Welcome from the President of Pacelli Catholic Schools...
The Pacelli Tradition
Mission - Pacelli Catholic Schools actively engages students in the educational process, which is rooted in learning and serving Christ in the Catholic tradition.
We often talk about the Catholic Tradition but rarely do we really elucidate what is that tradition. We know that there are Hallmarks of a Catholic School: to proclaim the Gospel message, to build a community of believers, to promote prayer and worship, and to teach service in the name of Jesus. These hallmarks define our Catholic Identity. These hallmarks exist always in the context of a deep commitment to academic excellence.
This Catholic Identity is the heart of the Catholic tradition. This tradition is an amalgam of the contributions of numerous religious orders that have founded and run schools in the State of Minnesota and the United States. These orders imprinted on their schools the charism of that order. Those of us who currently serve in our schools carry on those traditions and bear the imprint of those charisms and, in turn, we have passed them on to the next generation. For example, I have either attended or worked in schools from the following orders: Christian Brothers, School Sisters of Notre Dame, Franciscans, Benedictines, Sisters of Mercy, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sisters of Humility, Dominicans, Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, Viatorians, Felicians, Sisters of Mount Carmel and Jesuits.
Our schools are a synergy of the enormous and profound contributions by these orders to the past, present, and future of Catholic Schools. This combined with the commitment of our parishes to support and promote the faith through the Catholic Schools creates a dynamic force for the future of our schools. So when we speak of the Catholic Tradition we are referring to the long history of educating our young in the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church.
In January, we honored St. Elizabeth Seton, American and Patron Saint of American Catholic Schools, and St John Neumann, Bishop of Philadelphia and creator of the Diocesan Catholic School System. These two are part of that charism that is imprinted on all of our Catholic Schools. This charism is in part responsible for the rich tradition of Catholic education in Austin. It is why Pacelli Catholic is One Faith, One Family, One School in which All are Welcome.
Ad Astra Per Aspera,
Joseph Steepleton
President of Pacelli Catholic Schools
Principal of Pacelli Middle/High School