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invited to apply to the Honor Roll. In 2006, nearly 1,300 completed surveys that measured academic excellence, Catholic identity and civic education. Outstanding success in each of the three areas is necessary to make the Honor Roll. Out of those 1,300 schools, 10 of the 50 Catholic high schools honored and named to the 2006 top 50 Catholic high schools were NAPC*IS member schools!

What has this honor meant for recognized schools? Increased enrollment; powerful publicity; sweeping recognition from local and state officials and from Bishops, to name just a few of the rewards.

In June, 2007, NAPC*IS held its ninth National Independent Schools in Service to the Church Conference at Ave Maria University (AMU) in Naples, Florida. Dr. Dominic Aquila, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Professor of History at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, was the keynote speaker and this year’s recipient of the NAPC*IS Spes Nostra Award. Dr Aquila’s keynote address, “Catholic Education, the Last Best Hope for American Democracy,” identified NAPC*IS schools as the promise and the model for the reform and future norm of Catholic education. Dr Aquila described the bold founders of NAPC*IS schools as all sharing in the tradition of self-sacrifice that successfully built Catholic education in America from the 1830’s to its recent history, when Catholic schools began to engage the world, and, by becoming corrupted by the world, lost their Catholic identity. NAPC*IS schools, he observed, stand out in their “radical traditionalism,” that is, in their reconnection to faithful Catholic principles and the Catholic intellectual tradition that seeks truth, certain in the knowledge that the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth.

The vision and mission of NAPC*IS has been faithfully implemented for the last twelve years. In that short time, NAPC*IS has emerged as a recognized leader in the restoration of Catholic education in America. Its influence also extends around the world in its contacts with schools in Canada and England. Recently, a parent called from Australia. Interested in starting a school, she had discovered the NAPC*IS web site, and was calling to seek advice and the resources contained in the NAPC*IS school start-up package.

Ed Wassell, founder and administrator of Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage, Alaska, describes what NAPC*IS has meant to him and his school:

“Speaking personally, as a NAPC*IS member, I cannot count the benefits of our membership over the past five years. Our accreditation is from NAPC*IS. Our teachers are Catholic certified (the only Catholic teacher’s certification program in the United States) through NAPC*IS...Prior to NAPC*IS, we were a good solid Catholic school that taught the Faith well and offered a good Catholic education. Today we have been named for the past 3 years one of the nation’s top 50 Catholic high schools by the prestigious Acton Institute and our national test scores are off the charts. Although it might be an exaggeration to say that without NAPC*IS none of these things would have come to pass, I can say definitively that without the support and help of NAPC*IS we never would have achieved all of the above. NAPC*IS is doing more for true orthodox Catholic education in the United States than any other single entity.”

Pope John Paul II frequently spoke of the Springtime of Hope in the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church today. Home schools and private Catholic and independent schools are the most exciting examples of this hope-filled activity of the Holy Spirit. It is His activity that makes them possible and His grace that produces the fruits of their labor. Vocations to the priesthood and religious, and the early formation of Catholic doctors, lawyers, business leaders and parents are the fruits already realized. In abandonment to God’s will and with absolute confidence in His Providence, faithful laity will continue to answer His call to homeschool and start schools.

The future of NAPC*IS is contained in the Holy Spirit’s Springtime of Hope and His promise to provide for the Catholic education of young minds and hearts. NAPC*IS cooperates, as an instrument of the Holy Spirit in His promise. NAPC*IS will continue as a leader in the apostolate of the laity in Catholic education to ensure the development of future leaders of the Church and society. Clear in its vision and mission, NAPC*IS will let its light shine before men, so that they may see the good works and, thereby, give glory to God. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

There will be another article in a forthcoming edition of the Catholic Educator that will more deeply explore a fundamental element of the NAPC*IS platform, the Teacher Certification Program, which is a response to a dangerous monopoly in our system of education, Regional Accreditation and the bodies that "award" it. In the meantime, please visit the NAPC*IS web site for more information at : http://www.napcis.org.

Eileen Cubanski co-founded St. Maria Goretti Academy, which opened in Loomis, California in September of 1993. She also co-founded and serves as executive director of the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent School (NAPC*IS). NAPC*IS is a national accrediting agency and teacher certification program for private Catholic and independent schools; it serves as a professional support and resource association to assist administrators and teachers apply Roman Catholic teachings and sound academic principles to education. She has a BA in child study/elementary education and an MA in education administration.