By Bishop James Conley
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you” (Confessions Book X:27).
In this famous quote from the Confessions, Saint Augustine is lamenting the fact that in his 33 years of life, he had searched for God in all the wrong places, only to discover that God was already within him all along, and describing how divine grace broke through his blindness and deafness to draw him in.
God is an ever ancient yet ever new beauty, who is always revealing Himself to us in the present moment. This “ever ancient ever new” aspect of divine beauty can also be applied to education. While we build upon the strong foundation of the Catholic intellectual tradition, we are always discovering new ways to renew the way we learn.
In this column, I would like to share with you an update on our mission of Catholic education in the Diocese of Lincoln, as we strive to “educate to inspire virtue, service and a thirst to know Jesus” in our children. That’s the goal of our pastoral principle of education in our One Heart in Christ pastoral plan.
Education renewal
Sometimes to move forward, we need to look back. Few would argue that education in our country needs a renewal. There has been and always will be changes in how we educate our children. We never want to stop striving to find the best ways to teach our children in our schools, and those schools serve to help parents, who are the primary educators of their children.
Several of our diocesan schools have adopted a more classical approach to education. This approach is based on the traditional liberal arts and is built on a philosophy developed in ancient times in places like Greece and Rome. The goal isn’t simply to acquire knowledge, but to develop our students’ minds and souls, not to teach them what to think, but how to think and reason; to instill in them the virtues that will help them become saints.
Mindful of this, the Diocese of Lincoln Catholic Schools is in the second year of the process of aligning all our theology courses across the high school curricula. This is a major undertaking for our administrators, teachers and students, but one that we believe will bear great fruit in our youth, both while they are in school and after they graduate.
What other changes are ahead involving education renewal in the Lincoln Diocese? We don’t have all the answers, but certainly a classical approach that introduces our children to great literature, the great thinkers and the intellectual lights of our Catholic faith is a great place to start. Renewal, though, will always be an ongoing process of evaluation, change and improvement. It’s a journey that will never end but will lead us to a better place.
Artificial intelligence and new technology
Our diocesan schools have always been on the cutting edge of educational technology, thanks to generous donors and our annual technology fee. We have an excellent educational technology office, staffed by employees who are both solidly Catholic and extremely competent in their field of expertise. But with the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and the power of ever new technologies, we need to be even more diligent and informed as to the way technology impacts our children.
This is why in the spring of 2025, I asked Christopher Hobbs, diocesan director of education technology systems, to chair our first ever Diocesan Educational Technology Commission. This commission which meets quarterly is comprised of teachers, parents and educational technology experts. This new diocesan commission gives me confidence that we will be constantly evaluating and assessing the use of technology in our Catholic schools.
Meaghan Crowley-Sullivan, a developer of curriculum and professional learning at Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles’ Innovation in Digital Education & Leadership Institute, known as iDEAL, told Our Sunday Visitor recently, “the Catholic approach isn’t about being afraid of technology or refusing to innovate. It’s very much about discernment, recognizing the possibilities, and asking whether we can use this in ways that promote our values.”
A recent article in the National Catholic Register, “Why Some Schools are Taking Screens Out of the Classroom,” describes how there is a growing concern about screen time and AI and how some schools are rethinking and scaling back classroom technology and “returning to books, handwriting and face-to-face instruction.”
The article goes on to describe that in the past decade many Catholic schools began to adopt “1-to-1” programs that provide every student with a personal screen-based device, such as a laptop or tablet. Incentivized by “Big Tech” giants such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, “the shift to screen-based learning was massively accelerated due to COVID-19 distancing practices, which led to wide-scale remote learning. As of the 2024–25 school year, nearly 90% of public schools have a 1-to-1 program, according to U.S. government statistics.”
But despite this rapid adoption, recent studies and surveys are indicating little evidence of improved academic achievement, citing “concerns like distraction during lessons, data privacy, cyberbullying, and the potential for children to access harmful content while connected to the internet.”
