In May of 2026, I spent a few days in Front Royal, Virginia, with a group of friends, colleagues, and people I admire as my fellow coworkers in the vineyard of Catholic education. Each of us were Catholic education leaders on the forefront of the reinvigoration of humanizing Catholic education, theologians or philosophers who understand the human person and education, experts in innovative school operations ordered toward human formation, and leading voices on culture and humanity.
Over three days, we split into working groups with a bishop leading each group, and in those groups, higher education leaders, Catholic school superintendents, priests, and members of various think tanks and institutes discussed together the principles of Catholic education. We used those conversations to draft a document: the Front Royal Statement. In it, we summarized the most foundational principles that must be true about Catholic education according to the mind and tradition of the Church, and ended the gathering with those who desired to add their signatures agreeing to the statement itself. We left Virginia galvanized to continue the work reclaiming Catholic education, ever more deeply
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