Built to Last

The election of Pope Leo XIV filled me with wonder and awe over the longevity of the Catholic Church. As the 266th successor of St. Peter, the first Pope, Pope Leo XIV stands solidly upon the foundations of our faith, firmly established by Jesus when He declared, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). 

Standing in front of the center of paganism at the time, Caesarea Philippi, Jesus planted the seeds of the Church that more than 2,000 years later continues to flourish. 

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The longevity of our Church fills me with great conviction and inspiration to ensure that the Church's various structures, including and especially Her Catholic schools, can similarly withstand the test of time. 

Recently, I have been rereading the book, Cultures Built to Last: Systemic PLCs at Work (DuFour and Fullan, 2013), and a few messages from this text have resonated with me in new ways. My previous interactions with this book were prior to working as an associate superintendent.

First, the authors site research that reinforces the impact that a strong central office can have on student learning. Candidly, this has reinforced and galvanized my conviction surrounding the work that I have been entrusted with doing in the Diocese of Cleveland:

Numerous other studies have now affirmed that an effective central office can play a major role in improving schools throughout the system. When Robert Marzano and Tim Waters (2009) conducted one of the largest-ever quantitative research studies on superintendents, they found a statistically significant relationship between district leadership and student achievement. (DuFour and Fullan, 2013, p. 5)

Second, the text centers on the importance of both people and systems. In fact, the authors encourage readers and practitioners to recognize that systems are built and implemented by people. Without this human element - sweat equity, input, buy-in, tweaking - systems and the success they can bring won't last.

Third, the text provides a framework to create and facilitate systems within schools. These components should sound familiar: a clear purpose, a shared vision, detailed action steps, and defined criteria of success. 

Not surprisingly, the authors repeatedly point everything back to doing what is best for students.

As I reflect on the collective work of the Diocese of Cleveland's Catholic high schools this year, our year-long theme has been alignment - to the bishop's vision for Catholic secondary education and to the mission of the school. We spent much time and energy on constructing data that we can analyze in order to improve - aligning our efforts to get better with concrete indicators of whether or not we have been successful. All of our schools have taken steps to reclaim, boldly proclaim, and explain the schools' mission, respectively. From ensuring that Advisory Boards know the mission to including it in Newsletters, much good work has been done to align school communities to the school's mission.

We have tried to provide clarity to processes on the diocesan level. Additionally, we have worked to offer expectations for teachers as it pertains to teaching, planning, assessment, and classroom management, aligning their work to form our students with best practices and standards of excellence worthy of the name Catholic. Similarly, we have brushed the dust from our schools' performance management systems, and taken many good steps toward providing evaluative feedback and support to all who have a part to play in advancing the mission of our schools.

As we move toward the finish line of the 2024–2025 academic year, celebrate the progress that has been made to design structures within Catholic schools that will allow us to ascend to new heights of academic achievement, faith formation, and operational vitality. Celebrate the many ways that you have made improvements so that any success achieved will be sustained and enhanced, regardless of who has our, or any, role within our schools. Finally, as we reflect on the successes of this year, let us set our sights on the creation and implementation of even more systemness within our Catholic schools next year and beyond.

As we do this, we will ensure that all Catholic schools - like the Catholic Church - are built to last.

Good News

“A humanity reawakened by Christ can generate new protagonists in the history of the world – new witnesses able to make judgments, able to discern right from wrong, good from evil, true good from passing pleasure.” 

-Archbishop Christophe Pierre, 2018

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

As ministers of Catholic education, our Church recognizes that we form an apostolate - meaning that like the apostles we have been sent on mission by Jesus Christ. As we share the story of our personal encounter with Jesus Christ, may we also consider the impact of stories in our broader leadership as well.

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Stories have the power to move us. God hardwired our brains to connect with stories. While listening to a story, the activation in our brains mirrors that of the storyteller (Stephens, Silbertc, & Hasson, 2010). We have the ability to predict the next parts of stories and some of the best stories are those that surprise us or twist what was anticipated. We tell stories naturally, seeing our lives in the context of settings, characters, themes and plot.

Stories possess incredible cultural weight. The stories that communities tell over and over convey that which the group values and holds as important (Hammond, 2015). These stories tell the tales of the heroes and protagonists of our organizations and inspire listeners to emulate the actions of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.

