A special graduation

Twenty-eight Catholic school teachers and administrators from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, along with their families, attended a special Mass and graduation Feb. 22 at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City.

The events marked the group’s completion of the Catholic Educator and Formation Credential Program, an 18-month exercise administered by the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education.

ICLE draws on the Catholic Church’s tradition of education, which seeks to free teachers and students for the joyful pursuit of faith, wisdom and virtue. A goal is for teachers to move from a secular view of education to one deeply committed to Catholicism and fold that into the classroom.

The graduating group, which took the name “Blessed Stanley Rother Cohort,” included participants from eight elementary schools and two high schools in the archdiocese and seven elementary schools in the Diocese of Tulsa.

Archbishop Coakley celebrated the Mass. He was joined by Father Jerome Krug of Saint Eugene Catholic Church in Oklahoma City, Father Gary Kastl, vicar general of the Tulsa diocese, and Father John O’Neil of Saint John Before the Latin Gate Catholic Church and Saint James Catholic Church in Bartlesville.

A second cohort is nearing the halfway point of its studies, with Cohort three scheduled to begin in July. Gifts to help fund Cohort three may be made at cfook.org/givecefc.



See also: Oklahoma’s inaugural cohort of Catholic educators graduates from credential program

Photo: (Above) Katie Krug, teacher at Mount St. Mary Catholic High School in Oklahoma City, showed her ICLE Catholic Educator Credential. Photos Chris Porter/Sooner Catholic.

Archbishop Coakley celebrated Mass for the first Catholic Educator Formation and Credential Program, Bl. Stanley Rother Cohort, on Feb. 22 in the St. Francis de Sales Chapel at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City. The graduation ceremony was celebrated after Mass. The program is a partnership with the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Tulsa and the Institute of Catholic Liberal Education. 

Wai-Lee Kwan (second from left), teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Oklahoma City, and her family. 

Lara Schuler, senior director of Catholic education for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City; Katie Zimdars, associate director of Catholic education for formation and curriculum for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City; and Ryan Messmore, Ph.D., director of the credential program.

Andrew Horn, teacher at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School in Edmond, and his family.