John M. DeJak

John M. DeJak

Executive Director, Secretariat of Catholic Education

John M. DeJak, an attorney and educator, is Executive Director of the Secretariat of Catholic Education for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He practiced law and served on active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army prior to being named the founding headmaster of two private high schools in the Twin Cities area. He has served in academic administration and has taught Latin, Greek, literature, government, and theology in high schools in Chicago, Cleveland, the Twin Cities, Ann Arbor, and Front Royal. 

John is the co-editor of With God in America: The Spiritual Legacy of an Unlikely Jesuit (Loyola Press, 2016) and the author of many articles. A member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, he is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of St. Thomas and the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He and his bride, Annie, and their eight children live in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Mandate and Goals for the Committee

The committee provides guidance for the educational mission of the Church in the United States in all its institutional settings. The Committee on Catholic Education guides, directs, and coordinates this task, working closely with the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. The scope of the committee’s work includes Catholic elementary and secondary schools, Catholic colleges and universities, and college campus ministry. The committee advocates for federal public policies in education that are consistent with Catholic values and that uphold parental rights and responsibilities regarding education.

This mandate includes the following areas of responsibility:

  1. Catholic primary and secondary schools,
  2. Federal advocacy on private school policy issues,
  3. Catholic higher education, Ex corde Ecclesiae, especially relations with bishops and presidents,
  4. Campus ministry, 
  5. Development of certification and standards for lay ecclesial ministry at the diocesan level.

KEY MISSION RESPONSIBILITIES

  1. Encouraging and supporting efforts in Catholic education by fostering the distribution and implementation of both universal Church documents on education as well as related documents developed by the bishops of the United States 
  2. Supporting educational efforts in the Church in the United States by developing policies, guidelines, and resources for use by bishops in their dioceses
  3. Providing consultation on educational issues when requested, including advising and representing the bishops in Catholic schools and universities
  4. Collaborating with the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis regarding evangelization and catechesis in Catholic schools and universities
  5. Providing support and advocacy in federal public policy on behalf of Catholic educational institutions from pre-school through high school levels
  6. Embodying the concerns and priorities of the bishops of the United States for ministry formation and certification for specialized ecclesial ministries through the work of the subcommittee for Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service
  7. Bringing to Catholic education the perspectives and concerns of other cultures and people with special pastoral needs through collaboration with other committees/offices

KEY MISSION RELATIONSHIPS

  1. With bishops and diocesan offices
  2. With related committees and offices of the USCCB
  3. With national educational organizations and associations
  4. With governmental and legislative bodies
  5. With advisory bodies to the Committee
  6. With the Holy See and other episcopal conferences

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