As storytellers, we have the ability to choose the heroes that get honored, the actions that we value, the metrics by which we judge success, and the ways in which we expect the community to behave. Everything tells the stories of our schools: from the news that we share in our newsletters to the data that we decide to collect/construct to the words that we use during graduation ceremonies, welcome nights, and faculty meetings. All of it contributes to the overall narrative of our schools (Deal and Petersen, 2016).

Marshall Ganz (2009) frames stories within the context of leadership in three movements: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now.

As you tell people your story - why have you said yes to leading at your school at this time in this capacity - you start to rally others to craft, share, and repeat a story of us - why they have similarly answered the call to serve in this place, at this time, in this way. As we build this collective tale of us - who we are as a school, what we value and hold as sacred - we can inspire people to tell the story of now: the motivating account that shows the gap between our aspirations and reality, providing the necessary spark for change.

Tell your story. 

Share the story of your school. 

Inspire action, creating even more good news.

Many United as One

One of the podcasts I listen to weekly is from Fr. John Ricardo. The leader of an organization called "Acts XXIX" (to signify that we are meant to live in the 29th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles) this past week Fr. John discussed the concept of "communio".

Providentially, Pope Leo XIV's episcopal motto mirrors this message: in illo uno unum - "although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one."

Simply, communio means many united as one while still being many. Rooted in the mystery of the Trinity - three Persons in one God - communio should also inspire our work as Catholic educators connected to the local traditions of our schools, the bishop of our respective dioceses, and the universal Church.

United and unique. Part of a system and autonomous. Together and individual.

Both/And.

Ideally, Catholic schools should benefit from being connected to centralized systems - parishes, orders, networks, dioceses - while remaining rooted in local charisms, traditions, and programs.

This duality requires strong balance and nimble flexibility. Much like differentiated instruction in a classroom, this dance between systemness and singularity demands that we create common structures while allowing for variance.

In my role as Associate Superintendent in the Diocese of Cleveland, much of my work has centered on alignment and the building of systems - hiring, temporal goods, budgeting, observations, board management, advancement, and data collection. This has been tempered with a respect for and consideration of the local realities of the schools here in the diocese. 

Like the early apostles who toiled to establish our Church throughout the world, much work remains in order for us to function in communio with each other while remaining unique. In a sense, this work always remains - we will always need to move and adapt in order to meet the needs of our current contexts while staying grounded in the beliefs of our faith.

For now, let us find inspiration in the zeal of the apostles for us to dialogue with and encourage each other through the various iterations of our systems. Let us mimic their hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us in this important work of designing structures, programs, and procedures that will more effectively and efficiently allow us to carry out the missions of our schools, respectively. And, may we imitate the bold faith of the apostles as we ensure our efforts always brings others into a relationship with Christ.

Hearts of Apostles

The Easter season features readings from the Acts of the Apostles. These tales of Jesus's disciples turned missionaries demonstrate the radical power of the Holy Spirit and the entrepreneurial approach to building the Church and extending the Kingdom of God on earth.

From healings to mass conversions to prison escapes to the ground shaking with the boldness of the apostles, these passages should encourage us as ministers and fellow missionary apostles.

In many ways, the work we have undertaken across Catholic education resembles the start-up mentality of these early Church heroes. Not to discount the hundreds of years of collective existence of our schools, we have been called to lead in times of transition and in ways that move from survival to thriving vitality.

These efforts require iterative drafts and models of policies, procedures, systems, and structures aimed at enhancing our work to live out the mission of our schools and carry out the vision for Catholic education of our Church

These starts and stops, revisions and edits, and successes and failures require apostolic leadership traits: missionary, visionary, strategic, collaborative, analytical, and professional.

We must balance and integrate origins and innovations. We must complement aspirational visions with concrete strategies. We must couple humble analysis with consistent professionalism. We must collaboratively bring others into these both-and approaches, inviting others into the important work of advancing the mission of Christ, His Catholic Church, and our schools.

Let us find inspiration in the acts of the apostles and boldly proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ so that the ground shakes. Let us imitate the first disciples and bring healing to a broken and wounded world so that the lame will rise up and dance. Let us walk in the footsteps of the giants that have gone before us - St. Mary, St. Peter, St. John the Evangelist, Pope Francis, and so many other holy women and men - so that others may come to know Christ through our words and actions.

“There must be nothing little among us; we must have the hearts of Apostles" (St. Julie Billiart). 

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