“This is a way for Fordham to celebrate the theme of this year’s National Catholic Schools Week, Catholic Schools: Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed, encompassing the core values that can be found in the schools of the Archdiocese,” said Gerald M. Cattaro, Ed.D., director of the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education. 

For many of the approximately 800 children from 19 different Catholic schools across New York City, it was also an opportunity to see a college campus for the first time. 

“By giving them the opportunity to visit classrooms, see college students in classes, and walk the same paths as college students, we hope to inspire these visiting students to reach higher in their academic choices and study habits,” said Virginia Roach, Ed.D., dean of GSE. “We want to show children, especially those who could be first-generation college-bound students, that there are pathways to realize their dreams of a college education.”

Shortly before 10 a.m. last Monday, students started to arrive at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, located across the street from Fordham College at Lincoln Center. For the next hour, they sat in the wooden pews and attended morning Mass. They sang hymns like “Here I Am, Lord” and “City of God,” led by choir singer t’Jacques Guillot, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior, and Timothy Perron, a Fordham Jesuit scholastic and pianist. At the beginning of Mass, they were reminded of one of Fordham’s guiding tenets: 

“At Fordham, we’re committed to the idea of cura personalis. That’s Latin for caring for the individual. We really care deeply about you and supporting you today, tomorrow, and after you graduate,” Anthony P. Cavanna, Ed.D., associate dean for academic affairs at GSE, said to the students. “No matter what college or high school or university you finally choose, you map out cura personalis. Take care of yourself, take care of others, and God bless you.”

Presiding over Mass was Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J., a scholar in residence at GSE and the first provincial of the newly created USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. He urged the students and teachers to continue to care for one another in “one family of faith and goodness and hope.” 

Today, he said, they were celebrating the feast of Saint Angela Merici—a religious educator who was dedicated to the education of girls. 

“When Catholic schools only taught boys, she said Catholic schools should educate girls, too. Girls, you think that’s a good idea?” he said to applause. “Absolutely … so we gather to celebrate Catholic schools and remember the heroes of Catholic schools like Angela Merici.” 

After Mass, the students split into two groups. Half of them toured the Lincoln Center campus; the other dined on pizza in Pope Auditorium with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. 

For Isabella Marina Martinez, an eighth-grader at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Washington Heights, it was her first time at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. This past spring, she visited her cousin, Xienna Dejesus, a student at Fordham College at Rose Hill, at the Bronx campus.

“I’ve seen it in pictures, and I wanted to see it [in person], so she took me one day,” said Martinez, who said she’s considering a future as a lawyer—and keeping an eye on the Fordham School of Law.  “It would be cool to come here.” 

For half an hour, Martinez and her classmates explored the Lincoln Center campus, including Hughes Hall. It was Matthew Capellan’s first time seeing a trading room with Bloomberg terminals. It was also a special experience for his classmate, Manuel Ramirez. 

“The part that I found most interesting about the tour today was the business room—how they had all the stocks going around on the screens and how every computer is updated to the most recent stocks,” said Ramirez, who lives in Morris Heights and wants to become a biologist. 

Nisha Reyes, an eighth-grader who wants to study business or law, said she was struck by the number of student clubs and overall diversity. 

“Everyone’s so different, but they come together in such a special way at Fordham,” Reyes said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from. You can still come together; everyone can be part of a family at Fordham.” 

Hosted by the Graduate School of Education’s Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education at Fordham, the three-day conference brought together more than 100 people—researchers and academic members in the Scholas Chairs program as well as religious, diplomatic, and government leaders—to discuss how education can be used as a tool for social change and harmony across the world.

“Diversity is God’s way; unity is God’s dream,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, in his welcoming remarks.

The annual conference is spearheaded by Scholas Occurrentes, a global educational initiative formed by Pope Francis that aims to create positive change in schools and educational communities across more than 190 countries. Gerald M. Cattaro, Ed.D., director of the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education, is a Scholas Occurrentes ambassador who oversees the three designated Scholas Chairs in the United States—at Fordham, Minnesota University, and John Carroll University. 