Dan Guernsey, a noted educational leader and a fellow at The Cardinal Newman Society, emphasizes that “Catholic education aims to provide complete formation that encompasses mind, body, and spirit. Doing so requires deep discernment of the best ways to encourage thought, focus and community, and many schools have concluded that screens in the classroom are a distraction from those goals.”
Pope Leo also weighed in on the issue of technology in the classroom in his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. While he does not discount the importance of technology and even AI in the classroom, he cautions by saying that because of the ease of AI to answer questions, these new technologies risk “extinguishing the desire to ask questions” and “fosters a culture of immediacy and hyper-stimulation, which gives rise to fatigue, boredom and apathy concerning the effort required for seeking the truth.”
Please be assured that the use of technology in our schools will always be well thought out and targeted. Technology is a tool, and we should always teach students how to use it in line with our Catholic faith.
Saints & Scholars
I was extremely proud this week to be a part of our annual Saints & Scholars Dinner. This event shines the spotlight on the many people who work in the Diocese of Lincoln Catholic Schools and excel at what they do.
The 2026 Diocesan Education Awards honored St. John the Apostle School Principal Tony Arens as Administrator of the Year, James Benes of St. Peter School in Lincoln as Elementary Educator of the Year, Kelan Schumacher of Hastings Catholic Schools as Secondary Educator of the Year, and Barb Rezac of St. John Nepomucene School in Weston as Support Staff Member of the Year. Their stories are inspiring and their dedication to our schools is exemplary!
Congratulations also to the teachers celebrating milestone anniversaries of service in Catholic education. They were honored as well for the work they’ve done through the years to help our students reach their potential in the classroom and in their lives.
To be surrounded by these excellent educators, administrators and staff members, as well as many individuals and families who donate each year to financially support our Catholic schools, made the evening a memorable one for me. I have enormous gratitude for all of them. They play such an important role in providing the educational excellence we’re able to deliver in our schools!
Education Freedom Tax Credit
I am extremely excited about a new opportunity that will be available soon that will make it easier for all of us to help every student in our diocese and across the country get the right —and the best—education for them. Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) that will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. Governor Pillen has opted Nebraska into this program.
This program will allow you to claim a credit of up to $1,700 a year on your federal income tax. A married couple can claim up to $3,400 each year. The donation must be made to a scholarship granting organization. In Nebraska, that donation can be made to Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska (OSN).
Your donation will then go toward scholarships for qualified children in our state. They can use the money to attend the school that is the best fit for them and their needs. That could be to attend our diocesan Catholic schools. Donations could also be used for public school students to receive special instruction. The EFTC will be a great way to enhance the learning experience for the students who need it most.
Please take some time before the first of the year to learn more about how you can use your tax dollars to support students in our diocese.
You can contact Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska to get the information to help you support these families to provide the best learning environment for their children.
Superintendent search
Finally, the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln is currently working with a national search firm to hire a new superintendent of schools. Our current superintendent, Father Lawrence Stoley, remains in that position and has done an excellent job leading our efforts to keep our schools vibrant and growing. As we transition to a new leader, we’ll look for the right person to guide our schools through even more renewal and to even greater heights.
Our goal would be to identify the right candidate for this position by the end of 2026. That would give our next superintendent time to work with Father Stoley as needed to learn about our school system, the administrators and teachers who make our schools successful, and the families and students we serve.
Please keep this search in your prayers, that it may yield the right candidate for everything we want to accomplish.
Conclusion
I hope that this educational update has encouraged you to see that Saint Augustine’s inspiration of things “ever ancient, ever new” is alive and well in the Diocese of Lincoln. I pray we can continue to work together to make our Catholic schools in the diocese a place of learning, respect, faith and love. Our children deserve the best—let’s make sure we deliver that for them!
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Henry Newman, co-patrons of Catholic education, pray for us!
Editor’s Note: Bishop James Conley will lead an online course Oct. 30, “Counting the Stars: Cultivating Wonder in our Soul.” It is offered by the Institute of Catholic Culture. Registration is available at https://instituteofcatholicculture.org/events/counting-the-stars/. Pre-class discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT and the bishop’s lecture will follow at 7 p.m.
