Blog Title - Why Changing the Ending?

The title of this blog comes from a Notre Dame study that was released in 2006. It was titled, Making God Known, Loved and Served and it was in response to the USCCB document that was released in 2003, Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium. The report from Notre Dame was a response to the bishops' call to support Catholic schools and it laid out a number of steps that Notre Dame, and other institutions of higher learning, could take to support K-12 Catholic schools.

It is a good document and worth reading if you haven't done so already, but the ending summary is where the title of the blog, and the motto of our work in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, comes from:

"Will it be said of our generation that we presided over the demise of the most effective and important resource for evangelization in the history of the Church in the United States? Will it be said of our generation that we lacked the resolve to preserve national treasures built upon the sacrifice of untold millions? Will it be said of our generation that we abandoned these powerful instruments of justice that provide educational opportunity and hope for families otherwise trapped in poverty? Surely not. Instead, when the story of Catholic schools is written, historians will look back on our age and marvel that against great odds, we changed the ending.”

The key to the message is that all of the faithful need to commit to the vision. Catholic

schools cannot just be a resource that Catholic educators want to see continue. They have to

be viewed by the Church at large as a vital ministry of the parish and there has to be a

commitment to seeing them continue to not only survive but thrive.