Bishop Ruggieri Statements
Diocese of Portland

The March for Life, and The Mother Cabrini Maine Catholic Education Initiative - Auspice Maria Ep. 23

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Auspice Maria episode 23: Maine catholic education initiative and march for life

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Transcript:

Welcome back to the Auspice Maria podcast. I'm Bishop James Ruggieri of the Diocese of Portland in Maine.

Today the podcast is a little bit different. I'm going to be talking about two things. One is the upcoming March for Life in Washington, D.C., that happens on January 22nd and 23rd. And then also, I'd like to speak about the Mother Cabrini Maine Catholic Education Initiative, which was officially launched recently. But I want to expound a little bit upon that and how that really is a blessing and a benefit for Catholic education, but really overall to the mission of our diocese.

But of course, I just want to begin with a prayer to the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Holy Spirit, we invoke you. We rely upon you. We trust in you. We ask that you guide and lead this podcast forward and inspire our hearts to respond more eagerly and more diligently to your promptings in our lives. And we ask all this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

So first, a word about the March for Life.

As I said, the March for Life takes place on January 23rd, actually, but I said the 22nd and 23rd because there are two things that are naturally coupled together: the National Prayer Vigil for Life, which takes place at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

But first, a word about the march. So this year's theme—the 2026 theme for the National March for Life is “Life is a Gift.”

The march began in 1974 upon the heels of the Supreme Court decision Roe versus Wade that essentially legalized abortion, in theory, at all stages of pregnancy. And so, in response, pro-life witnesses chose to come to Washington—as so many people in the past and present still do—to witness.

I don't want to call it a protest, because it really is a witness. And so that has continued, even though the recent decision of 2022, the Dobbs decision of the Supreme Court, basically put the issue of abortion and abortion legislation back with the states.

So what we have now is a National March for Life that is intentional about spreading this witness to all corners of our country, but really to our world.

My own experience of the march—as a priest, I've attended different times, and each time I attend that march, it has been quite an experience.

I remember the first time I was marching, and we were coming up, I believe it is, Constitution Avenue. And you see on your right— or at that time we saw on our right—the Capitol building, which is very impressive. But there is an incline in that road, and I remember looking back and just seeing an incredible amount of people, like a sea of people. And it just etched in my memory, seeing all those people marching.

The other thing that really stuck out, not only that first time but each time that I'm able to attend the March for Life, is the numbers of young people who attend. Not just school groups or youth groups, but you have families, various, various people, various young people who come and march. And their enthusiasm is extremely contagious, as sometimes they're chanting, singing, praying the rosary, carrying constructive signs. And so it really is a boost for all ages, but particularly, I think, for the older people who have been in the pro-life movement many years, to see the amount of young people who come to Washington to participate in the annual March for Life.

So again, the march takes place on the 23rd. However, there is a prayer vigil, and that prayer vigil is extremely interesting because it takes place at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, beginning at 5 o'clock with a Mass on the 22nd.

And that Mass also has been quite incredible in and of itself for me. Again, the few times I've been able to participate -and now as a bishop, with a perspective a little bit closer to the altar and being able to see even clearly now more the congregation— I can remember just the first time I attended that, the numbers of people who fill that Basilica, I mean, in the aisles, in the pews, again all ages. That vigil Mass, which commences the National Prayer Vigil, is extremely, extremely grace-filled and inspiring.

So last year, the Diocese of Portland, we were so blessed to have a bus go to Washington, D.C. This year, we also have a bus which leaves now from Bangor and will stop at Portland and then stop at the Capitol.

So I would encourage those who may be interested in attending the march to check out our website. Link will be included in the notes to this podcast. But it is a great opportunity for students, adults, families to attend the March for Life.

The bus will leave early in the morning on the 22nd to arrive in Washington on time for the 5 p.m. Mass—the vigil Mass at the National Shrine—and then will return right after the march concludes. Usually, the bus departs from Washington around mid-afternoon after the march.

So, on Friday the 23rd, the bus will depart from Washington and return to Maine, stopping in Portland and then Bangor and Orono. I believe it’s Orono that it stops at finally. We potentially put that stop in because we’re trying to encourage university students to attend with us.

