NEW BOOK
Lessons from Massachusetts’ successful Catholic schools
At a time when Catholic secondary schools are closing all across the country, A Vision of Hope reviews the successes of this education model in Massachusetts, and offers recommendations to help these schools increase student enrollment. It includes contributions from a broad range of nationally renowned researchers and authors; a foreword by George Weigel, author of an international bestselling two-part biography of Pope St. John Paul II; and an introduction from former Ambassadors to the Holy See Raymond Flynn and Mary Ann Glendon. The book contends that Catholic schools in Massachusetts must focus on the characteristics that make them academically successful and distinguish them from traditional public schools, but must also seek new models and governance structures that will help them achieve financial sustainability. At the same time, barriers to public support of the schools should be eliminated.
Catholic schools in Massachusetts deliver high test scores, high college attendance and graduation rates. The majority of elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Boston are in urban areas and disproportionately serve poor and minority families. Parents of all faiths and beliefs are also drawn to the unrelenting focus on achievement, classic liberal arts education, discipline and values that are part of a Catholic education. Catholic educators are developing new models to address these challenges, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue was an important step toward invalidating so-called Blaine Amendments to the constitutions of Massachusetts and many other states that prohibit public money from flowing to religious schools parents. Among its many recommendations, the book includes a proposal for a tax credit scholarship program for Massachusetts that would likely have been impermissible prior to Espinoza.
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A VISION OF HOPE – CATHOLIC SCHOOLING IN MASSACHUSETTS
ABOUT OUR EDITORS
Cara Stillings Candal, Ed.D
Cara Stillings Candal, Ed.D has spent the last 10 years working in education policy as a Senior Fellow with Pioneer Institute and the Center for Education Reform. She was also a founding team member of the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education (NAATE) and a research assistant professor at Boston University in the Department of Educational Leadership and Development. Candal has authored/edited more than 25 papers and three books on education policy. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Indiana University, a Master of Arts in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a Doctor of Education from Boston University. Candal is the author most recently of Pioneer Institute’s book The Fight for the Best Charter Public Schools in the Nation.
Chris Sinacola
Chris Sinacola is a writer and editor with more than 30 years’ experience in the fields of journalism, marketing, health care, and freelance writing. From 1987 until 2015, Sinacola was an editor, reporter, columnist, and editorial page editor at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. He is a local historian, having authored Images of America: Sutton (2004) and Images of America: Millbury (2013) from Arcadia Publishing. He edited Pioneer Institute’s book, The Fight for the Best Charter Public Schools in the Nation (2018). Sinacola holds a Bachelor of Arts in Italian Language and Literature from Wesleyan University.
ABOUT OUR CONTRIBUTORS
George Weigel
George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center. A Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals, he is the author of the international bestselling two-volume biography of Pope St. John Paul II, Witness to Hope and The End and the Beginning. Weigel is the author or editor of more than 20 other books, including Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II. His essays, op-ed columns, and reviews appear regularly in major U.S. newspapers. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Senior Vatican Analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, “The Catholic Difference,” is syndicated to 85 newspapers and magazines in seven countries. Weigel is the recipient of 18 honorary doctorates in divinity, philosophy, law, and social science.
Raymond Flynn
Raymond Flynn was a three-term Mayor of Boston and U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See during the Clinton Administration. He also served as a Massachusetts State Representative, on the Boston City Council, and in the U.S. Army. Ambassador Flynn is a leading lay Catholic voice in the United States, a best-selling author of The Accidental Pope and John Paul II: A Personal Portrait of the Pope and the Man, as well as a frequent newspaper columnist, national TV analyst, and national talk show host. Flynn graduated from Providence College as a Dean’s List All-American-Academic. He earned a Master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Mary Ann Glendon
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law, emerita, at Harvard University, and a former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ambassador Glendon chaired the U.S. State Department Commission on Unalienable Rights and served on the Commission on International Religious Freedom and the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics. She received the National Humanities Medal in 2006. She was President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (2003-2013), a member of the Board of Supervisors of the Institute of Religious Works (2013-2018), and represented the Holy See at various conferences. Glendon’s works include The Forum and the Tower (2011), biographical essays exploring the relation between political philosophy and politics-in-action; Traditions in Turmoil (2006), a collection of essays on law, culture and human rights; and A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2001).
Patrick Wolf
Patrick Wolf, Ph.D., is the Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions. He has led or assisted with most of the key evaluations of private school voucher programs over the past 15 years, including recent studies of programs in Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as the statewide program in Louisiana. A 1987 graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Wolf received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1995.
