This past October, Catholic school leaders from several dioceses in the United States traveled together to Rome as pilgrims of hope. Called through a partnership between Fordham University and the National Catholic Educational Association, our small delegation was asked to represent Catholic education from prekindergarten through university at the Jubilee of the World of Education, celebrated within the wider Jubilee of Hope. The pilgrimage was thoughtfully organized by Dr. Gerald Cattaro of Fordham University, whose leadership and long standing commitment to Catholic education helped shape the rhythm and depth of our days together.
From the outset, the purpose of the journey was clear. We were invited to Rome to grow spiritually through prayer and the sacraments, to deepen our friendship and unity as colleagues, and to give visible witness to the importance of Catholic education in the life of the Church. The pilgrimage was also meant to connect our daily work to the wider conversations taking place with the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the pontifical association Scholas Occurrentes. A meeting with the United States ambassador to the Holy See had been scheduled, though it was ultimately cancelled due to the U.S. government shutdown, a small reminder that the life of the Church is never isolated from the life of nations.
One of the first days in Rome set the tone for the whole experience. In the quiet of the early morning, before St. Peter Basilica opened to the public, Archbishop Vincenzo Zani, President Emeritus of the Vatican Library and Archives, welcomed our group to the St. Clementine Chapel at the tomb of St. Peter. He celebrated Mass for us there and then personally led us through the Holy Door of the basilica. To stand at the tomb of the first pope, to walk through that door in prayer, and to know that we were carrying with us the intentions of our students, families, and colleagues back home was a profound grace and a vivid reminder that our ministry is rooted in the faith of the Apostles.
That same sense of being part of a living tradition continued in our meetings and visits. We spent time with leaders from Scholas Occurrentes and the Dicastery for Culture and Education, where we were invited to speak candidly about the realities facing Catholic schools in the United States and to listen to perspectives from around the world. Together we named both challenges and opportunities related to artificial intelligence and technology in the classroom, the safeguarding of Catholic identity, the impact of immigration on our communities, and demographic shifts that shape enrollment and access. These conversations were grounded not only in present concerns but also in the long history of Catholic education.
Our visits to Teutonico College, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the Pontifical Gregorian University made that history tangible. At the Gregorian, for example, we examined early Jesuit texts and original volumes connected to the Ratio Studiorum from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Holding those documents and discussing how they shaped Catholic schooling in previous eras helped us see that questions about curriculum, formation, and culture are not new. They have been wrestled with creatively in every age, adapting to new contexts without compromising the integrity of our faith tradition.
The Jubilee was also deeply tied to the wider life of the Church. On the Solemnity of All Saints we joined thousands of faithful in St. Peter Basilica as Pope Leo XIV officially proclaimed St. John Henry Newman the thirty-eighth Doctor of the Church and a co-patron of Catholic education. To be present for that moment, surrounded by educators and students from many nations, was a powerful affirmation that the union of faith and reason that Newman championed is still at the heart of our mission today.
Our days were marked by a steady rhythm of liturgy and pilgrimage. We passed through the Holy Doors of the four major basilicas of Rome, St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls, asking at each site for special graces for our dioceses and schools. We prayed in the Basilica of Santa Prassede, radiant with its early Christian mosaics, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Tiber Island, which houses relics of modern Christian martyrs.
A particularly moving moment came in the historic rooms of St. Ignatius beside the Church of the Gesù. There, where Ignatius wrote thousands of letters and helped shape the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, we celebrated Mass for the intentions of Catholic school educators throughout the world. To stand in that small space, so significant for the history of Catholic education, and to place our teachers, principals, pastors, presidents, and students on the altar in prayer, was a grace that will stay with us for a long time.
Photos courtesy of NCEA and pilgrims attending the Jubilee of the World of Education
There were quieter gifts as well. One morning began in a small chapel in our hotel dedicated to St. Maximilian Kolbe, where his relics are preserved. Another day we walked through the Catacombs of San Sebastiano and reflected on the courage of early Christians who handed on the faith under the threat of persecution. Visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum placed all of these experiences within the wider history of Rome and reminded us that the gospel has always been proclaimed amid complex and changing cultures.
Between liturgies, meetings, and visits, there was also time for simple conversation and community. Shared meals, walking from church to church, and even brief pauses for coffee or gelato became moments to trade stories from our dioceses, to speak honestly about both joys and burdens, and to recognize how much we have in common despite different local circumstances. Those moments helped to strengthen ties among us and to build a network of support that will continue long after the Jubilee has ended.
Since our return, we have reflected much on what this experience means for our own dioceses and schools. We returned with renewed gratitude for the countless educators who labor each day in classrooms, offices, and parish communities. We also came home with a clearer conviction that Catholic education is not a secondary activity in the life of the Church. It is one of the most effective ways the Church proclaims the gospel, forms disciples, and serves the world with hope.
For readers of Momentum, many of whom live this mission daily, the Jubilee of the World of Education is ultimately about you. When we prayed at the tomb of St. Peter, when we listened to Pope Leo XIV speak of hope, when we witnessed St. John Henry Newman named a Doctor of the Church, when we celebrated Mass in the rooms of St. Ignatius and before the relics of modern martyrs, we carried you, your schools, and your students in our hearts.
As we look ahead with renewed hope, let the words of St. John Henry Newman serve as inspiration for all who serve in Catholic education:
“God has created me to do some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work.”
Our time in Rome confirmed what you already know from your own experience: Catholic education matters profoundly for the future of the Church and for the young people entrusted to us. We are grateful to have stood together in the heart of the Church, and we are even more grateful to stand with you in this shared mission.
Gregory P. Monroe, Ph.D.is the superintendent of the Diocese of Charlotte.gpmonroe@rcdoc.org
Stacie Stueberis the superintendent of the Diocese of Bridgeport.sstueber@diobpt.org
Maria Wagneris the superintendent of the Diocese of Springfield.m.wagner@diospringfield.org
Erika D. Wikstrom, Ed.D.is the secretary for education and superintendent of the Diocese of Orlando.ewikstrom@orlandodiocese.org