Embrace. In retrospect, this is how I would describe the effect of my two years of teaching on the San Xavier Community. I was able to share my love with many, but even the best hugger must let go some time, as I have. However, the memory of this embrace lingers and often aches to stretch its arms again as I visit San Xavier Mission School or exchange e-mails with former students.
In discussion with other ACE teachers, I feel that this sentiment resonates soundly and strongly. As we see maps of where ACE serves I imagine thousands have been affected by the embrace of ACE teachers. Is this it though? There are so many deserving Catholic school students who desperately need an embrace. What about these children?
This past year I have had a chance to work with ACE Educational Outreach at Notre Dame. Part of my responsibility has been to work with the University Consortium for Catholic Education (UCCE). Several years ago, ACE realized that the embrace that we brought to Catholic Schools needed to be more widely shared. The response was to replicate ACE at other Catholic Universities. Since then, ACE has replicated several times and has partnered with other universities, already hosting similar programs, to create the UCCE. While all unique and distinct, each one of the thirteen (soon to be fourteen) programs in the UCCE shares an embrace with the communities they serve.
In the summer of 2006 I attended a conference of the UCCE at The University of Dayton. In the middle of Ohio, I was blown away by the stories and experiences of the participants in the UCCE programs. I think that when I was in ACE I had this notion that we were unique pioneers in the field of Catholic Education. I had no idea that so many amazing people were pioneering this same field concurrently. As I shared my story of embrace, about Tucson, the desert, Blessed Kateri, and San Xavier I was privileged enough to hear the embrace stories from places like Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Chicago, Okalahoma, and Salt Lake City. It was a spiritual experience to come face to face with my ignorance about the embracing that was going on in Catholic schools across the country. I realized that my experience in ACE was not only shared by those who listened to Doc and Joyce, but by hundreds of others that were sharing their embrace with communities across the country.
The number of dedicated professionals to the field of Catholic Education is growing. The UCCE continues to expand and more and more teachers are able to share their gifts with Catholic school students across this country. It is comforting to know that although my embrace with Tucson is technically over, there are still hundreds of people spreading their love to students like my own in all corners of our country.
If you would like more information concerning the UCCE please contact Aaron Wall at awall@nd.edu.
ACE – University of Notre Dame
EPICS – Seton Hall University
LALANNE – University of Dayton
LANCE – Christian Brothers University
LEAPS – Valparaiso University
LU-CHOICE – Loyola University – Chicago
LUMEN – University of Great Falls
MAGIS – Creighton University
Operation TEACH – College of Notre Dame of Maryland
PACE – University of Portland
PACT – Providence College
PLACE Corps – Loyola Marymount University
UCTC – Boston College