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101 Essential Resources for Catholic Educators

CRS Rice Bowls

2012 Catholic Schools Week Logo

Happy Catholic Schools Week! To celebrate, I’ve put together a list of 101 resources that no Catholic educator should be without. From Twitter users to bloggers, from social networks to teaching tools, it’s all here in one convenient spot. Share the love, spread the news, and tell the world about Catholic Schools!

Catholic School Organizations and Resources:

  1. The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA)
  2. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice
  3. Today’s Catholic Teacher
  4. Catholic Education Resources Wiki
  5. Resources for Catholic Educators
  6. Edocere.org
  7. CSK12 – Catholic Schools Virtual
  8. Catholic Coalition for Special Education

Social Networks and Catholic School Connections:

  1. The Catholic School Chronicle List of Blogs by Catholic Teachers, Principals, and Catechists
  2. ACE Advocates
  3. I Love Catholic Schools – Facebook
  4. Teaching Catholic Kids from OSV – Facebook
  5. NCEA Social Media Mashup
  6. Digital Catechesis Global Network on Ning
  7. Catholic School Connect
Catechetical Resources:

Catholic News, Podcasts, and Multimedia:

  1. Catholic News Service
  2. Catechetical Leader Podcast
  3. Sunday Sunday Sunday from Lifeteen
  4. Catholic Movie Reviews from Lifteen
  5. Catholic Newsbreak from CatholicTV
  6. Redemptorist Television
  7. Whispers in the Loggia
Prayer Resources:

Members of the University Consortium for Catholic Education:

  1. The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at University of Notre Dame
  2. The Alliance for Catholic Education at St. John’s University
  3. Magis Catholic Teacher Corps at Creighton University
  4. The Educational Partners in Catholic Schools (EPICS) Program at Seton Hall University
  5. The Gulf Region Academy for Catholic Educators (GRACE) at University of St. Thomas
  6. The Lalanne Program at University of Dayton
  7. The Lasallian Association of New Catholic Educators (LANCE) Program at Christian Brothers University
  8. The Lutheran Education Alliance with Parochial Schools (LEAPS) Program at Valparaiso University
  9. The Loyola University Chicago Opportunities in Catholic Education (LU-CHOICE) Program
  10. operation TEACH from Notre Dame of Maryland University
  11. The Pacific Alliance for Catholic Education (PACE) at the University of Portland
  12. The Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers (PACT) Program at Providence College
  13. Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education (PLACE) Program at Loyola Marymount University
  14. Remick Fellowship at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota
  15. Urban Catholic Teacher Corps (UCTC) at Boston College

A Sample of Some of the Best Blogs in Catholic Education: (click here for a comprehensive list)

  1. Barb in Nebraska on Posterous
  2. Catholic Educator
  3. Catholic Teacher Musings
  4. Notes from McTeach
  5. Soul of a Nation
  6. Work with Hope

A Small Selection of Catholic Educators, Organizations, and Catechists on Twitter:

Catholic School Resources from the Magisterium:

  1. Congregation for Catholic Education
  2. United States Council of Catholic Bishops Office of Education

Documents from the Congregation for Catholic Education and the USCCB:

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Catholic School Enrollment on the Rise in Milwaukee

Good news from The Catholic Herald:

Miss Wisconsin Reads to Catholic School Students
Milwaukee Catholic School Graduate Laura Kaeppler

A few months ago, one of our Catholic Herald reporters was assigned to a story looking into the effects of the Milwaukee Parental Choice program on our archdiocesan schools. Legislation passed late last summer allowing the program to expand into Milwaukee and Racine counties, and we were curious as to the effect it was having on the Catholic schools involved.

In researching the story, Ricardo Torres not only learned that five archdiocesan schools had embraced the opportunity to welcome Choice students, but he learned that for the first time in 13 years, Catholic school enrollment is on the rise in our archdiocese!

And interestingly, that’s not solely due to the increase in the number of schools accepting Choice students. Of the 50 Catholic schools that saw enrollment increases, 27 of the schools are suburban and rural schools that do not participate in the Choice program!

