Thesis advisor: John Baldovin / Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Groome / This thesis proposes a connection between the theology of the assembly and the education offered by the Society of Jesus in its schools. For young people, the school should be a place where they learn that life in community is the fullest form of life. Sacramentality is a constitutive dimension of the Church and the Christian faith, and inspires us to live our faith in all situations and circumstances. As a result, liturgy has a significant impact on the formation and transformation of the Christian community. It is essential that the liturgy is adequate to allow members to express their faith in God and experience God's life through the love they receive for the world. Although not all students in Jesuit schools are Catholic, the Jesuit school is an assembly where all members must develop a sacramental look at reality. Liturgy can be a link between all these elements, for when it is "sacramenally adequate," it is a source of nourishment and continual conversation for the faith life of a Christian community. In summary, this thesis argues that assembly theology and Jesuit education must go together to form a sacramentally adequate Christian community where the liturgy is a source of ongoing transformation and conversion. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

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Catholic schools make distinct claims about their mission and the identity of their schools as communities - places where teachers and students are to be formed as "persons-in-community" (Bryk, Lee & Holland, 1993; National Conference of Catholic Bishops [NCCB], 1972). Yet, there is a paucity of qualitative research that has explored the experiences of beginning teachers' induction into Catholic school communities. One way to address this lacuna is to use ethnographic methods to explore the experiences of beginning teachers and write a thick description (Goeertz, 1973) of the newcomers' experiences. I conducted such a qualitative inquiry at Our Lady of Grace Academy (OLGA), an independent, Catholic girls day and resident college-preparatory school. I spent one semester with a group of six newcomers-four classroom teachers, an academic counselor, and a librarian/technology specialist-as a participant observer in their daily work lives. Implementing qualitative ethnographic methods, encompassing life history interviews, participant observation, and journal writing, newcomers described their experiences and dispositions on topics germane to Catholic school mission and community, in particular, what brought newcomers to OLGA in the first place and their experiences of a sense of membership in the community by way of their socially mediated participation in multiple communities of practice. Time constraints and my insider status were limitations. The goals of the study were met, but more conclusive findings would have resulted from a longer study. There were limits to what I could ethically report due to the fact that I conducted fieldwork on my own workplace. Ethnographic inquiry is a viable way for a practitioner to conduct research because the workplace is where the practitioner will need to exercise his or her best observation and listening skills. Using creative analytic processes (CAP) ethnographies (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2005), the findings of the study take shape around the participants' walk along a metaphorical labyrinthine pathway. Vignette's of newcomer's experiences unfold to dialogic interplay with theory. The dissertation culminates with insights and multiple truths that surfaces along the way, additional questions that resulted, and recommendations for implementing ethnographic methods as a way into induction practices in Catholic secondary schools.

The topic of Catholic school viability is the backdrop of this study, which examined issues associated with Catholic school sustainability and the possibilty for transformation. The focus was a case study of a single Catholic elementary school in a historically magrinalized community. The experiences and reflections of 10 heterogeneous members of the school community were examined in light of the school's attempt to transform and ultimately sustain itself. The study took a holistic look at the school's organizational processes in order to identify sustainability measures and characteristics. Methods included observation, interview, document review, and an application of the principles associated with appreciative inquiry, a tool used in organizational development and reform. The study's findings, viewed through the lens of chaos theory, are framed as tensions. Tensions here refer to the push/ pull elements in the shcool's struggle to find balance between new additions to the school program and what already exists (Pascale, Millemann, & Gioja, 2000). The findings are grouped as a primary tension, which is general in nature, and secondary tensions, which are specific to St. Leo School. The primary tension illustrates how a school undergoing change is marked by circumstance, unpredictability, co-creation, and resistance to environmental control. The secondary tensions detail the struggles over internal/external organizational control, Catholic school/market organizational principles, and staff and stakeholder retention/turnover. Additionally, it was found that the core characteristics of community, spirtuality, and justice act as binding elements that complement salary perks or tuition scholarships for teachers and students, respectively. Questions about the role of benefactors, school boards, and other external influences on the life of the school were also raised and examined. Overall, the findings supported the notion that Catholic schools in historically marginalized communities must seek innovative measures yet be able to adapt to a constantly shifting environmental landscape in order to survive.

The problem of this study was to determine the adequacy of the professional preparation of the Catholic school superintendent for his role as the educational leader in the diocesan school system. The study was divided into the following subdivisions: 1) establishing evaluative criteria to measure the adequacy of the professional preparation of the Catholic school superintendent; 2) evaluating the professional preparation of the superintendent in the light of the established criteria; 3) proposing a program which might close the gap between the existing practices and the established criteria.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 73-75) Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Also available in print.

