Public Juridic Persons and Catholic Education: A New Governance Model for Catholic Schools

June 20, 2024

By: Rob Birdsell, President, Catholic Virtual

When I was leading the Cristo Rey Network, I would meet with Fr. Garanzini, S.J., then President of Loyola University Chicago, every fall to give him an update on the work of Cristo Rey. He often asked how the Cristo Rey schools were doing and he liked to have a pulse on the most exciting movement in Catholic education. At the beginning of this meeting in 2011, he asked me what was the greatest challenge we were facing? And I said, “we want to keep growing and opening new Cristo Rey schools as there are many more communities and young people to serve. However, we are running out of religious orders interested in being a religious sponsor.”

Given this reality – the orders were at capacity in most communities across the country – the Network faced a serious challenge to continue its growth. What was needed was a creative idea to continue to open and govern Catholic schools.  Read more: LinkedIn