Eileen Cubanski
Former Executive Director and Co-Founder, National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS)
The Cardinal Newman Society gratefully presents the Saint John Henry Newman Award to Eileen Cubanski, a co-founder and long-time Executive Director of the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS). Her pioneering leadership in fostering independent, lay-led Catholic education across the United States and helping parents ensure the faithful formation of their children has blessed thousands of families. On their behalf, we recognize Eileen Cubanski for her inspirational and selfless leadership, and we uphold Mrs. Cubanski and NAPCIS as models for the reform of Catholic education.
Throughout the 1980s, the seeds of the independent school movement were planted in the heart and mind of Eileen Cubanski, the future director of the National Association of Private Catholic* and Independent Schools (NAPCIS).
She recounts a time[27] when, as a first-grade teacher in a Sacramento parish school, she attended a faculty in-service and was shown a film by the dissident Fr. Richard McBrien, chairman of the University of Notre Dame’s department of theology. McBrien advocated women’s ordination, the repeal of priestly celibacy, the use of birth control, and defiance of the papal doctrine of infallibility.[28] After 15 years of teaching and eight in school administration, including founding St. Maria Goretti Academy in Loomis, Calif., Cubanski clearly saw that something needed to be done to provide families a more faithful education. NAPCIS started to take shape when Cubanski met and joined forces with Fran Crotty, who had been working for several years helping lay Catholics figure out how to start small independent schools. He sought out, encouraged, and cajoled prospective school entrepreneurs, while laying bare the hard facts of running a private, independent school operating on the edges of the diocesan system. Crotty provided the crystalizing vision behind NAPCIS and the independent Catholic education movement.
In 1995, he stepped forward to direct the formation of NAPCIS with four founding schools: Kolbe Academy in Napa, Calif. (opened in 1980), Manresa Academy in Reno, Nevada (opened in 1993 and closed in 1995), St. Maria Goretti Academy in Sacramento, Calif. (opened in 1993 and closed in 2007), and Thomas Aquinas School in Tahoe City, Calif. (opened in 1994 and closed in 2005). The original board members included John Brennan, Carol Coyne, Fran and Margie Crotty, Eileen Cubanski, Chuck and Margaret Day, Michele Jenkins, Jerry and Diane Muth, Chris Potter, Doug and Janet Sherman, and Robert Spencer. It was Diane Muth who coined the association’s unofficial motto, “It’s all about the salvation of souls and academic excellence.”[29]
Within its first five years, NAPCIS membership went from 4 schools to 32 schools (2000); adding a net 14 more schools in the next five years (2005); 16 in the following five years (2010); and 20 in the next 13 years (2023), for a total of 82 current and active member schools (two schools merged).”
“According to Eileen Cubanski, a founder and long-time executive director of the National Association of Private Catholic* and Independent Schools (NAPCIS),[13] the first independent school providing a Catholic education was Holy Innocents Academy in Kinnelon, N.J., founded in 1967 by Dr. William Marra.[14] Parents with children in Catholic schools had alerted him that objectional sexual materials were being presented to students.[15] Dr. Marra’s good friend, philosopher Dietrich Von Hildebrand, encouraged him to open Holy Innocents Academy. He had previously founded Catholic Media Apostolate[16] and hosted a radio series often featuring Von Hildebrand. It is not certain when the school closed.”
The Cardinal Newman Society is honored to present the St. John Henry Newman Award to Mrs. Eileen Cubanski, the founder of National Association of Private Catholic* and Independent Schools (NAPCIS), a true pioneer in classical independent Catholic education. Her biography for the past 40+ years is tied to the story of the development of NAPCIS, which is excerpted below from . NAPCIS history. Her retirement in 2025 led to The Cardinal Newman Society acquiring NAPCIS. Additionally, Eileen graciously provided an acceptance speech but due to time could not be read during the banquet. Please take the time to her story below as well as her acceptance about a most gracious and humble visionary.
