June 11, 2002

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, Contact:
Bud Bunce (503) 233-8373
bbunce@archdpdx.org
 

Assistant Superintendent facilitates meeting of Catholic School leaders
formulating Vision for the Millennium

        A Catholic school symposium held at the University of Dayton June 7-10, 2002 is
destined to be a benchmark event in the history of U. S. Catholic education. Developing
Educational Leadership: Continuing the Conversation convened forty-four leaders and
scholars to discuss the education and formation of future Catholic school leaders.

        The University of Dayton symposium was a sequel to Catholic Educational
Leaders Prepare for Their Successors: A Conversation, which was held at the
University of San Francisco, in June 2001. These blueprint discussions were sparked
by an informal conversation between Sr. Lourdes Sheehan, RSM, Associate General
Secretary at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Sr. Mary Peter
Traviss, OP, Director of the University of San Francisco's Institute of Catholic
Educational Leadership. These vigilant educators recognized the growing urgency to
rearticulate a vision for Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the new
millennium. At this first meeting forty carefully chosen leaders from diocesan school
offices, higher education, the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and the
United States Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops, saw their dream begin
to materialize after the San Francisco meeting, and it continues to shape the future of
Catholic schools.

The stated purpose of the 2001 conference "…was to provide an environment
and climate for having a conversation about how to (1) prepare future personnel for
Catholic schools, (2) identify the academic, formative and cultural components of a
preparation program, (3) build a collaborative network of higher education personnel
and superintendents to design quality programs, (4) determine who is best able to
mentor future Catholic school ministers, and (5) to publish a set of recommendations
regarding content and strategies of the meeting."

        The 2002 conference continued discussions around these topics. Educational
consultant, Sr. Clare Fitzgerald, SSND, delivered a keynote address asking the
participants to consider their deliberations in light of 9-11 and the crises being
experienced in the U.S. church. The assembled leaders reflected upon how these
events have, and will continue to impact Catholic schools. In light of 9-11, a consensus
of the group deemed that Catholic schools hold a bright promise for building a global
vision as part of the church's mission. When the group considered the current situation
in the church, these leaders cited that the church's schools have traditionally served as
a unifying force and a source of strength for U.S. Catholics. In this time of crisis it is
good to remember that it is in these very schools where those Christ-centered values
that are taught and cherished are the same ethics and values by which the institutional
church is being viewed and judged.

        Brother William J. Campbell, S.M., Assistant Superintendent of Personnel/
Technology for the Archdiocese of Portland was not only an active participant in both
meetings, but also facilitated the meeting at the University of Dayton. Proposals for
future action were suggested from each of the discussion groups which included: the
Essentials of Catholic Leadership programs, the Role of the Principal, the development
of recognizing a confident lay charism for the schools and Disincentives that developed
reasons why competent and promising candidates do not continue in Catholic education
as leaders.

        Sister Lourdes Sheehan, RSM expressed the fundamental, sine qua non vision of
these gatherings when she stated: "Catholic schools are important, not because they
are an alternative to public schools, but because our Church and our faith says we have
a responsibility to evangelize and pass on our faith, and schools are the best way to
educate children in learning to integrate faith into their lives." It is the hope of the
participants that their vision will strengthen the schools through the preparation of new
leadership.

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