Last year, quite a few did, but they had to make the trek down to Portland to begin, and then they faced that two-hour ride back up. So we thought it might be better to originate that bus from Orono and then have it come stop in Portland—and destination is Washington, D.C.

Now, we have the capacity for two buses, and that’s the other thing I just want to put a word out there for. If you’re thinking about this, wondering if there’s still room—well, the deadline is in November, but there’s still room on the buses.

The cost for students—students of all ages, if you’re a student—is $100. For adults, it’s $300. Now, for students, if you’re a college student and adult, that $100 also could include double, triple, or quad occupancy in a hotel room. For adults, it’s $300 for double occupancy.

I do want to say this is very discounted because, again, the diocese wants to subsidize this trip to make it accessible to people who are interested.

Students who are minors must be accompanied by an adult parent—that’s very important to us, maintaining safe environments.

I do think, though, it’s a great opportunity for parents and their young people, their students, to attend together because it’s a wonderful family experience as you’re marching together.

It commences with a rally after there’s a Mass in the morning at 8 a.m. at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which closes the prayer vigil. But also then, people walk to the Ellipse right near the Washington Monument, and then the march begins after some speeches, prayers, and testimonies.

So again, if you're interested, please see the notes here in the podcast, but also you may go to our Diocesan website. There is a link there.

Once again, the March for Life is January 23rd, Friday. However, our bus in Portland leaves on Thursday the 22nd and returns to Portland after the march on January 23rd. If you're planning, you'll most likely be back in the early morning hours of the 24th, so I would not plan a heavy day on the 24th to recoup and to rest up.

But please come. If you cannot come, my encouragement is to come to pray here in some way or fashion. EWTN has coverage of the march and also the prayer vigil—some beautiful coverage of the march and the prayer vigil. But maybe if you're not able to come, this might be a great opportunity to organize some prayer vigil or prayer in your parish, collaborating with your pastors, parochial vicars, and pro-life representatives in your parishes. 

The march has a heavy emphasis on the unborn, of course, because it originates from that Supreme Court decision. However, obviously, pro-life is a multifaceted movement—although, again, the most innocent, the unborn, are really our focus for this March for Life.

So if you can, please join us in person. Great. If not in spirit, please do for the 2026 March for Life.

Now, if I may, it might seem like a sort of unnatural transition, but I would like to speak about the Mother Cabrini Maine Catholic Education Initiative.

How I see these two coming together—not just for the sake of a podcast, but really for the mission of the Church—obviously, the March for Life, its theme “Life is a Gift,” its purpose to bear witness to the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death. That is as integral to the mission of the Church in building a culture of life, which is intimately a part of the Kingdom of God.

A culture of life, Kingdom of God—they’re synonymous. So the March for Life really is a vital part, and the witness that it proclaims is a vital part, to proclaiming and building the Kingdom of God—building a culture of life.

Catholic education is another vital part of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, building the Kingdom of God here on earth, and creating a community—a culture of community and encounter—in our parishes and our churches for people to meet Christ.

So Catholic education definitely serves the mission of the Church. Those who are educated in our Catholic schools, those who are educated in Catholic homeschooling programs, and of course catechesis in our parishes as well.

But the Mother Cabrini Maine Catholic Education Initiative specifically focuses on our schools and homeschooling Catholic families who, again, are intent on providing a Catholic education for their children.

Allow me to explain a little bit about this initiative. The initiative originates from a very generous gift from a private donor that will be spread over four years. We received the first installment, and there are three more years to this very generous gift. The charge or the intent of the donor is that the money be used to transform and continue to move forward how we execute Catholic education—meaning how we organize, how we plan, how we train our teachers, how we love and educate our students.

So it's comprehensive, but it really is to be used to transform how we here in the Diocese of Portland approach and do Catholic education.

Now again, this extends to homeschooling families as well, because homeschoolers are a vital part of our diocesan family, and they are, too, engaged in Catholic education.

With this gift, we are able to have ongoing formation for our teachers and for our school leaders. We will be able to recruit new teachers and form them in a Catholic ethos so that they are very prepared to teach in our schools when there are openings in our Catholic schools.

