Nurturing a Heart for the New Evangelization: A National Study of Catholic Elementary School Principals in the U.S.

Abstract

The Catholic Church calls school principals to serve not only as educational leaders and ecclesial ministers, but also as agents of the New Evangelization. Given the Church's ongoing call for a New Evangelization, it is essential to establish how the principals themselves perceive this missionary mandate; it is also important to explore what elements of the principals' own faith formation have best equipped them for this unique role and what areas for ongoing growth they themselves identify. This mixed-methods study collected both quantitative and qualitative data through a survey of over 600 Catholic elementary school principals across the U.S.; personal interviews triangulated the data from the survey. The findings of this study identify a high level of comfort among the principals regarding the work of the New Evangelization, as well as a positive correlation among several areas of faith formation and their general confidence about the mission. The study concludes with recommendations for future formation at the service of the New Evangelization.