Detroit — Standing before hundreds of Catholic school teachers and administrators, Sr. John Mary Fleming, OP, asked a simple question: What part of this “Catholic thing,” makes Catholic schools distinct?

“What makes Catholicism, of all the competing philosophies in the world, distinctive?” said Sr. Fleming, executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Catholic Education.

“Bishop Robert Barron (auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles) has this answer,” Sr. Fleming continued. “Catholicism’s great principle is the Incarnation, the enfleshment of God. The mind of the Word of God, the mind of the whole universe coming into this ordinary world of ours. That’s the ‘Catholic thing.’”

During her keynote address at the fourth annual Archdiocese of Detroit Teachers and Administrators Conference at the University of Detroit Mercy on Aug. 8, Sr. Fleming told teachers embracing a Catholic culture is what makes Catholic schools a necessary part of the Church’s mission of saving souls.

“What is the primary saving work of the Church?” Sr. Fleming asked. “It’s redemption, salvation and holiness. That’s a major, major task. The work of Catholic schools is to introduce young people to the saving, redeeming nature of Jesus Christ.”



Sr. Fleming said embracing a Catholic culture in school means every class, every assembly, every activity related to Catholic schools must be Christ-centered. She explained this culture is only possible when all teachers — regardless of what subject they teach — incorporate the Christian message in the curriculum, when faculty and staff gather daily for group prayer, and when administrators regularly schedule retreats for teachers and students to encourage spiritual and personal growth.

“I can’t overstate the role you play in the lives of your students,” Sr. Fleming said. “How you live, how you speak to them, how you lead them to virtue, how you overcome the challenges each day, matters. The most important thing you will do every day is your witness to the faith of Jesus Christ.”

Before Sr. Fleming spoke, Kathleen McCann, chairwoman of the archdiocesan Catholic Schools Council, encouraged the more than 800 teachers present — a record turnout, according to conference organizers — to read Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron’s pastoral letter Unleash the Gospel.

“It’s as inspiring as all get-out,” McCann exclaimed. “It’s so focused on what everyone does in Catholic education and what we do in our schools. The Catholic Schools Council is working along with the evangelization team to put together our plan, our response, if you will, to Unleash the Gospel, helping our schools, parishes, prepare a long-term strategic plan for our schools in the archdiocese.”
McCann emphasized the role Catholic schools have in the pastoral letter’s vision; in particular, the archbishop’s promise that any Catholic family will have access to a Catholic education if they desire one.

“This is a big ask, but all things are possible with God,” McCann said. “We live in a Catholic community of joyful, missionary disciples who know the call to evangelization is where everyone is responsible for the success of Catholic education.”

Fr. Stephen Pullis, the newly appointed director of evangelization, catechesis and schools for the Archdiocese of Detroit, echoed McCann about archdiocesan schools’ role in the new evangelization.



“It’s no coincidence that our Catholic Schools Office is embedded within the Department of Evangelization, Catechesis and Schools,” Fr. Pullis said. “That’s because your mission as teachers in Catholic schools is also your mission to share the Gospel with the children entrusted to you. I was at an institute of Catholic priests who are working in Catholic schools, and one of the presenters said, ‘There is no better vehicle for evangelization in our Church, than our Catholic schools.’

“This missionary conversion we’re undergoing is going to change the way we think about Catholic schools,” Fr. Pullis continued. “We should be very grateful; I know I am, we get to be part of this moment to ‘Unleash the Gospel’ with our brothers and sisters, with the children that’ve been entrusted to you.”

Sr. Fleming finished her keynote address saying Catholic schools are the most liberating educational environment in the country; where teachers have the freedom to ask “the big questions” about God. “We’re free to engage in topics of temporal and eternal importance,” Sr. Fleming said. “We don’t have to pretend God doesn’t exist. This year, at this conference, let this be an examination of conscience. Do we use that freedom, or do we try to be like the school down the street?”