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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arlington, Va.—During the annual convention and convocation in Boston, the National Catholic Educational Association will honor five individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Catholic education. Four awards will be presented during an awards dinner on April 10.  The Emmaus award will be presented during the convocation of the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors  (NPCD) at an awards banquet April 12.

The honors include the C. Albert Koob Merit Award to Thomas and Rita Walters of Santa Clause, Indiana; the Msgr. John Meyers Award to Anthony F. DiCroce of Manchester, Massachusetts; the Catherine T.McNamee, CSJ, Award to Brother James Branigan, CSC of West Haven, Connecticut and the Leonard F. DeFiore Parental Choice Award to Robert Aguirre of San Antonio, Texas.  Michael Carotta of Louisville is the recipient of the NPCD Emmaus Award for Excellence in Catechesis.          

Background on the awards and winners follows:

C. Albert Koob Merit Award -- Honors a distinguished Catholic educator who has made extraordinary contributions on a regional or national level.

Thomas and Rita Walters

Thomas P. and Rita Tyson Walters have served catechetical ministry for almost 40 years. They began researching the ministry in the late 1970s, centering on profiles of catechetical leadership and programming in the United States. Their work helps better understand who the leaders are, what they do and their effectiveness in ministry on both the parish and diocesan levels
Of particular note, Rita and Tom conduct and share their research in collaboration with ministry organizations such as NCEA, National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors, National Conference for Catechetical Leadership and the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry. They have created a website to provide Roman Catholic catechetical leaders with current research on their profession and on their efforts to catechize effectively in the communities they serve. Users are invited to share their reflections on the research results and offer their practical suggestions for improving the role of the catechetical leader and parish programming.
Tom served as academic dean of Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology for many years; he is now the full-time professor of religious education. He is a well-known author and speaker, gifted at engaging catechetical leaders across the country in thoughtful reflection on practice, spirituality and ministry in the Catholic Church. Rita has retired after a career in grant writing. The Walters reside in Santa Clause, Indiana.
Recent publications by the Walters include “A Crucial Key: Generational Perspectives and Catechetical Leadership” and “2011 National Survey of Parish Catechetical Leaders.”

 

 

  

Msgr. John E. Meyers Award -- Honors an individual who has supported Catholic education at any level or in any educational setting.

 

Anthony F. DiCroce

Anthony DiCroce of Manchester, Massachusetts, is known as the person who saved St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. Despite its 130-year history, by the early 1990s St. Mary’s enrollment had dropped to 370 students and the school was on the brink of insolvency. DiCroce, a 1967 graduate of the former St. Mary's Boys High School and CEO of Dicomm Ventures, stepped forward to provide leadership to a group of alumni, alumnae and friends who were determined to keep the school open. Over more than 15 years he spearheaded the first strategic planning process to look at improving academic quality, growing enrollment, adding faculty resources and strengthening the Catholic mission.

He co-chaired a successful $10 million capital campaign and made his own generous six-figure gift to kick off the campaign. He led the transition from 125 years of parish governance to an independent school model with a lay board of trustees with financial responsibilities. He served as first chairman of the new board and orchestrated a transition to the next generation of board leadership.

Today St Mary’s is a thriving inner-city school enrolling 700 students whose graduates go on to attend some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities.

 

Catherine T. McNamee, CSJ, Award -- Honors leadership in promoting a vision of Catholic education that welcomes and serves cultural and economic diversity and enhances service of students with diverse needs.

Brother James Branigan, CSC

Brother James Brangian, a Brother of Holy Cross for 40 years, has been president of Notre Dame High School in West Haven, Connecticut, for the past 17 years. He is committed to serving economically disadvantaged students in his work in Catholic schools.
Through his leadership and a combination of donor support, financial aid and partnerships with the Shepherds Program, Notre Dame has remained accessible to students from the poorest neighborhoods in the greater New Haven area. Initially he partnered with Sacred Heart/St Peter School, an inner-city elementary school, and later with St. Martin de Porres Academy to promise every male student that he had a place for them at Notre Dame. For the past 10 years, he partnered with the Shepards Program to provide scholarships to the school. Each Shepard student has a sponsor who pays some or all of the school tuition and who becomes a mentor who meets with the student regularly, monitors the student’s academic progress and serves as a role model.

For the past five years, Brother Branigan also secured funds to run a summer camp for St Martin de Porres students. The camp, staffed by Notre Dame High School faculty, offers opportunities for students to participate in academic and sports programs.

 

Leonard F. DeFiore Parental Choice Award --Honors an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting full and fair parental choice in education.

Robert B. Aguirre

Robert Aguirre is a longtime activist for parental choice as a means to strengthen both private and public education to serve the needs of low-income families.

In 1994, along with three other businessmen, he founded what is now known as the Alliance for School Choice. In 1998 he formed the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options with a mission to organize Hispanic communities to fight for access to equal educational opportunities and to advance education public policy at the state level. He is co-founder and managing director of the Children’s Educational Opportunity Foundation, a privately funded school choice endeavor that has provided financial assistance to more than 6,000 high-risk San Antonio students. He helped establish similar privately funded scholarship assistance organizations in 102 cities, representing private philanthropic support totaling more than $500 million. As an integral part of providing scholarship assistance, Aguirre developed a grass-roots organizing model that included working with parents on topics ranging from parenting and family issues to health care and promotion of a family culture of education.

Aguirre is also president and CEO of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, the only national Hispanic lay organization in the country. He owns Robert Aguirre Consultants, a strategic planning, organizational development and project management consulting firm in San Antonio.

 

NPCD Emmaus Award for Excellence in Catechesis --Honors someone with a national or international reputation in the field of catechetics/religious education who has made a significant contribution to Catholic catechesis through writing, publishing, teaching at the college or university level, administration or research and development over a period of at least 10 years.

Michael Carotta

Michael Carotta’s career in the field of adolescent catechesis began when he was a 19-year-old college sophomore and left his dorm to become a live-in tutor at a residential center for youth at risk. Later, while earning his master’s degree in religious education from Loyola University in New Orleans, Carotta taught in Catholic schools and was a parish director of religious education. At age 29, he became director of adolescent catechesis and catechetical formation for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, where he created Lifesigns, a youth-to-youth radio show, and helped develop Discovery, the nation’s first catechetical program tailored specifically for young adolescents.
While serving as director of religious education at Father Flanagan’s Boys Town he designed a new religious education curriculum for both Catholic and Protestant youth.

In 1991, Carotta became the first lay executive director of the NCEA Department of Religious Education, where he led the revision of both ACRE (Assessment of Catholic Religious Education) and IFG (Information for Growth). After serving three years at NCEA, Carotta returned to his first calling of adolescent catechesis by becoming the coordinator of youth ministry for the Archdiocese of Louisville. He is now the catechetical consultant for the curriculum division of Our Sunday Visitor and general editor of their new high school series based on the bishops’ framework for adolescent catechesis.

NCEA, founded in 1904, is a professional membership organization that provides leadership, direction and service to fulfill the evangelizing, catechizing and teaching mission of the church. NCEA's members include elementary schools, high schools, parish religious education programs and seminaries.

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