A Shifting Landscape for Lay Leaders

For years, Catholic school leadership has been undergoing a shift. Once predominantly led by priests, sisters, and brothers, today more than 90% of Catholic schools are led by laypeople. The rapidly evolving education landscape presents myriad challenges for these lay leaders. They must balance operational management with the spiritual direction of their schools. They are called not only to be innovators but also stewards of tradition. To be effective, today’s Catholic school leaders must embrace and embody a new model of leadership—a model that fosters both moral courage and professional excellence, grounded in faith and enriched by the skills required to thrive in the modern world.

Transformational Leaders Build Bridges

Catholic school leaders and educators must be bridge builders. Today’s lay Catholic leaders face a singular challenge of balancing tradition and embracing innovation.

Catholic schools must not disregard their spiritual foundation when embracing ever changing technologies, teaching methods, and external expectations. Both tradition and innovation are essential to the Catholic school. The key is not choosing one over the other but instead integrating both.

Transformational leaders must build bridges between our Catholic beliefs and the innovations that schools must embrace to survive and thrive, both today and in the future. This “both/and” approach enables schools to maintain a strong Catholic identity while adopting the innovations necessary for students to thrive in the 21st century.

Transformational Leadership Tip:
Evaluate emerging education trends through the lens of faith and catechesis. Which of these innovations will enhance your school’s mission and strengthen your students' faith formation?

Transformational Leaders Build Virtuous Communities

Catholic schools are institutions of learning and communities of faith. They must prepare students for future academic endeavors and careers as well as lives of faith. Transformational Catholic school leaders ensure academic achievement and cultivate communities of spiritual growth, discipleship, and virtue.

Transformational Leadership Tip:
Incorporate Catholic practices and celebrations into school activities in the classroom and beyond. Include faculty, staff, and families.

Transformational Leaders Look to the Future

The future of Catholic education hinges on the ability of its leaders to blend faith with the realities of modern education. Today’s transformational Catholic school leaders are shaping the future. Tomorrow’s Catholic schools will be those who are willing and able to balance tradition with transformation. They will have the courage to make difficult decisions while remaining anchored in faith, guiding their communities with a clear vision of what Catholic education has offered and can offer the world. By embracing their role as spiritual CEOs, transformational leaders ensure the future of Catholic education in a world that desperately needs it.

Transformational Leadership Tip:
Reflect on ways that you as a Catholic school leader balance tradition with innovation. Identify times you have demonstrated moral courage, guided by faith, in your decision making.

Learn how and why to build bridges, moral courage, and virtuous communities for today and the future in The Transformational Leader in Catholic Schools: A Moral Journey White Paper

Rob Birdsell is the President of Catholic Virtual, host of the podcast, The Next Class 2.0, Founder & Executive Director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Education (ILEE). Kent Hickey is the Director of Leadership Formation at ILEE and the author of 40 Days With God, published by Paraclete Press.  The Transformational Leader in Catholic Schools: A Moral Journey White Paper is third in a series by the authors. Don’t miss the other two whitepapers in this leadership series.

An Empty Chair at the Catholic School Table White Paper