A History of CACE  

The Department of the Chief Administrators of Catholic Education (CACE) has its origins in the beginning years of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). While the name and organization of CACE has changed over the years, it has served as the primary professional organization for Catholic school superintendents and catechetical leaders since 1908. 
 
Among the first members of the NCEA, as members of the original Parish School Department, school superintendents from diocesan and religious orders began conferring informally as a separate NCEA sub-group in 1906.  This group started to meet because of their unique needs, perspectives, and the importance of collegiality.  So successful was their ad hoc interaction that in 1908 they became an official section, under the Parish School Department of NCEA. Almost 100 years later, the same innovative sense of purpose and inspiration that brought those first members together still guides their successors in CACE.
 
Known since the early 1970's as Chief Administrators of Catholic Education the department today is made up of four groups that work together in building Catholic schools and parish catechetical programs: Total Catholic Education, Schools, Religious Education, and Catholic Higher Education Supporting Catholic Schools (CHESCS).
 
The development of Catholic schools and catechetical programs is a distinct story in the history of American Catholicism.  CACE is proud to recognize and celebrate the chief administrators of Catholic education for their past, present and ongoing service to Catholic schools and catechetical programs. 
  
For additional information on the history of CACE, see the following books: Lighting the Way 1908 to 1935: The Early Years of Catholic School Superintendency, and Leaders in Times of Trial and Eras of Expansion, 1936 to 1971 by John J. Augenstein.  Available through the NCEA book store.