In years past, the event has taken place in locations abroad, including the Vatican City and Jerusalem. For the first time in its five-year history, the conference was held in the United States this year.

Over the course of the conference, scholars from around the world, particularly South America and Europe, presented papers and panels on educational initiatives and projects focused on innovative education, environmental and social sustainability, and interreligious dialogue aimed toward sustainable peace. Selection of those three topics emerged from conversation among young Scholas students—university students from different countries who aim for social change in their communities—as well as Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for 2015-2030.

One of the biggest themes that emerged from the conference was the need to have mutual understanding and dialogue with those of different religions and cultures. The focus of education should be to make our young people more human—not just more educated, Scholas representatives said.

“The Scholas Congress is particularly relevant because it provides a great opportunity for discussion about how [we]can promote this year’s theme: educating to fraternal humanism to build a civilization of love,” said Vincent Fernandes, S.J., a doctoral student in GSE’s administration and supervision program for church and non-public educational leadership. “It gives us a roadmap for what we all need to do, and it is inspiring to know what I as an individual can do to help.”

In a written message from Pope Francis recited by Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, the pontiff thanked Fordham and Scholas academics for their work.

“I want to thank all the participants for these days, for their knowledge and shared theories, but above all for the experiences, for being open to listening to their communities, for savoring its sweetness and bitterness, for creating meaning from it and thinking together how to recreate those communities by harmonizing the three languages: heart, head and hands,” he said.

On the last day of the conference, the scholars gathered around the Lincoln Center campus’s sunlit plaza that overlooks the Upper West Side. For a few moments, the crowd fanned out and clasped hands with one another. Then they assembled around a young olive tree, gifted to Fordham by from Pope Francis in honor of the conference—a symbol of peace and friendship.

In a short ceremony, they watched leaders of different religions give an interreligious blessing. A young boy and a few Scholas participants then nurtured the plant with new soil. The olive tree will be taken to the nearby New York Botanical Garden, where it will stand beside a plaque blessed by Pope Francis with the words, “This plaque was blessed by His Holiness Pope Francis on March 21, 2019, on the occasion of the V International Symposium of Scholas Occurrentes at Fordham University.” 

“As the symposium ends,” said Gerald M. Cattaro, Ed.D., in his closing speech, “I believe we all have the same feeling … that people are exploring the dream of global citizenship.”

—Jeanine Genauer and Tanya Hunt contributed reporting.

Among these participants are more than 80 members of a U.S. delegation led by Fordham’s Gerald Cattaro, EdD, executive director for the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education within the Graduate School of Education (GSE).

The celebration also commemorates the 25th anniversary of Ex Corde Ecclesia, Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic colleges and universities.

“I am pleased to learn that the [Congregation for Catholic Education] wishes to constitute on this occasion a foundation entitled Gravissimum Educationis, with the aim of pursuing ‘scientific and cultural ends, intended to promote Catholic education in the world,’” Pope Francis wrote in a chirograph issued Oct. 28, the anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis.

“The Church recognizes the ‘extreme importance of education in the life of man and how its influence ever grows in the social progress of this age.”

Convened by the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Congress is meant to revitalize the church’s commitment to Catholic education. The Congress will explore the future of Catholic schools and universities, focusing especially on issues that relate to identity, mission, communities, and challenges ahead.

The U.S. delegation led by Cattaro comprises Catholic school leaders from across the country, including superintendents and directors of education from dioceses and archdioceses and professors, deans, and administrators from Catholic colleges and universities.

Fordham’s other participants are Virginia Roach, EdD, dean of GSE, and Anita Batisti, PhD, associate dean and director of the Center for Educational Partnerships.

The Congress concludes on Nov. 21 with an audience with Pope Francis at Castel Gandolfo.

The annual Catholic School Executive Leadership Dinner on May 14 brought together school leaders from throughout the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre to recognize all those who worked to help restore local communities.

