Ministries
Basilian Network for Education and the New Evangelization
Participants in the 2024 BNENE Summer Conference at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas.
In 2015, The Congregation of St. Basil established the Basilian Network for Education and the New Evangelization (BNENE) with the intention of engaging in ongoing formation on the Basilian approach to Catholic education in the schools carrying on the Basilian tradition.
Mission of BNENE
Prepare, inspire and empower every educator in a Basilian school to prepare young people for a faith-filled life of service, fidelity, success and love through solid formation of Basilian and Catholic principles.
Initiatives:
BNENE seeks to contribute to the New Evangelization, and specifically to Catholic Education as one of its integral components. We strive to teach Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge through three initiatives:
- The ongoing formation of school leaders, teachers, support staff and communities in the apostolate of Catholic Education;
- Teaching what the Church teaches with clarity and conviction (i.e., through thoughtful and prayerful reading of and reflection on key magisterial teachings on Catholic Education);
- Promoting the educational ministry of our schools by encouraging Basilian educators to share and collaborate with the other schools we serve.
History
Both of BNENE’s first directors, Fr. Mario D’Souza CSB and Fr. John Huber, CSB, offered the faculty and staff of Basilian schools opportunities to come together in fraternity to focus on what it means to be Catholic educators, and engage in dialogue with one another. BNENE presentations have encompassed the Church’s teaching on education and how all within the school are called to be a part of a distinctly Catholic community, infused with the Basilian charism.
The inaugural BNENE conference, held at St. Michael’s College School in the summer of 2015, brought together Basilian and lay faculty, staff, and administrators from Le Collège Privé du Sacré-Coeur (Annonay, France), St. Michael’s College School (Toronto, Ontario), St. Thomas High School (Houston, Texas), and Detroit Catholic Central High School (Detroit, Michigan). Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, Archbishop of Vancouver and former Secretary for the Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education at the Vatican, delivered the keynote address on ‘The Vocation and Mission of the Catholic Educator’.
Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB at the 2015 BNENE Summer Conference in Toronto, Ontario
The second BNENE Summer Conference was held at Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, Michigan The conference explored the theme, “Religious Dimension of the Catholic School.”
The 2017 BNENE Summer Conference in Novi, Michigan.
The year 2024 saw some significant developments for BNENE. The third BNENE Summer Conference (originally scheduled for 2020, but thwarted by the Covid epidemic) was held at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. Members from St. Thomas High School, Detroit Catholic Central, and St. Michael’s College School were joined by representatives from Detroit Cristo Rey and Aquinas Institute (Rochester, N.Y.). Participants examined the history of the Basilian Fathers and explored how mostly lay members of school boards, administration, faculty, and staff will carry on the Basilian charism of education
2024 also saw the hiring of Chris Wardwell as BNENE’s new executive director. The BNENE committee was also revamped and expanded to include faculty and school board members.
BASILIAN SCHOOLS
St. Michael’s College School, Toronto, Ontario
St. Thomas High School, Houston, Texas
Detroit Catholic Central, Novi, Michigan
Detroit Cristo Rey, Detroit, Michigan (Co-Sponsored with the IHM Sisters)
RESOURCES FOR THE CATHOLIC EDUCATOR
Papal Documents
- Pope Pius XI: (1929) Divini Illius Magistri: “On Christian Education” Go to site
- Pope Paul VI: (1965): Gravissimum Educationis: “Declaration on Christian Education” Go to site
Sacred Congregation of Catholic Education (SCCE)
- (1977) “The Catholic School” Go to site
- (1982) “Lay Catholics in Schools: Witness to Faith” Go to site
- (1988) “The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School” Go to site
- (1997) “The Catholic School on the Verge of the Third Millennium” Go to site
- (2002) “Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools” Go to site
- (2007) “Educating Together in Catholic Schools. A Shared Mission between Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful” Go to site
- (2022) “The Identity of the Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue” Go to site
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- (1972) “To Teach as Jesus Did” Go to site
- (2005) “Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium” Go to site
Read more by Basilians on Catholic education:
- Watch Archbishop Michael Miller, CSB on ‘The Vocation and Mission of the Catholic Educator’ Go to site
- The Holy See’s Teaching On Catholic Schools by Archbishop Michael Miller, CSB, published by Catholic Education Resource Center Go to site
- The Accessibility of American Catholic Secondary Schools to the Various Socioeconomic Classes of Catholic Families by Father John Huber, CSB Download PDF
- What Church Documents Say about Catholic Education, by Father John Huber, CSB, published in Momentum Download PDF
- The History of Catholic Education in the United States: Plenary Councils of Baltimore and Mass Catholic Immigration from Europe, presentation delivered by Father John Huber, CSB Download PDF
- The History of Catholic Education in the United States: The Role of Religious Congregations in the Growing Catholic Schools System in the United States, presentation delivered by Father John Huber, CSB Download PDF
- History of Catholic Schools in the United States, presentation delivered by Father John Huber, CSB Download PDF
- A New Dawn, or the Fading of the Light? Culture and Evangelization Today by Father John Gallagher, CSB Available through Amazon
- The Basilian Charism and Education by Father John Gallagher, CSB Download PDF
CONTACT
Chris Wardwell
Executive Director
Basilian Network for Education and the New Evangelization (BNENE)
4500 Memorial Dr.
Houston, Texas 77007
713-864-6348 ext. 140