Summer Spans a Variety of ACE Activities for Media

The breadth of ACE’s activities for sustaining, strengthening, and transforming Catholic schools can’t be captured in any one story, but media take notice during the “ACE Summer” when that breadth is on display in a special way on the Notre Dame campus.

An interview on South Bend’s local PBS station, WNIT, offered viewers a taste of two important stories from the summer of 2013—the teacher formation endeavors that begin locally and extend nationwide, plus the planning for an exciting National Tour to celebrate Catholic schools and mark ACE’s 20 years as an innovative formation initiative.

The crucial spiritual dimension of ACE’s formation program includes the annual Missioning Mass (celebrated July 26), in which educators are sent forth to schools around the country amid prayers, blessings, and reflections about Christ the Teacher. With a photo in its feature block during the week of July 29, Notre Dame’s Daily Domer pointed alumni to the news of this missioning at the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis.

A singular spotlight on ACE’s spiritual dimension captured the attention of the newspaper for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The story reported a visit by Bishop Kevin Rhoades to bless the Christ the Teacher chapel, and to dedicate the altar, at the heart of ACE’s home on campus.

Another component of ACE’s summer activities, the array of conferences focusing on issues affecting K-12 educators, drew the attention of WNDU-TV. They described a Play Like a Champion Today conference exploring the role of coaches in properly shaping student-athletes’ character.

ACE’s activities also extend internationally, including a major initiative in Haiti to assist that country’s long-term development by building up its educational system. An audio report produced by Catholic Relief Services, a valued partner in ACE’s Haitian efforts, has aired on Catholic radio stations during the summer with a description of those efforts.

Looking forward, Notre Dame’s internal media alerted faculty and staff in July about the upcoming National Tour, in which ACE leaders will visit schools in more than 40 cities with the message that Notre Dame is “fighting for our children’s future.”