Sister Mary Grace Walsh, Provost for Education, Evangelization, and Catechesis of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and former Superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Bridgeport will be presented the Educator of the Year Award at Sacred Heart University’s Ninth Educators’ Communion Breakfast on Sunday, March 12.
Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will be the keynote speaker. The theme of the Bishop’s talk is “The Mission of Catholic Education: to live the Truth in Love.”
The program will begin at 9 am with Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. The homilist at Mass will be Rev. Robert M. Kinnally, Pastor of St. Aloysius Parish in New Canaan and SHU trustee. Breakfast, awards and the keynote talk will follow in the University Commons.
The Breakfast is co-sponsored by Sacred Heart University Isabelle Farrington College of Education and Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP),a group of Catholic business leaders, academics and other professionals who study and promote Catholic social teaching.
Sister Mary Grace Walsh, Ph.D., a member of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, accepted the newly created position of Provost for Education, Evangelization and Catechesis of the Archdiocese of Hartford, on January 1, 2016.
As provost, she is responsible for the Office of the Permanent Diaconate Education, Office of Catholic Schools, Office of Religious Education and Office of Faith Development and Evangelization. She has worked closely with a broad coalition of archdiocesan leadership, staff and parishes to develop a detailed strategic plan for addressing the educational and developmental needs of school children, teenagers, adults and those in consecrated life.
Bishop Caggiano named Sister Mary Grace Superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Bridgeport in October 2013, almost immediately after his installation. She was responsible for more than 9,000 students and 1,000 faculty members in the 31 elementary and high schools sponsored by the Diocese of Bridgeport.
She first joined the Diocese of Bridgeport in 2006 as Deputy Superintendent of Schools. In the past, she has served as Principal in the Archdiocese of New York and the dioceses of Metuchen, NJ and Providence, RI, and as a Teacher K-12 in the Archdioceses of New York, St. Louis and the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Among her many achievements while working with the bishop to reorganize Catholic education in the Diocese of Bridgeport was the development of the new Education Commission in 2014 and the initiation of a strategic plan for education to ensure the viability and vitality of Catholic schools in the diocese. Consistent with the mandates of the Ffourth Diocesan Synod, Sister Mary Grace also played a role in the integration of the Faith Formation Office into the new secretariat that included schools.
Born and raised in New Haven, Walsh was one of four children. She attended St. Aedan School and then went to Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden for high school. She entered the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus immediately after graduation. Walsh earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Albertus Magnus College, a master’s degree in educational administration from St. Louis University and a doctorate in educational administration and church leadership from Fordham University.
CAPP was founded in 1993 to promote Catholic social teaching. It is named for Pope John Paul’s encyclical of the same name that marked the 100th anniversary of the landmark papal document on social responsibility, Rerum Novarum.
Tickets for the event are $35 each or $300 for a table of 10. For more info or for tickets, visit www.sacredheart.edu/CAPP2017, or call 203-365-4470.
