Lilly Endowment awards $5 million grant to Notre Dame

A grant for Notre Dame’s New Horizons program, a California Catholic school replaces pride flags, a Kansas formation house to become a seminary, and more in this Catholic education news roundup.

The Lilly Endowment has given the University of Notre Dame a $5 million grant to support the Department of Theology’s Master of Arts and Master of Divinity programs.

“This grant connects Notre Dame’s world-class Department of Theology with leading partners where the Catholic Church is growing and in need of well-formed, dynamic Church leaders,” Father Kevin Grove, CSC, an associate professor of theology at Notre Dame, said in a July 27 press release. “Together, we will work to recruit, form, educate, support and place these future ministers. We are exceptionally grateful to the Lilly Endowment for providing us the chance to reimagine how lay church leaders are raised up, formed and placed.”

The grant will serve the university’s New Horizons program, which provides full tuition support for M.A. students and stipends for M.Div. students as well as postgraduate job placement assistance.

California Catholic school replaces pride flags with rainbow symbol

Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California, has opted to take down its pride and progress flags for the upcoming school year, replacing them with a custom rainbow “Inclusive O” symbol.

“Many of you know that over the last few years, questions about Pride and Progress flags have become part of a much larger conversation taking place throughout the Catholic Church in the United States. Across the country, Catholic schools have been working to navigate these tensions while remaining united as communities, caring for students, and living their Catholic values,” Bishop O’Dowd President Kim Walsh said in a statement posted to the school’s website.

Bishop O’Dowd High School is a diocesan school that operates under the Diocese of Oakland and superintendent of Catholic schools.

Local news outlet KQED reported that the new symbol came after the diocese asked the school to take down its pride flag after someone informed Bishop Michael Barber about it. Barber spoke out about sex and gender issues in a joint letter with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco in 2023, calling on Catholics to respond to gender ideology with “truth and charity.”

Walsh said this conversation “became a lightning rod within our own community,” which prompted the school to develop the new symbol, a rainbow-colored O in the style of the school’s branding. “Our Inclusive O now appears in lieu of the Pride and Progress flags that had previously been displayed in some classrooms, and is now displayed campus-wide,” she said.

Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, house of formation to become seminary

The Diocese of Wichita in Kansas has announced that its St. Joseph House of Formation will be transformed into St. Philip Neri Seminary.

“The Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme will formally establish a new seminary for priestly formation on Aug. 26, 2026, marking an historic milestone in the life of the diocese, and fulfilling a vision first explored more than two decades ago,” the diocese said in an Aug. 6 announcement.

“Effective August 26, the institution will be known as St. Philip Neri Seminary, honoring the 16th-century saint renowned for his joyful spirit, deep holiness, and dedication to forming priests and evangelizing through authentic friendship,” Kemme said.

“For the last nine years, we have been able to form our men during their college years here with such success that we now think it’s important to officially recognize the house of formation as a true canonical seminary,” he said in a Q&A posted on the diocese’s website.

“It was a seminary, but it was called the St. Joseph House of Formation,” he continued. “Now it is going to be established officially as a seminary, a place of formation for the priests of our diocese.”

Milwaukee debuts first new Catholic school buildings in 60 years

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee celebrated the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 11 for the first newly constructed Catholic school buildings in nearly 60 years.

The ceremony comes two years after Seton Catholic Schools announced the two buildings would be constructed by early 2026. St. Rafael the Archangel and Prince of Peace School will officially open at the start of the school year on Aug. 24.

“St. Rafael and Prince of Peace have been integral to Milwaukee’s educational landscape for years,” Seton said in the press release. “These new buildings will offer modern, student-centered environments designed to foster learning, creativity, and spiritual growth. These will be more than just schools — they will be vibrant hubs for student engagement, community gatherings and faith development.”

“As one of the first new Catholic school buildings in Milwaukee in nearly 60 years, this investment reflects our deep commitment to our students, families, and the future of our community,” a statement posted on both of the schools’ websites reads.

Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic school students top national, state benchmarks

Students in Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic schools surpassed national and state benchmarks in both math and reading.

“The data reveals that 47% of Diocese students are performing at or above grade level in math, compared to 32% nationally and 32% across North Carolina,” the diocese revealed in an Aug. 10 statement. “The gap is even more pronounced in reading, where 59% of Diocese students are scoring at or above grade level, well ahead of the 38% national norm and 35% state average.”

The data comes from spring 2026 i-Ready diagnostic results, the diocese said.

“These results reflect what happens when dedicated teachers, engaged families, and a strong academic foundation come together,” Michael Mastrocinque, director of instruction for diocesan Catholic schools in Raleigh, said. “Our students arenʼt just meeting expectations — theyʼre exceeding them at a level that puts them well ahead of their peers across the state and the country. This is a direct result of the hard work happening in our classrooms every single day, and it reaffirms our commitment to academic excellence rooted in the Catholic tradition.”