Growing the Church Through Catholic Education: Defining Catholic Identity in Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools and Employing Data for Improving Catholic School Mission and Culture

Link, Melissa S.

Etd

Growing the Church Through Catholic Education: Defining Catholic Identity in Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools and Employing Data for Improving Catholic School Mission and Culture

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Link, Melissa S. Growing the Church Through Catholic Education: Defining Catholic Identity In Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools and Employing Data for Improving Catholic School Mission and Culture. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dca155af-4ddd-4655-94e9-8dac0f348908.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

L. M. S. Growing the Church Through Catholic Education: Defining Catholic Identity in Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools and Employing Data for Improving Catholic School Mission and Culture. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dca155af-4ddd-4655-94e9-8dac0f348908

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Link, Melissa S. Growing the Church Through Catholic Education: Defining Catholic Identity In Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools and Employing Data for Improving Catholic School Mission and Culture. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/dca155af-4ddd-4655-94e9-8dac0f348908.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Link, Melissa S.

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

The role of Catholic education in the United States is, in part, to form the whole child in mind, body, and spirit. As the universal Church enters its third millennium of existence, magisterial leaders are calling upon communities of faith to discern the mission of Catholic institutions and their role in serving God’s Church and the world. If Catholic schools are to be successful in their mission, it is critical that clerical and lay school leaders align on what is meant by the term “Catholic identity” as well as identify shared characteristics of Catholic identity in faith-based school communities. With this in mind, several questions are raised: What, exactly, defines the identity and work of a “Catholic” school in contemporary times? Can interpretation of “Catholic identity” differ from one school to another? Who has the authority to set benchmarks for Catholic school identity? In what ways can Catholic identity be quantitatively measured to advance school improvement and deepen alignment to the mission of the Church? To what extent can we really know if our efforts to share the Gospel through Catholic education are successfully contributing to the mission of the modern Church? This project aims to engage Catholic school leaders in dialogue around definitions of Catholic identity and how school stakeholder survey data can be utilized to set and achieve school improvement goals around deepening the Catholic identity, mission, and culture of schools within the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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