Catholic Schools - Diocese of Toledo

Wishing you a Merry Christmas from all of us in the Department of Catholic Education!

Prepare your heart, not just your holiday to-do list. Start Advent with our Diocese of Toledo playlist.

Let this Advent playlist accompany you through this season of waiting — a season the Church invites us to enter slowly, prayerfully, and with expectation. These songs are chosen to help you pause amid the busyness, reflect on the coming of Christ, and let your heart be shaped by hope.

Listen now on Spotify and make Advent part of your daily rhythm — in the car, at home, or during quiet moments of prayer. 💜🕯✨

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5mJjvTVytVxYLF4nGpzVDQ

Here is a reminder of the snow emergency policy in the Diocese of Toledo. The faithful should always use prudential judgement when traveling.

Whenever a county/city within the Diocese of Toledo is placed under a Level 3 Snow Emergency, during which all roadways are closed to non-emergency personnel, the Catholic Churches within that geographic region will cancel the scheduled Saturday Vigil, Sunday, or Holy Day Masses. Roman Catholics in that region, therefore, are dispensed from the obligation to attend Mass.

If Masses are cancelled, Catholics are encouraged to participate in Holy Mass via television, radio, or internet, making a spiritual Communion. When Mass is cancelled, all other diocesan, parish, or school events in that geographic region are also cancelled.

https://toledodiocese.org/diocesan-news/diocese-of-toledos-snow-emergency-policy

Happy Thanksgiving from the Department of Catholic Education!

Loving and Gracious God,
On this Thanksgiving Day, we pause to recognize Your abundant blessings.
We thank You for our Catholic schools—places of faith, learning, and community.
Bless our students with curiosity and joy,
our teachers with wisdom and strength,
our staff with patience and dedication,
and our pastors, principals, and families with hearts rooted in Your love.

Fill us with gratitude for the gift of Catholic education
and for the mission we share in forming disciples of Your Son.
As we gather around our tables,
may we remember those in need,
offer kindness freely,
and live each day with thankful hearts.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This past week school leaders from across the Diocese of Toledo took time away in Findlay for professional development, prayer and fellowship at our annual School Leadership Conference! They spent Thursday with a presenter from Boston College’s Lynch Leadership Academy focused on “A Culture of Achievement”. Friday was a variety of peer presentations on topics related to Catholic School Leadership and a closing session that helped ensure our leaders recall the vocation and reason they serve in our Catholic schools. Thank you to Mr. Jon Cuttitta (Mansfield, St Peter), Mrs. Megan Sheid (Lima, St. Charles), and Dr. Eric O’Brien (Maumee, St. Joseph) for presenting!

It was great to have nearly 80 heads of school, principals, assistant principals, deans and lead teachers gathered together!

Also, congratulations to Mr. Manuel Gonzales, recipient of the annual Fr. John “Arch” Thomas Leadership AwGesu School + Toledo, Ohioatholic School Principal who has served for more than 10 years and is known for their exceptional leadership! The Gesu School + Toledo, Ohio Community is blessed to have you! edti

Yesterday, we visited St. Joseph Sylvania and got to see their Middle School students’ Project Week activity in which they completed these displays about animals in their habitats. Each activity is cross-curricular. We love seeing hands-on learning in our schools!

Members of the Department of Catholic Education spent the day in formation at St. Joseph in Marblehead. We spent time focused on defining how we work as a team and defining goals for the future. Thank you, St. Joseph for hosting us!

Today, the Department of Catholic Education hosted the 2025 Known, Loved, Served Conference! The KLS Conference is a diocesan Faith Formation Day for teachers in our Catholic schools. This year’s theme—“Holy Disciples in the Classroom”—echoes our diocesan mission to form holy disciples and foster holy vocations. We are grateful to Bishop Daniel E. Thomas for celebrating Mass and to our presenters Dr. Kevin Baxter of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program (ACE - Alliance for Catholic Education) and Dr. Marlon De La Torre (Diocese of Columbus) for their inspiring messages. Thank you to the over 500 educators who attended!

Yesterday evening, we hosted our first meeting of the newly reconstituted Diocesan Education Council, a committee of those involved in Catholic Education in the Diocese of Toledo to advise Bishop Thomas and the Department of Catholic Education on education-related issues. We are grateful to all those who said yes to serving, representing many communities in our 19 counties!

Today, we hosted the 1st and 2nd Year School Leaders from across the Diocese of Toledo for our Principals’ Academy focused on Catholic Identity and School Culture. We enjoyed having Christian Dallavis, superintendent of Partnership Schools present on defining how culture impacts the school and how it is informed by the root beliefs of the community.

Today, we hosted two collaborative meetings: one with the admissions teams at the six Metro Toledo High Schools featuring a presentation about the High School Placement Test from Scholastic Testing Service. After, we held a meeting with Heads of School/Presidents from schools across the Diocese of Toledo. It was a morning filled with great conversation and idea sharing!

Thank you to The Julie Billiart School (Westlake) in Catholic Diocese of Cleveland for hosting our Department of Catholic Education last week to learn more about your approach to Special Education!