A former superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Boston is using his retirement to take up a new mission that could address the record number of young Catholics who fall away from their faith by the age of 18.
Called the Catholic Talent Project, this new lay apostolate seeks to develop a national talent pool of faithful young men and women to be living witnesses of the Catholic faith in thousands of classrooms across the US.
In a press release from the Catholic Talent Project, the group points out that it is estimated that about 86% of young Catholics have left their faith by the age of 18, with more than half of these having dismissed all interest in the faith by 13. That many of these young people attended Catholic schools is of particular concern to the non-profit group, which hopes to revive Catholic schools as a place of evangelization and catechesis.
The Project is led by Thomas W. Carroll, who served the Archdiocese of Boston during his five years as Superintendent of Catholic Schools. At his retirement, Cardinal Seán O’Malley praised Carroll’s achievements in “enhancing the Catholic identity of our schools,” and now he intends to continue his efforts with the Catholic Talent Project.
During his five-year tenure in the Archdiocese of Boston, Carroll replaced 75% of parochial school leaders with new hires who are committed to evangelization and the magisterium of the Catholic Church. He drew this talent pool from all over the US, with many of his recruits being recent college graduates who sought to serve as witnesses to the Catholic faith in the classroom. He has further drawn support from members of FOCUS, the Augustine Institute, Thomas Aquinas College, the Papal Foundation, and the Knights of Columbus Charitable Trust.
“If we fail to arrest the massive number of students losing their faith, even in our own schools, the Church in America will go the way of Europe within a generation,” said Carroll. “We will have small pockets of faith, but most churches will become little more than tourist sites and backdrops for fancy weddings.”
Estimating that Catholic school students spend about 16,000 hours in school from Kindergarten to 12th grade, Carroll suggested that the problem does not lie in the amount of time the children are in Catholic schools, but rather the misuse of time by the schools and teachers. To this end, he has placed an emphasis on hiring the right people for the right position:
“We must be intentional about who we hire and restructure our Catholic schools to evangelize our students and families. The collapse of the broader culture makes this challenging, but not impossible,” Carroll explained. “The core challenge is putting the right people on the field, including faithful superintendents, school leaders, and classroom teachers.”
The Catholic Talent project is currently in partnership talks with 10 dioceses in the US, but the group seeks to work with more bishops across the nation who are interested in reviving Catholic schools as “a powerful instrument of evangelization.”
Learn more about the Catholic Talent Project at its official website.
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