Superintendent honored for devotion to Catholic education

By Priscilla Greear - Florida Catholic

FORT LAUDERDALE | As a ninth grader at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Moriah Francois embraces both its academic rigor and spiritual vigor, strengthened by Mass with piano and violin, the pastor’s inspirational homilies and an award from the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women.

“The teachers are really nice. If I’m ever having issue with finishing assignments, they’ll explain it to you or give you an extension to help,” said Francois, an honor student who graduated from St. Rose of Lima School in Miami Shores. “I love Catholic school and it’s a better education, but they give a lot of work...And we do prayer in the morning and every time I have a test I start praying.”

Francois spoke at the 2025 MACCW 26th Annual Fundraiser Luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 22, 2025 as a recipient of an MACCW 2024 Lucy Petrillo Scholarship Award. She recalled being unsure about public schools in eighth grade before writing an essay for the scholarship. Receiving this scholarship meant a lot to her, and attending St. Thomas Aquinas “helped me become a better person and helped me connect with my faith, myself and other people,” said Francois, whose mother attended Catholic school in Haiti.

At the luncheon, Mary Weber, chair of the MACCW scholarship committee, recognized Francois and other 2024 recipients Ana De Leon and Ashley Bel of Msgr. Edward Pace High School; Amelia Pryce of St. Thomas Aquinas; and Jasmine Viola of Cardinal Gibbons High School. Luncheon proceeds benefited 2025 honorees, who will be announced at their convention April 26. The committee selects eighth grade girls at Catholic schools to attend archdiocesan Catholic high schools. Part of the National Council of Catholic Women, the MACCW currently has 20 parish-based councils and focuses on evangelization, leadership, spirituality, service and education.

Established in 1997, the scholarship committee has awarded over $373,000 to 85 girls. The committee gratefully acknowledged a new major gift through the Raymond and Dors LaCombe Charitable Gift Fund. Weber recounted how for years she brought Communion to the couple, who became supportive donors and made a final bequest in their will.

The MACCS honored superintendent of Catholic schools Jim Rigg and presented him a framed painting of Mary for his dedication to leading 65 schools and 2,500 educators in the Archdiocese of Miami. In his fourth year in Miami, Rigg said he views his career in Catholic education as a vocation, beginning as a social studies teacher for grades 7-12 in Memphis, Tenn. Over Christmas, he said he cleaned his garage and found an old box of lessons plans, projects and even a Bush vs. Gore election cartoon that reminded him of the joy of teaching. “It also reminded me that teaching students is a lot of work. To create and implement dynamic lessons that reach all students requires many hours of preparation, execution and work not to mention all the hours of grading and emailing parents and going to meetings and professional development,” said Rigg, who previously served as superintendent in Cincinnati and Chicago archdioceses. “In accepting this award, I say thank you on behalf of those who work in the trenches in Catholic education, our Catholic educators, teachers, staff members and leaders.”

The schools in the archdiocese serve over 36,000 students and enrollment has increased over 1,000 students per year for the last five years, he reported. Catholic school graduates are eight times more likely to attend Mass and much more likely to volunteer, give to charity, vote and engage in civil discourse. From standardized tests to college enrollment, “Catholic schools are doing a wonderful job in preparing students with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful, and families are flocking to our schools,” he said. “Thank you (educators) for the dauntless love for your students, thank you for embodying Christ the teacher.”

MACCW president Fabiola Sanchez-De Armas said the scholarship program is “women helping women.” The MACCS empower women to do their best” and receive strong faith foundation for life in a sheltered, safer school environment, she said. “We support our Catholic sisters all the way as they start out in life.”

Cleomin Bel, whose daughter Ashley attends Msgr. Edward Pace High School, appreciates the scholarship combined with the Step Up state scholarship. ”I know that she always wanted to go there and it was a big load off.”

His daughter Ashley is able “to attend the school of my dreams” and compete nationally on their cheerleading team.

MACCS spiritual director Father Michael Greer closed with a prayer and Hail Mary for Pope Francis, who is hospitalized. MACCW past president Diane Tugander recalled a Vatican audience with the Holy Father for the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations with over 700 people from 60 countries. “I love Rome, and being there in his presence was like a loving grandfather taking into account what we were doing and appreciating what we were doing” with MACCW, she said. He affirmed women’s leadership to get things done and “has been putting more women in dicasteries.”

Tugander, a member of All Saints Church in Sunrise, serves on the scholarship committee and said past recipients have ranged from a girl facing a family cancer diagnosis who became a doctor to a girl in poverty who later won a Gates Millennium Scholar Award. Her own daughter was bullied in a middle school before switching to a Catholic school where she thrived. Members look for girls with “drive and determination” to attend Catholic school and “fulfill their dreams.”

Father Yamil Miranda, pastor of All Saints Church, is grateful for his parish women’s council support for youth. “It’s about the mission to bring disciples of Jesus into the local church but also the world, to have followers of Christ in the 21st century to show his love, mercy and compassion, and also bring the Catholic faith to those places that are in need.”