jessica served students in Jackson, Miss., as a teacher for three years during and after ACE. Then she began working with the Daughters of Charity, supporting their efforts to strengthen Catholic educational ministry in Ethiopia and Kenya, and later became director of the Vincentian Lay Missionaries. This work entails providing spiritual formation for the current volunteers in the Daughters of Charity programs in Africa.

Meanwhile, Jessica has also earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, with a dissertation focused on principal and teacher training in Uganda, and she teaches education as an adjunct professor at the College of Saint Scholastica. A nominator calls her “a stellar example of an ACE graduate whose life has been transformed by Catholic education and social justice.” Jessica demonstrates a passionate belief in “the power of education” to change lives and “the unique gifts that the Catholic Church can offer” to transform structures and reform education.

MICHAEL ZELENKA

Michael has continued to pursue his vocation in Catholic education as an educator in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he was assigned in the ACE 8 cohort. He now serves as principal at Incarnation Catholic School, which is also an ACE Teaching Fellows site. One of his nominators states, “We need more principals like him helping to form our teachers,” and he adds that Michael has “distinguished himself as a young and vibrant leader of Catholic schools, committed to excellence in every respect.”

In addition to his outstanding work as principal, Michael plays a variety of diocesan leadership roles and stays engaged with other Alliance for Catholic Education initiatives. He has implemented several projects at the school and diocesan level, published some of his work, and presented at national conferences. “He is an excellent example of the next generation of leaders we are aiming to prepare, support, and celebrate,” nominators affirm.

DAVID YEAGER

David’s nationally respected research in the fields of adolescent development and social psychology led him recently to the role of co-organizer and program chair for a special White House conference titled “Excellence in Education: The Importance of Academic Mindsets.” As reported recently for ACE by Andrew Hoyt, scholars from around the country gathered at the May conference to discuss new insights emerging from the work of David and collaborators at Stanford University. New findings suggest that students’ mindsets—how schools look and feel to these students—can affect whether they sustain motivation in the face of adversity. David and others have designed activities that redirect students’ mindsets and can dramatically reduce achievement gaps in some cases.

With a Ph.D. in developmental and psychological science from Stanford University, David has pursued studies yielding numerous journal publications, research grants, conference presentations, and other honors. During his studies in the ACE Teaching Fellows program, he taught language arts and computers--and coached basketball--at a Catholic school in Tulsa, Okla.