Diocesan superintendent Dr. Adam Dufault served as a speaker at the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE)’s 14th annual National Conference held in Columbus this summer.
The event, which extends through July 17 at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel, gathers bishops, priests, religious, superintendents, principals and educators. ICLE seeks a renewal in Catholic education.
Dufault, who has served as the Columbus diocese’s superintendent for eight years, presented on Wednesday, July 15, as part of a series of breakout sessions for educators on the second day of the conference.
His presentation, “Turning Toward the Light,” offered a roadmap for igniting change in schools. He explored the Columbus diocese’s changes to Catholic schools in recent years, striving to provide students an authentic and unapologetically Catholic education.
“Our mission in renewal is that all of our activities and actions only matter if they point to Jesus Christ,” he said of schools. “Our bishop, Earl Fernandes, often states, ‘The participation of our students in the life of the Church is the marker of the success of our schools.’ This has become the foundation of our focus.”
For the Columbus diocese, changing its vision has brought a change in school leadership.
Renewing Catholic education, Dufault told educators, requires ensuring that every system, policy and practice is geared toward Christ.
RELATED | Bishop Fernandes sits down with Hannah Heil to talk about new pastoral letter
He noted the importance of teaching and revisiting the foundational concepts of Catholic education: Christian anthropology, human flourishing, Catholic worldview, freedom, virtue and communion.
“These are not abstract theological ideas reserved for conferences and graduate seminars,” he said. “They are the grammar of Catholic education. They shape how we understand students, how we teach, how we discipline, how we hire, and ultimately, how we define success.”
He offered examples from the Columbus diocese’s Office of Catholic Schools.
In the high schools, he noted as an example, a visitation process was created to assess Catholic culture. Theology and campus ministry are evaluated in schools. The goal, he said, is to engage with educators and campus ministers and better form students in faith.
The initiative led to greater unity and prioritization of faith among schools.
“I had one principal tell me that, if he could build it again, his school would have put the chapel right at the front door,” Dufault said.
The Office of Catholic Schools created guidelines for liturgies in high schools. Initiatives include exposing students to sacred music, providing Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and more opportunities for confession outside of the Advent and Lenten seasons.
“Renewal requires a steady series of intentional, incremental steps, each one building upon the last and moving us closer to our destination,” Dufault told educators. “We proceed with conviction, but also with openness.
“We know the kind of schools we are striving to become—schools that are unapologetically Catholic, academically excellent and places where students encounter JesusChrist and are formed for lives of virtue and mission.”
Dufault also emphasized the importance of forming administrators and educators in faith. School leaders must model faith for students.
The Office of Catholic Schools has worked to provide administrators with retreat opportunities. Principals gather annually for a retreat, disconnecting from the world to spend time in prayer and communion.
Last October, 30 administrators accompanied Bishop Earl Fernandes to Rome for the Church’s Jubilee for Educators.
RELATED | New Catholic school set to open this fall
“Not every school is in the same place on this journey,” he recognized. “Some schools are stabilizing enrollment, others are rebuilding culture, and still others are eager to move more rapidly toward a deeper renewal of Catholic culture and academic excellence.”
Dufault recognized the challenge of renewal and encouraged educators to persevere. The superintendent described renewal as reclaiming territory.
“We are not trying to invent a new Catholic school. We are trying to remember who we are,” he said.
“Every classroom that proclaims Christ, every teacher who models virtue and every student who learns to seek truth and holiness becomes a small victory in a much larger struggle. The work is difficult precisely because it matters.”
Catholic liberal education integrates faith and reason, moving beyond a secular model of education to form the whole human person in wisdom, virtue and wonder. ICLE seeks to reclaim the Church’s heritage of education, liberating students and teachers and orienting their minds to truth, which is freedom in Christ.