Secretariat for Catholic Education
for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
The Secretariat for Catholic Education oversees all matters pertaining to Catholic Education in the Archdiocese. As such the Office of the Secretary supervises and directs the Office of Catholic Education, the Office of Catechetical Formation, the Office for Youth & Young Adults, and the Newman Apostolates.
Since 1998 Catholic school educators from across the United States have participated in Bearing Witness™: Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Contemporary Issues, a professional development program designed by the Anti-Defamation League in partnership with the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This program, which won acclaim from NCEA in 2000 as a Selected Program for Improving Catholic Education (SPICE), provides Catholic-school educators with an understanding of the history of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and related issues of prejudice and discrimination. The program consists of a four-day Summer Institute and two follow-up sessions during the school year.
Each summer for the past four years, selected Catholic-school educators from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and dioceses throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware have participated in the regional Bearing Witness™, a Professional Development Program for Catholic Educators, co-sponsored by the Philadelphia regional office of the Anti-Defamation League and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The 2010 Summer Institute will be held from Monday, July 26 through Thursday, July 29 at Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, PA, near Philadelphia. For four days, Catholic middle and high school educators will come together and receive extensive education and professional resources from scholars from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Anti-Defamation League. A highlight of the Summer Institute is a day trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. One local Catholic-school educator, who participated in the Bearing Witness™ program, characterized it as "more than a professional development opportunity. It is an ongoing process that challenges me to grow spiritually, emotionally, and personally, as well as professionally."