On the Sunday night before his ninth week as a teacher, Daniel Ranschaert sat down to a communal dinner of tortilla casserole with his housemates. All eight of them had come to this desert city after finishing college in the Midwest. They share a rented home, modest paychecks and a commitment to educate the poor, the struggling and the striving in Tucson’s Catholic schools.

Before eating, the young teachers made the sign of the cross, clasped hands and said grace. Then, as they dug into the casserole, they talked about the test on Mesopotamia, the lesson on root words, all the things Monday morning would bring in their various classrooms. Because that day would also be Columbus Day, they slid into a conversation about the Spanish explorers and conquistadors, a tender subject in schools filled with Latino and American Indian children.

For a time, as he was finishing his studies at Wabash College in Indiana, Mr. Ranschaert had thought about going into business. He kept hearing, though, about a program created nearby at the University of Notre Dame called the Alliance for Catholic Education, which put idealistic young teachers in especially needy schools. And he recalled what his own Catholic education had meant as a bulwark in a childhood marked by his parents’ divorce and his brother’s nearly fatal liver disease....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • Young Adults • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Registered members must log in to comment.