“We honor the leaders of those schools who, despite obstacles, helped to reestablish their neighborhoods for families who were devastated by the loss of homes, possessions, and in some cases, as in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the loss of life,” said Gerald Cattaro, Ed.D., executive director of GSE’s Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education.

Materially, emotionally, and spiritually available to students and their families during the crisis, these leaders epitomize the mission of Catholic schools, said keynote speaker John Mary Fleming, O.P., executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Catholic Education.

“Tonight, on behalf of the community, we say thank you for setting the bar high and leading by example, showing heroic leadership in difficult circumstances,” Sister Fleming said.

Their leadership, she said, also points to a greater purpose of Catholic schools in light of the New Evangelization movement, the Church’s comprehensive effort to reach out to members who have become alienated from the faith. Throughout the Church’s history, evangelization has meant spreading the good news of the faith. Schools partake in this mission in an important way, because their members are tasked with teaching the faith to each new generation.

“Catholic Schools exist to teach children the dignity of the human being and responsibility to the world in which they live, and to keep the reality of eternal life before their eyes,” Sister Fleming said. “So if evangelization is to foster and create a space for an encounter with Christ, our Catholic schools are uniquely positioned to be centers of the New Evangelization.”

Schools go a step further than merely teaching, she continued. Catholic educators embody their schools’ mission, creating a holistic environment that nurtures students intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually. Community, then, is what sets these schools apart from others.

“Catholic schools are one of the best success stories the Catholic Church in the United States has to tell—and we don’t tell it enough,” she said. “There is something very different happening inside those communities… The sense of family and community in these schools makes them truly special and unique places.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, echoed Sister Fleming’s message. Catholic education is particularly effective, he said, because it builds community from children’s strongest influences.

“[There is] a community of concern composed of faculty, family, and the parish community all united in a desire to pass on and give life to the faith in new generations, and kids pick up on that—they know they’re loved at home, in school, and in the parish,” Father McShane said. “Its lessons are all around you. There is a seamless environment that believes in and rejoices in the faith.”

The event was hosted by GSE and the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education, and was sponsored by Pearson.

None of that is possible, however, if a school cannot draw students in the first place.

To address this basic challenge, the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education, part of the Graduate School of Education, and Bloomingdale’s co-sponsored an in-service training session on Dec. 20 regarding the marketing of schools.

Thirty Catholic elementary school principals from the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre gathered at Bloomingdale’s corporate headquarters to gain entrepreneurial and marketing skills geared toward promoting their schools.

“School leaders in the 21st century not only have to be competent instructional leaders, but in Catholic schools they need to develop an entrepreneurial spirit as a core competency as well, so that they know how to promote their schools,” said Patricia Kelly-Stiles, Ed.D., associate director of the center.

“As a result of demographic changes, Catholic schools throughout the New York City metropolitan area are challenged to recruit adequate numbers of students so that the schools can continue to thrive,” she said.

Led by Kelly-Stiles and Gerald Cattaro, Ed.D., executive director of the center, along with Bloomingdale’s Richard Pittelli, vice president of financial control, and Michelle Pogue, manager of education, communication and recognition, the training drew on the retail giant’s corporate models to give the principals tips on marketing their schools.

“It’s important for the principals because one of their main functions is to attract students to the schools,” Cattaro said. “They have a terrific product and the real challenge is to get the word out there… We can learn from business.”

The participating principals will assemble again in May to reflect on the strategies they implemented since the December training and how their schools have benefitted.

Moreover, Kelly-Stiles added, these strategies are essential not just for Catholic school administrators, but also for anyone who serves in an administrative role in education.

“[For] people studying for school leadership positions, knowing how to promote their schools is becoming more and more prevalent and I would anticipate seeing some of those elements infused into the existing courses,” she said. “Twenty-first century leaders have to have an entrepreneurial spirit whether they are in business, retail or education. It’s part of what one is called to do.”

— Joanna Klimaski