An enormous amount of valuable work was accomplished by our summer interns: Teagan Byrne, Chuck Koach, and Niall Maguire from Christendom College and Daniel Reilly from Benedictine College. With gratitude to our donors, Chuck writes “Every day, I see firsthand the powerful impact of your support: how it helps promote faithful Catholic education and transform hearts for Christ.” Thank you!
I’m excited to announce that John Sherman has joined our staff as Vice President of Development. Previously Chief Development Officer of CatholicVote, he has also held leadership positions at T. Rowe Price, Bank of America, and MetLife. John is a convert and has shared his story on EWTN’s The Journey Home and the SiriusXM radio show, Seize the Day. As a husband and father of four sons—all of whom were educated in Catholic schools—he is passionate about our mission at The Cardinal Newman Society. Please keep John and his work in your prayers!
Please help spread the word to high school students and parents about our Virtual College Fail on the Feast of St. John Henry Newman. Live sessions will run on Thursday, October 9, from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. ET. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from renowned speakers on navigating the college search and to meet with admissions representatives from Newman Guide Recommended colleges. Registration is required, but the event is free of charge. Families can register at: https://newmansoc.org/fair.
With the announcement by Pope Leo that St. John Henry Newman will be named the 38th Doctor of the Church, we anticipate with great joy his feast day on October 9! In thanksgiving for your support, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered for you and all Members of The Cardinal Newman Society on this day.
CNS members were invited to pray a novena October 1-9 asking St. John Henry Newman’s intercession for the renewal of faithful Catholic education and the blessing of the work and mission of The Cardinal Newman Society. Please add this intention to your daily prayers as well.
Your support allowed a thorough review of the mission, curriculum, and policies of the Chesterton Schools Network’s 80 Catholic high schools. I’m happy to announce each of these faithful schools has been invited to complete Newman Guide recognition by an expedited review process. Thank you for helping recommend more faithful institutions for families.
Kingswood Academy in Darien, Ill., is the 25th primary/secondary school to achieve Newman Guide recognition, another milestone toward expanding The Newman Guide to recognize all faithful Catholic education across the U.S. You make this success possible!
This PK-8 independent school was founded by Catholic parents and offers weekly Mass and frequent opportunities for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The school provides a Montessori-based preschool and a classical curriculum for all grades, integrating the Catholic faith into every subject.
When I say we need more Charlie Kirks, I don’t mean we’re lacking in heroic witnesses today. With your help, The Cardinal Newman Society will keep telling the stories of exemplary graduates of faithful Newman Guide education—like Katie Xavios!
Katie is a 2018 graduate of Belmont Abbey College who now leads American Life League, a faithfully Catholic pro-life organization. When choosing Belmont Abbey, Katie says she “trusted the opinion of The Newman Guide, knowing I wanted to go to an authentically Catholic school.” She joined the pro-life club and volunteered at MiraVia, an on-campus women’s shelter. “The experiences I had there really opened my eyes to how important the work is and how meaningful it is to be able to help a mom in need.”
Your support also helps celebrate students who are standing up to oppose dissident Catholic education. Don’t miss our two-part Cardinal Newman Society Podcast (see link at our website) with Emily Torres, a convert who enrolled at Loyola University Chicago and encountered “Free Condom Fridays,” pro-abortion protests, drag shows mocking religious life, and professors pushing gender ideology. Despite threats and public ridicule, Emily organized protests and reported anti-Catholic behavior to Loyola University administrators, only to be met with silence.
Thanks to the support of friends like you, I see many hopeful signs of a “Second Spring” in Catholic education, but we can’t ignore ongoing problems. That’s why we’re launching a new e-mail series for CNS members: “NOT in The Newman Guide!” (If you aren’t getting our emails, sign up using the enclosed form or at our website.)
With your help, we’ll expose egregious failures in Catholic education, like DePaul University’s support for a pro-abortion student club affiliated with Planned Parenthood. In the spring, DePaul suddenly banned the club, rightly declaring it violates DePaul’s “Catholic, Vincentian values,” but officials have since encouraged restarting the club without PP. So much for Catholic values!
Meanwhile, in July, a Georgetown University-funded publication, The Georgetown Voice, celebrated “abortion doulas” who assist women during abortions. Georgetown University nursing professor Christina Marea is quoted praising the practice as “beautiful” and lamenting cuts to federal funding for abortions.
Another Jesuit institution, the University of Scranton, has proudly hired pro-abortion former Sen. Bob Casey to teach and mentor students. St. Ignatius, pray for us!
If you’re looking to make some sense of what has happened, watch this webinar I presented for the Institute for Catholic Culture this summer, and please share it with others: cardinalnewmansociety.org/educational-emergency-video. It focuses on Pope Benedict’s warning about today’s “educational emergency” and why there is renewed hope in Newman Guide Recommended education.
Exciting things are happening in Catholic education, thanks to your support. But the horrific killings of Charlie Kirk and the students at Annunciation School in Minneapolis are still weighing heavily on my mind. Please know that our staff is praying with you for the victims and their families and teachers. And like you, we are dismayed and outraged by this great evil.
So much has already been said. Allow me to just add a few brief comments relevant to Catholic families and educators. I’d love to hear your thoughts, too! Send me a note in the enclosed envelope or to members@cardinalnewmansociety.org.