Catholic school enrollment in our archdiocese is 32,193, a 1 percent increase over last year.

For those of us who believe in the value of a Catholic education, that’s certainly something to celebrate. Actually, for anyone, that’s reason to celebrate. Even if you choose a public education for a child, a strong Catholic school system benefits all of us. Catholic school graduates will likely have a positive impact on our community with their sound educational background, rooted in Christian values.

Read the full story here.

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Live Coverage of Catholic Educators Receiving Whitehouse Award

Watch the “Champions of Change” award ceremony live, right here, starting at 1:30 Eastern. Today’s ceremony features several leaders and teachers in Catholic education, including Joe Womac, Sr. Ruiz, and Yvonne Schwab, all of whom have ties to Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education.

Update: The live broadcast is over, but you can watch the entire ceremony below, courtesy of the White House YouTube channel:

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A Catholic Education Is Better Than Disneyland

That’s the opinion of Doris and Thomas Briant, the parents of four Catholic teachers:

Sleeping BeautyIn the parable of the sower, Jesus taught his disciples that God’s word must be nurtured to yield a fruitful harvest, words that four members of the Briant family — sisters — have taken to heart.

Alison Briant Burley, Ellen Briant Reilly, and Susan and Katelyn Briant are Catholic educators.

Their parents, Doris and Thomas Briant, made sure they all had 12 years of Catholic education, despite the prospect of all that tuition.

“My motivation was to show (our) commitment to Catholic education,” Doris said. “We didn’t have family vacations, we went to Cape May for the day. You can give up all those trips to Disney World. The benefits you get (from Catholic education) are better than all those trips to wherever.”

Read all about their daughters and their teaching careers here.

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Catholic School Teacher Begins Career with Miracle

Kolleen MurrayOne of the great pleasures of teaching in Catholic schools is the inspiration I receive daily from my colleagues. It’s a privilege to work with such dedicated, faith-filled people who tirelessly strive to build up the Kingdom of God. One of those witnesses to faith is my teaching partner, Kolleen Murray. Kolleen and I have worked together for over a decade teaching eighth graders at All Saints Catholic School in Spokane, Washington. This year Kolleen received the NCEA’s Distinguished Teacher Award, and was featured in an article on Catholic Schools Week by Our Sunday Visitor:

Murray, 50, is one of 12 current National Catholic Educators of the Year, recognition given by the National Catholic Education Association, and she represents five Western states. She has been a teacher for 12 years and currently teaches an eighth-grade class at All Saints Catholic High School in Spokane, Wash.

And it began, she said, with somewhat of a miracle.

Murray was hired in May 2000, and in June, she wrecked on a bike, sustaining a traumatic brain injury that landed her in the hospital for two weeks and in rehabilitation for months. During that time, teachers brought food and cleaned her house. Kathy Hicks, her principal, came to walk with her arm in arm.

“I told her that she needed to hire someone else,” Murray said. “But she told me that she would teach my classes, and her colleagues would teach my classes, until I got better. That is the miracle of this ministry, that Kathy would not hire someone else. I came to this ministry with a very grateful heart. Can you imagine so much support and so much love? It was beautiful.”

Murray could teach for only two hours each morning when classes resumed, and by October, her strength returned.

“The students knew from Day One that I had a brain injury, and that it would be we as a community, we as the body of Christ, that would facilitate the learning,” she said.

Read more about Kolleen and Catholic schools, including an interview with our superintendent Duane Schafer, at Our Sunday Visitor.

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TV Program Explores Decline in Catholicism and Catholic Schools

Are Catholic schools closing because Catholicism is in decline, or is Catholicism in decline because Catholic schools are closing? That’s just one of the questions Lynn Doyle asks of her guests in this 24-minute program. She begins her show with guest Jerry Davis, one of the members of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Blue Ribbon Commission on Catholic schools, and ends it with a panel that includes Bob McCarty, executive director at the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Most provocative soundbyte? “Catholics have contracepted and aborted themselves into a decline.”

What do you think is responsible for the decline? And how do Catholic schools and dioceses respond to it?