Up until the 1950s, Catholic school principals were mainly priests, sisters, and brothers who were well grounded in theology, scripture, catechesis, and the Catholic social teachings they received during their formation. Conversely, lay principals who currently staff most Catholic high schools may not have this same Catholic formational training that helped to form the religious mission of schools in earlier years. Hence, this study was developed to investigate current Catholic school leadership models and the way principals' perceptions of leadership may impact the religious missions of Catholic schools. Additionally, the factor of generational diversity may contribute to differences in principal's perceptions of leadership. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how current lay principals from two generational cohorts perceive their roles as leaders and how such perceptions impact the religious mission of their schools. To accomplish this investigation, the researcher employed three elements of the Catholic school leadership framework designated by the United States Catholic Conference (USCC), including educational, managerial, and spiritual leadership. These concepts constitute the framework through which this study examined the principals' perceptions of leadership in Catholic high schools. To collect the data and answer the research questions, this study utilized a qualitative methodology consisting of document analysis, observations, and interviews. To conduct the study, six principals from two generations were selected from Catholic high schools in a large diocese on the West Coast of the United States. Based on the research results, differences were discovered between the generational cohort known as the Baby Boomers and those known as the Xers, where Baby Boomers exhibited more future-focused perspectives and Xers demonstrated a strong focus on values. Baby Boomers also connected the religious mission of the school to the charisma of the founding order or congregation of their school, while Xers relied exclusively on the identity of the diocese. However, despite these generational differences, the study results show that the current principals have not only maintained and preserved the religious mission to a new level of forming peer Christian leadership among students and teachers.

Thesis advisor: LAURI JOHNSON / This qualitative case study explored stakeholders' perceptions of Catholic identity in one suburban parish school in Massachusetts. Over a three-month period, data was collected from semi-structured interviews with the pastor, principal and five teachers, an online parent survey, document analysis, and observations of school events. Five major themes emerged from the data about Catholic identity: the role of service, the connection between the parish and the school community, the role of prayer and spiritual formation, the focus on academic excellence and its tension with inclusivity, and the principal-pastor relationship. All participants also voiced concerns about how the school's Catholic identity would be affected by the transfer of the pastor and the formation of a new parish collaborative. While the responses of participants reflected many of the characteristics of Catholic identity identified in the literature, service to others and the spiritual leadership of the principal were most closely identified with a strong Catholic identity. The presence of the pastor was also linked to Catholic identity, although participants desired more involvement of the pastor in the school. Finally, no one associated this Catholic school with the evangelizing arm of the Church. Recommendations for further research include the effect of the parish collaboratives on parish schools, the role of the Catholic school in the "New Evangelization," and the role of special education and service in Catholic identity. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study arose out of experiences within the Parramatta Diocese, a large diocese located on the western edge of Sydney, associated with spiritual formation programs and initiatives within the diocese between 4 990 and 2004. These experiences reinforced the pivotal role of principals in encouraging and facilitating teacher spiritual formation and also identified a lack of role definition for principals in this area. The importance of the spiritual formation of teachers to the authenticity and vitality of Catholic schools signalled a need to clarify the principal's leadership role in the spiritual formation of teachers in Catholic schools in the Parramatta Diocese. The case study methodology utilised different data collecting methods including individual and group interviews, survey, document analysis and observation to draw different perspectives from teachers, principals, and personnel from the Catholic Education Office, Parramatta. The research explored the range of spiritual formation experiences valued by teachers, both within structured programs and in the day-to-day experiences within schools. It identified responses of teachers to spiritual formation, the challenges in this area, and the role of principals. The research findings suggest that the principal's leadership roles in the spiritual formation of teachers apply at the every-day cultural level of school experiences for teachers, where the principal shapes and strengthens experiences of Catholic culture for teachers, and the school community; at the whole school level, where the principal has a key role in strategic planning in relation to spiritual formation, in extending individual consideration to teachers, and in nurturing teacher leadership and co-leadership; and finally, at the diocesan level, where the principal has a stewardship role with other principals in relation to the long term spiritual formation of teachers. At the diocesan level the principal also participates in collaborative alliances with diocesan personnel which increase opportunities for teacher spiritual formation A fundamental leadership responsibility for principals is to nurture a spiritual base to their own leadership. Support for the spiritual formation of newly appointed principals and those aspiring to the role should be a system priority and would augment initiatives currently in place for experienced principals in the diocese. The research findings point to multiple leadership roles for principals in the spiritual formation of teachers. These findings expand and elaborate the existing role description for principals in Catholic schools in the Parramatta Diocese.