All the WISER

Nashville, TN – The third annual WISE Conference was held July 11-14 at the Aquinas College Center for Catholic Education.

“I have attended seminars and webinars, but nothing has…led me to the truth more than WISE,” said one participant. School leaders and educators from around the country formed a diverse community at WISE: Witness, Inspire, Serve, Educate. The WISE Conference provides time to delve into the nature, purpose, and mission of the Catholic school.

Sister Elizabeth Anne, O.P., Director of the Center for Catholic Education, reflected, “For some of the people that was the high point: to be together and to see the vastness of Catholic education – that we’re not in this alone. What happens in my diocese, my school, my classroom… does not happen in a vacuum. What we do individually is not in isolation, but in communion with the Church. That ecclesial dimension can be overlooked in the day-to-day grading of papers and following of schedules. So to have time to focus on the mission and the educator in the Catholic school, whatever their role, is a little microcosm, what it means to be part of the Mystical Body of Christ.”

Since its inception in 2016, the WISE Conference has served educators from coast to coast in nearly 20 dioceses.The conference aims to present the Church’s vision for Catholic schools contained in Gravissimum Educationis and as echoed through subsequent magisterial teachings up to the present time. Sessions included dynamic collaboration, stories from the classroom, and interactive feedback from presenters and colleagues alike.

“We see that Catholic education contributes to the evangelizing mission of the Church. To really understand that connection, that link, is so encouraging, because it helps us understand as educators the great dignity of teaching,” Sister Elizabeth Anne said.

Faculty formation sponsored by the Center for Catholic Education continues through the Fall at schools nationally.