Leadership In Catholic Education: Hope For The Future.

Leadership In Catholic Education: Hope For The Future. LEADERSHIP IN CATHOLIC EDUCATION: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE DEIRDRE J.DUNCAN AND DAN RILEY (EDS (Electronic Data Systems, Plano, TX, www.eds.com) Founded in 1962 by H. Ross Perot (independent candidate for the President of the U.S. in 1992), EDS is the largest outsourcing and data processing services organization in the country. .), HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, 2002. GERALD CATTARO Fordham University Fordham University(fôr`dəm), in New York City; Jesuit; coeducational; founded as St. John's College 1841, chartered as a university 1846; renamed 1907. Fordham College for men and Thomas More College for women merged in 1974. In Leadership in Catholic Schools, Duncan and Riley have compiled acollection of papers that provides a framework for Catholic schoolleaders to analyze the issues facing Catholic schools in the 21stcentury. Although the papers specifically address the realities ofleadership in contemporary Australia and New Zealand New Zealand(zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , the wealth ofinformation contained in this book will be helpful for school leaders inany country. The editors asked the contributors to share theirperspectives on the major challenges within Catholic education and onthe place of the Catholic school in secular society. Catholic schoolshave experienced demographic changes in the last decade and must contendwith serious social issues such as the shifts in the traditional familystructure, a greater disparity of wealth within countries, technologicaladvances, students with special needs, and highly diverse studentpopulations. While addressing these important issues, the authors haveaddressed the place of the Catholic school in secular society. Moreimportantly, they have raised the question of retaining Catholicitywithin the schools while operating in such a society. In the first four chapters, the authors address the mission ofCatholic schools. Tony Kelly Tony Kelly is an Australian politician representing the Australian Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He currently serves as minister for lands, emergency services, rural affairs, juvenile justice and justice. opens with an informed discussion of thedistinctive characteristics of Catholic education with its emphasis oncommunity and the value of the human person. Kelly notes the importanceof community spirit and the feeling of "people involved insomething bigger than themselves" (p. 16) as key elements to theCatholic school identity. Theresa D'Orsa probes the changingdemographics of Catholic schools and their impact on the historicmission of the schools. D'Orsa calls for moving to a broaderconceptualization con��cep��tu��al��ize?v. con��cep��tu��al��ized, con��cep��tu��al��iz��ing, con��cep��tu��al��iz��esv.tr.To form a concept or concepts of, and especially to interpret in a conceptual way: of evangelization e��van��gel��ize?v. e��van��gel��ized, e��van��gel��iz��ing, e��van��gel��iz��esv.tr.1. To preach the gospel to.2. To convert to Christianity.v.intr.To preach the gospel. without undervaluing theschools' historic mission of ministering to the local Catholiccommunities. She challenges educators to think through the issues andseek to exercise the familiar mission in new and different ways. Thissection of the book concludes with two articles challenging Catholicleaders to develop new strategies for preparing lay people to take overthe roles of religious in maintaining the religious identity of theschools and to find new ways to integrate the religious, educational andsocial purposes of Catholic schooling within the context of a modernculture. David Hutton David Hutton (born 18 May 1985 in Glasgow) is a Scottish goalkeeper currently playing for Scottish First Division club Clyde.Hutton played for Aberdeen as a youth, though never made his senior debut there. asserts and develops the position that elements ofCatholic school identity are independent of society. He reviews thecommon purposes which all Catholic schools pursue through an historicperspective. This is must reading for those administrators involved instrategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. . In his essay "Catholic Schools--The Time Is Now," JoeMcCorley has skillfully combined the call for a radical new message forCatholic schools and the search for new models of authentic Christianleadership Since the time of Jesus people have been claiming to be "Christian leaders." The idea of leadership as it is currently understood in its many variations and facets would have been little understood by Jesus' earliest followers. to challenge administrators to seek new organizationalstructures. His description of the "living unit" will be ofparticular interest to administrators who are seeking alternativestructures within large Catholic schools. McCorley envisions educationas a web of small learning, living units interconnected across theschool. Although the concept of the living unit might seem far-fetched,his discussion of radical relationship building and "strangeattractor Strange AttractorAn attractor in phase space, where the points never repeat themselves, and orbits never intersect, but they stay within the same region of phase space. Unlike limit cycles or point attractors, strange attractors are non-periodic, and generally have a fractal " is helpful, visionary thinking. The next three authors focus on the reality of leadership inCatholic schools. Anne Benjamin defines school leadership within theperspective of engagement with society. She maintains that the properrelationship between Catholic schools and society is one ofinterdependence, interaction, and involvement. Educational leaders havea responsibility to facilitate and encourage such interaction in theexercise of their leadership responsibilities. Therese Power cautionsschool leaders to lift the "glass ceiling" that stillconfronts women in their quest for leadership in Catholic schools. Thishard-hitting article challenges parishes and dioceses to review theircurrent practices and develop strategies to address the gender bias inmany school settings. Kelvin Canavan's article describes in detailthe highly successful planning and appraisal process of "the Sydneycycle." Management teams might consider incorporating thisframework into a long-term strategic planning process. The remaining chapters address some important challenges facingCatholic schools in the current decade. In the Tasmanian situation, PaulStevens discusses the impact of declining enrollments and economicinstability on the long-term viability of Catholic schools. His analysisof burgeoning non-Catholic enrollments and the Church's commitmentto retain Catholicity within the schools raises the question of thesustainability of core values while operating in an increasingly secularsociety. Marketing Catholic schools, according to Deirdre Duncan, is oneof the new realities for educational leaders in our consumerist society.She cautions Catholic school administrators not to compromise theschools' core values to follow the market and increase enrollments.With the expansion of vouchers in the United States, PatrickLynch's discussion of the New Zealand Private Schools ConditionalIntegration Act might be interesting reading for those educatorsconcerned about increased state support for Catholic schools. Lynchdocuments the successes of the move in 1975 to place the Catholicschools under the country's state school system. While preservingthe special character of the schools, Church leaders have been able toopen up a wide range of resources that enabled the schools not only tosurvive, but to flourish. A chapter on student rights is a reminder toall administrators that Catholic school leaders must be increasinglycognizant of legal issues and school law. The issues confronted bypublic school administrators throughout the years have now become partof the private school scene. This book raises many serious issues confronting Catholic schoolstoday. It provides an informed perspective of these issues and documentstheir historical origins. A reader will not always agree with thepositions offered, but an open, public policy debate will be helpful inaddressing the ongoing challenges faced by Catholic schools in thiscompetitive environment. Timothy J. Ilg is an assistant professor at the University ofDayton The University of Dayton is one of the ten largest Catholic schools in the United States and is the largest of the three Marianist universities in the nation. It is also home to one of the largest campus ministry programs in the world. .