Cornelius Chapman
Cornelius (Con) Chapman is a lawyer in private practice in Boston who has written on education and public policy topics for Pioneer Institute, Beacon Hill Institute, Reason, The Boston Herald, and the Cato Institute. He was the recipient of the 1997 Friend of PACE Award by Parents Alliance for Catholic Education for his pro bono work in Boyette v. Galvin, which challenged Massachusetts’s constitutional provisions that served as a model for Blaine Amendments elsewhere. Chapman is the author of Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges (Oxford University Press), winner of the 2019 Book of the Year Award by Hot Club de France.
Ken Ardon
Ken Ardon, Ph.D., is a professor of economics at Salem State University, where he has taught since 2004, as well as a member of Pioneer Institute’s Center for School Reform Advisory Board. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1999, where he coauthored a book on school spending and student achievement. He taught economics at Pomona College before moving to Massachusetts. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Ardon worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Jason Bedrick
Jason Bedrick is director of policy for EdChoice. Previously, Bedrick served as policy analyst with the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. He also served as a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and was an education policy research fellow at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy. Bedrick received his Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government.
Martin F. Lueken
Martin F. Lueken, Ph.D., is the Fiscal Research and Education Center at EdChoice. He holds a Doctor of Education in Education Policy from the University of Arkansas and a Master’s in Economics from the University of Missouri. He studies school finance and the fiscal effects of private school choice programs. He has testified before numerous state legislatures and committees about private school choice bills being introduced. Dr. Lueken’s work also includes analysis of teacher pensions, the distribution of retirement benefits, and benefit choice.
William Donovan
William Donovan is a former staff writer with the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, where he wrote about business and government. He has taught business journalism in the graduate programs at Boston University and Northeastern University. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his Master’s in Journalism from American University in Washington, D.C.
Alison Fraser
Alison Fraser is an education policy, research, and strategy consultant and president of Practical Policy. Previously, she was an administrator at Blackstone Valley Tech and director of policy and advocacy at Mass Insight Education, where she directed the Great Schools Campaign and development of No Excuses for Failing Schools and Excellence in Math and Science Goals. An expert in standards-based curriculum, Fraser has coordinated activities and programs for the Coalition for Higher Standards and led research in standards-based reform.
Tom Olson
Tom Olson is a Principal Partner of ADAC. A Roman Catholic priest, Olson has overseen development efforts, augmented donor commitment, and cultivated major gifts for a variety of organizations. Supporting initiatives that advance in government and civil society limited government and the principle of subsidiarity, Olson’s professional competencies include published writing and public policy research. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross and graduate degrees from Saint Louis University and Boston College.
Steve Perla
Steve Perla is a Principal Partner of ADAC. Over the past 26 years, he has successfully advocated for and obtained over a billion dollars’ worth of federally funded education services for non-public schools. He has also advanced and secured the support for key public policy issues such as early education vouchers, school health, and special education services for non-public schools in Massachusetts. Perla has served as a Catholic school superintendent for two dioceses, led the University of Notre Dame’s ACE consulting group, and was the founding Executive Director of the Boston-based Parents Alliance for Catholic Education. Perla served 12 years in elective office, including two terms as Mayor of Leominster, Massachusetts. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Lesley University and a Master’s degree from Boston College.
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Read what they’re saying…
“Pioneer’s book A Vision of Hope: Catholic Schooling in Massachusetts highlights why K-12 Catholic education is the crown jewel in a state long known for academic excellence. This is a must read for those who care about the future of Catholic schools in the Commonwealth, while also offering key lessons for policy makers across the country.”
“For over two millennia, the Church’s sacred mission has kept alive the West’s precious heritage and culture, while serving as a spiritual beacon to the world. As Pioneer Institute’s new book A Vision of Hope makes clear, K-12 Catholic schooling helps lead the young towards these ideals, which are needed now more than ever.”
“Pioneer Institute has done a great service by bringing together a range of leading thinkers on the vital role Catholic schools play in forming the next generation: shaping the whole human person through moral, theological, and philosophical instruction. This is an important book for the future of K-12 Catholic education and religious liberty.”
“Catholic schools play an enormously important role in K-12 education in America, especially in the inner city. Pioneer Institute’s new book A Vision of Hope: Catholic Schooling in Massachusetts shines a light on the great work Catholic schools do, the innovations they’ve made in the last 25 years, and the need to support them through school choice legislation.”