Notre Dame leaders praise the national impact of Lentz

Annette “Mickey” Lentz poses for a photo in October of 2013 when she was chosen as one of the first recipients of the University of Notre Dame’s Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools. (File photo by John Shaughnessy)

By John Shaughnessy

The University of Notre Dame has a deep respect for its heroes and legends, so it’s telling when leaders there use those two words to describe Annette “Mickey” Lentz and the national impact she has had on Catholic education and female leadership in the Church.

“Over the years, since my early exposure to Mickey, she has become an incredible example of how to lead as a woman in our Church,” says Sister Kathleen Carr, senior director of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Partnerships, which strives to provide a Catholic education for low-income families in economically- challenged communities across the country.

“Her colleagues hold her in the highest regard for her honesty and longstanding faithfulness to the mission of Catholic education.”

Their connection extends to 1996 when Lentz was the archdiocese’s executive director of Catholic Education and Faith Formation, and Sister Kathleen was a self-described “neophyte Superintendent of Schools in the Archdiocese of Boston.”

“Mickey was a beacon of hope who instilled confidence in younger and less experienced superintendents,” says Sister Kathleen of the Congregation of St. Joseph. “Mickey was a legend in her own time.”

Sister Kathleen recalls being inspired by Lentz’s instrumental efforts in establishing the Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, a consortium of Catholic schools in the center-city of Indianapolis that offers a faith-based education to students from low-income families—a consortium that is now known as the Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Academies.

“We were all facing the challenge of retaining a vibrant presence of Catholic school education amidst shrinking resources and changing demographics,” Sister Kathleen notes.

“Her leadership and innovation created the Mother Theodore consortium model. In so doing, she set an example that became a proof point, as well as a call to the rest of us to think creatively, take risks, anticipate trends and lead planning efforts to ensure Catholic education continued to be an option for those at the margins.”

Colleen Moore also has high praise for Lentz, who was chosen as one of the first recipients of Notre Dame’s Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools in 2013.

She’s “one of my heroes,” says Moore, the director of Echo, Notre Dame’s master’s degree program that trains prospective parish leaders of religious education, high school religion teachers and campus ministers.

Moore credits Lentz’s “forward-thinking leadership” for the archdiocese becoming “one of the Echo program’s first diocesan partners” in 2005.

“When other dioceses said they didn’t have the time or resources to partner to form promising young leaders, Mickey knew that the Church couldn’t afford not to invest in them,” Moore says.

“Under her guidance and that of her colleagues in catechesis and education, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis has helped form and launch over 40 young leaders in faith formation and theological education, and has hired over a dozen Echo graduates who are currently serving in leadership positions around the archdiocese.”

Lentz also pushed and encouraged the Echo staff to develop new programs, Moore says.

“It was at Mickey’s prompting that Echo established an additional track in 2014 dedicated to forming middle- and high school theology teachers alongside our parish catechetical leaders.

“She has always made our young students feel valued, not just for their future potential but for the gifts they are right now.”

Lentz’s “personal, care-filled” involvement continued even after she took on increased responsibilities in the archdiocese as its chancellor, Moore says. That involvement included Lentz providing house-hunting, furniture-shopping and career-counseling for Echo students who came to the archdiocese.

“Mickey’s generosity of spirit has impacted our students’ vocations as well as my own. From the earliest days of our partnership, I knew that Mickey cared about me personally as a young lay woman working in the Church.

“Mickey is a fierce and fearless force for good and one of the greatest mentors I’ve known in my 25 years in ministry.” †

 

Related story: Love of faith and life guides Mickey Lentz in her 60 years of serving the archdiocese