Entering the Blogging World

I have been contemplating for some time about starting a blog. I know that many of my colleagues in Catholic education have been commenting for sometime now so I am fairly late to the party. That being said, I think the issue that has finally driven me to start the process is the Newtown, CT tragedy last Friday. It has impacted me in a way that no other news story has since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

I think one of the reasons the situation has impacted me so profoundly is because I view the situation through two lenses: as a parent and as an educator. My wife and I have six kids and we specifically have a 6-year old daughter who is in the first grade. It is hard to look at her and her friends the past few days and not think about the 20 children who were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

And then as an educator, having spent my career in elementary education, I can't help but go through the students who have gone through the first grade in schools where I have served. Especially in Catholic schools, with the penultimate year before First Communion, it just seems so senseless and there are no words to express the grief and the impact it has had.

So, while that horrible situation is the impetus for me to start blogging, my intent is to focus on key issues in Catholic education and how it can be sustained, and grown, over the coming decades. In the Archdioceses of Los Angeles, we know that we are grossly under-serving the Catholic population with our K-12 Catholic schools. The challenge is how to address the access issues while ensuring that the quality of the product remains extremely high.

My hope is that through laying out some of the initiatives and goals that we are implementing in LA, and consequently getting feedback from those who are so inclined, a clear, optimistic and attainable future for Catholic schools will be apparent.