Alliance for Catholic Education Honored with Seton Award

The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) will be recognized by the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) with the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award on Monday (Oct. 5) at a gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the award in Washington, D.C. The award celebrates individuals and organizations that have shown a lifelong devotion to serving the nation’s youth through the apostolate of Catholic education.

“Catholic schools have for more than a century distinguished themselves as indispensable vessels of transformative grace in the lives of our students and families,” Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., Hackett Family Director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and founder ofACE, said. “It is truly a blessing to share in this important work of the Gospel.”

Father Scully and Rev. Louis A. DelFra, C.S.C., ACE director of spiritual life, will accept the award on ACE’s behalf on Monday. ACE joins a number of other organizations and individuals receiving this year’s Seton Award, including the Archdiocese of Washington and Bishop Paul Loverde from the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. The NCEA also awards scholarships to deserving Catholic school students in the honorees’ local communities.

Named after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, in recognition of her lifelong dedication to teaching and children, the Seton Award is presented annually to individuals and organizations whose support and service impact Catholic education and the well-being of the nation’s youth. This the 25th anniversary of the Seton Award, a landmark event for the NCEA and its members.

ACE has, for more than 20 years, sought to strengthen and transform Catholic schools around the country and internationally in numerous ways: recruiting and forming the next generation of teachers and leaders, establishing networks to extend the Catholic school advantage to thousands of new families, and developing an array of other programs to give disadvantaged children the opportunities they need and deserve. ACE’s graduates and programs have reached 70 percent of U.S. dioceses, 412 Catholic schools, and more than 180,000 children.