At SEEK, Denver Catholic Schools Invite Young Adults into the ‘Most Hopeful Mission Field’ of Teaching
- Guest Contributor
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
'Schools are the most hopeful mission field in the Catholic church today.’
By Jay Sorgi
Catholic schools have always had an intrinsic mission of educating young people in our faith, but Denver Catholic Schools are taking that mission to the next level.
Together with the Cabrini Teaching Fellows, members of the Catholic school community took the annual SEEK conference as a perfect opportunity to invite others into the vocation of Catholic education. Dr. Scott Elmer, the new superintendent of Catholic schools and archdiocesan chief mission officer, joined teachers, administrators, Catholic school leaders and Cabrini fellows at the conference to meet young people who are deeply dedicated to the mission of bringing young people to Christ, including prospective Denver Catholic School teachers and those interested in the fellowship.
“I'm so excited to be the superintendent because I've become convinced that schools are the most hopeful mission field in the Catholic church today,” Dr. Elmer said to prospective future Catholic school teachers and Cabrini fellows at the conference, held at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora. “If you want to be in the business of proclaiming the Gospel and reaching people with it and seeing them come to the grace of the sacraments and new life in Christ, there is no better place to be than Catholic education.”
The Denver Catholic Schools office has used the SEEK Conference in recent years to meet prospective new teachers, but Cabrini Teaching Fellows, with its program of holistic formation for teachers, has truly helped them inject stronger faith-fueled educators into Denver’s classrooms.
Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila established the program in January 2024, with the consciously stated goal to “form teachers to be better prepared to deliver an education imbued with Christian Spirit [and] grounded in the principles of Catholic doctrine.”
The three-year program not only places teachers within Denver Catholic Schools but also fosters an intentional Catholic living community for teachers to build interpersonal support in both their faith lives and their professional careers.
“With Catholic education, you've got the unique opportunity to have an internal impact,” Carsten Logan said. He’s a Cabrini teaching fellow and a middle school math and science teacher at Assumption Catholic School in Denver and was present throughout the conference to speak to interested prospective teachers. “You have the chance to form young minds, young hearts and young souls, to make them fall in love with God, make them fall in love with faith.”
Logan attended a SEEK conference in Salt Lake City, UT, where he encountered the Cabrini Teaching Fellows. It has led him to what he calls the most challenging task he’s ever had to accomplish in his life, but one that truly fulfills his calling with God.
“I've got a unique opportunity to make kids fall in love with physics, chemistry and biology, just to have a chance to teach them about the wonder of God and the natural world,” he shared. “It rocks. It's joyful. It's wonderful.”
Michael Zahn, assistant principal at Frassati Catholic Academy in Thornton, was also present to meet with young people considering the mission of educating God’s young people.
“We're looking to get them to Heaven,” Zahn explained. “Denver is a very beautiful, mission-driven environment. A lot of people are here to support you professionally and personally, and we're all looking to build a better world.”
Cabrini Teaching Fellows Executive Director Liam Gallagher says Denver’s Catholic schools are overall searching for missionaries — especially faith-filled young men — working through education to meet the needs of young people who require strong role models in the Catholic faith.
“They need you to go into that middle school science classroom and open their minds to the first time that science is the language that we can understand reality, and by reality, we mean God's creative act. You might be the first person to open their mind to the idea of faith and reason going hand in hand,” Gallagher said. “We need you coaching that soccer team. We need you out there on the field putting the boys through difficult things. Helping them deal with defeat, losses, victories and conflict together.”
In his invitation to join Cabrini Teaching Fellows, Gallagher says that saturating those lessons with a conscious evangelism for the faith opens the door for making young souls disciples, the ultimate mission of Catholic education.
“Your vocation comes at the intersection of your talents and the needs of the Church. Right now, the Church needs you, and the impact you can make is insane,” he said.
“I was talking to one of my students today who came up to me, who I taught in seventh grade,” he continued. “He's now a senior in high school, and he was going through all of the kids that were in my class who are in the process of or who have converted to the Church. It's insane the impact that you can have, real impact, changing the lives, the souls, the direction of God's little children.”
Dr. Elmer explained that this overarching mission is to impact leaders in creating a “sanctuary of education,” accompanying parents in linking church and family.
“We describe that sanctuary of education as a sacred place of transformative encounter with Jesus Christ, where our students grow in wisdom and virtue and discover God's great calling for their lives,” he shared. “I want you to focus in on that last line, the great calling for their lives. When we work with kids, we have the opportunity, because we're Catholic and the Lord shares his vision with us, to see in them the saint that the world has yet to see. Because every one of our students has a plan, a plan to change the course of history. And God has written that in their hearts.”
