IEI Co-Sponsors Conference at the Notre Dame London Global Gateway
The University of Notre Dame and St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, will explore strategic responses to secularization, freedom and accountability and school leader formation in Catholic schools in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland at an international conference at the Notre Dame London Global Gateway starting tomorrow.
“Contemporary Issues Facing Catholic Schools: Lessons from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States” is designed to deepen international, research-based dialogue by providing a platform to compare Catholic education institutions across the three countries and to strengthen the systems in each.
With 14 scheduled presenters and 45 attendees, including several bishops and university faculty, the conference’s sponsors hope they will spur important dialogue about the best approach to ensuring the vitality of Catholic schools internationally.
“This conference provides a unique opportunity for us to share the challenges that Catholic schools face in each of our countries,” said John Staud, the acting director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. “We believe that this dialogue will lead to thoughtful ways we can work together to strengthen Catholic education.”
Along with the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the conference is sponsored by the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. The Notre Dame London Global Gateway with the help of Bridget Keating, is hosting the conference.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Cardinal Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster (London) will preside and preach at the opening mass at the Westminster Cathedral. Bishop Arturo Cepeda of Detroit, Bishop Thomas Deenihan of Meath in Ireland, and Bishop John Wilson of Westminster will then outline the most challenging issues facing Catholic education in their countries.
The remainder of the conference will feature four discussions, each featuring several panelists representing the three countries. The first panel will hone in on the mission of Catholic education within the context of modern-day secularization and how to best counter growing religious disengagement.
The second panel will explore the relationship between education policy, Catholic school institutions and the freedom and autonomy of choice, including the degree of parental freedom in school choice, the freedom of schools to sculpt and pursue individual missions and school accountability as mandated by the government.
The third panel will discuss effective teacher and leader formation as panelists describe the most strategic approaches to building “missionary disciples” within Catholic educational institutions.
The fourth panel will center on faith and character formation, particularly how to best engage students with the Gospel in a way that resonates beyond the classroom.
The London conference is the fourth in a series of international gatherings sponsored by the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Kellogg Institute to provide a research-based context for global Catholic education. While enrollment in U.S. Catholic schools has declined since peaking in the mid-20th century, enrollment worldwide has soared, particularly in the Global South. Notre Dame researchers are interested in what can be learned from Catholic schools internationally and applied to schools in the United States and around the world.
