Alliance for Catholic Education
School pastors gathered for professional development at the University of Notre Dame in June were reminded that the revitalization of the Church in the United States could be nurtured through effective and thoughtful leadership in Catholic schools and parishes. John Staud, ACE’s Executive Director, gave a welcome address in which he recognized that the role of pastor has become more challenging for many reasons but encouraged them to “embrace the absolutely critical role they play to ensure the vibrancy of their Catholic schools.”
In opening remarks to attendees of ACE’s 15th annual School Pastors’ Institute, the Most Reverend John M. Quinn, Bishop Emeritus of Winona-Rochester, meditated on the vital role of attendees in the health and well-being of their parochial schools. He correlated a renewal of the clergy to strong growth in national church membership reported in the press this spring. Exhorting the nearly 90 pastors in attendance, Bishop Quinn asserted that “every great renewal in the Church begins with the renewal of the clergy.” And he went on to celebrate the same group’s energetic stewardship of Catholic schools as a substantive means to evangelize and to help the Church flourish over time.
“We don’t want to lose the mission of our Catholic schools,” Bishop Quinn said. “Can you imagine our church if all of our schools, our universities, were gone? Just think how impoverished the Catholic Church would be.”
The School Pastors’ Institute, which opened on campus June 15, offered four days of programming focused on community building and problem-solving. Now in its fifteenth year, the summer conference convenes pastors of parishes with schools to address challenges and opportunities before them, from improving business operations to measuring the efficacy of mission — skills typically not included in seminary preparation.
Bishop Quinn’s keynote address to attendees included a call to “go up the down escalator,” to resist the easy way and emphasize service to the poor and marginalized. He reminded priests of the imperative to lead their schools by following Christ’s example: “Jesus was constantly going up the ‘down escalator.’”
An educator and church administrator first ordained in 1972, Bishop Quinn served the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in southern Minnesota for more than a decade before retiring in 2022. Before that appointment, he served as the Director of Education for the Archdiocese of Detroit. For those gathered at the School Pastors’ Institute, he provided insight and encouragement from his own experience leading Catholic schools, reminding them that formation for students, just as for priests, takes time.
“If we begin to see ourselves as unfinished, it brings about a change in how we treat one another,” Bishop Quinn said. “We’re all works of art still in progress.”
He also heralded the message of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, as an affirmation of Catholic schools' work alongside students to honor the distinct humanity in each. “With all of our failings and limitations, there is a magnificence to human beings,” he said, adding that “sometimes it is our limitations that make us magnificent.”
In his welcome to attending clergy, Matt Kloser, Hackett Family Director for the Institute for Educational Initiatives, home to ACE, spoke of strengthening Catholic schools.
“It's so heartening to see all of you here today in support of young people in our Catholic schools, particularly those most vulnerable and in need of care.”
Additional School Pastors’ Institute programming included a series of presentations and small group sessions focused on various aspects of effective school leadership. Topics ranged from finance and development; building effective working relationships with principals; the recruitment and hiring of faculty and staff; to bridging different cultural communities.
Clergy represented more than 40 (arch)dioceses at this year’s conference. Since 2011, the School Pastors’ Institute has grown to include nearly 1,600 school pastors from 156 (arch)dioceses nationally.