This initiative also is to open doors through financial assistance, although that is not the main impetus of the initiative. Part of the initiative also is to help transform curriculum.

So we recently—just this past school year, the beginning of this past school year—implemented a new theology curriculum across the eight Catholic schools that the diocese has. We have one diocesan Catholic school, and we have seven parish-based Catholic schools, forming the Catholic school family of the Diocese of Portland.

Now, there are two other schools that are part of this family: the Jesuit high school, Cheverus, and also Mount Merici in the Ursuline tradition in Waterville. So they definitely, too, are part of the Catholic school family.

But when I speak about the Catholic Education Initiative, the focus is really those eight diocesan schools—those eight schools under the auspices of the Diocese of Portland, the governance of the Diocese of Portland. Seven parish-based, one that is formally administrated by the diocese, and that is St. Dominic Academy, presently in Lewiston.

So—curriculum. Four of our Catholic middle schools are moving towards a full classical education, a classical curriculum for their middle school curriculum. This is a process, but there are four presently in the process, one has been doing this for a while, but with more training and more funds for resources through this Catholic Education Initiative, we're hopefully helping these schools move forward and strengthen those middle school programs.

We have two Catholic high schools that will be opening—very small, and a different model than, I would say, your normal high school. By “normal,” I mean there’s nothing really normal—but I think of a normal high school as one with a full plate of extracurricular sports and activities.

These schools are more geared toward the focus of classical education—the dimension across the curriculum being very intentional and focused on having that Catholic ethos permeate all across the Catholic curriculum.

The other thing about these schools is that they’re intentionally geared to be small. And it’s not just something to keep costs down; it really is to build a very strong community in these schools that stimulates and motivates our graduates to be well engaged in the Church upon graduation, and to really be agents of change and builders of the culture of life as they move further into adulthood.

It’s just a different model, a different way to educate in a secondary setting.

So we’re embarking on two initiatives: one in Brewer, which will be housed at St. Joseph Church, the property of St. Joseph Church, and one in Brunswick, which will be housed on the property of St. John Church and will be adjacent to the existing Catholic elementary school that is run by All Saints Parish there.

We’re very excited about these two new schools that are opening.

If you’re interested in finding out about registration information, again, go to the Catholic School website of the Diocese of Portland. There will be a link to that also in this podcast.

We are limiting our attendance, or our capacity for the classes, to 15 — again, the intentional nature of keeping the school small. We’ll be starting in 2026, in September, with just two grades. The plan is to build, so these two schools will begin with just ninth and tenth grades in September of 2026, with the intention every year thereafter of building the schools up to a full nine through twelve.

If I may say a word about sort of the — we're calling these the Cabrini School -If I may say a word about sort of one of the pillars of the Cabrini School. The Cabrini School has ten pillars. One is a unitive anthropology. The Catholic vision of the human person is a unity of body and soul.

Also, Cabrini schools will present the full splendor of reality as understood through the mind of the Church, and basically formation in truth, beauty, and goodness, and the idea that every subject, literature, art, science, mathematics, is taught as part of a unified search for truth, sort of like this very intentional weaving across the curriculum of connection of truth.

The third pillar: integration of faith and reason. Faith and reason are definitely not opposed, but they're complementary. So Cabrini schools will train students to think critically and philosophically and to test ideas, both against revelation and reality.

The fourth pillar: education of the senses and the imagination. Students will be formed to encounter reality through the senses and the arts—music, rhetoric, visual arts, architecture, drama. The imagination in classical education, or this view of classical education that the Cabrini schools will embrace, becomes a doorway to contemplation and creativity.

The fifth pillar: integration and synthesis across the disciplines. Again, this is repetitive, but knowledge is not fragmented. The Cabrini schools want to show that knowledge is really a synthesis, bringing together various subjects, various areas of discipline in the intellectual fields.

And every year, the unique thing—every year there’ll be what we’re calling a “perennial human question” that each grade level will have to address and do a presentation. For example, we will have maybe the freshmen address the question, “Who am I and why do I exist?” And they are to present on that, drawing from the various areas of their study and reading and thought and prayer, and bringing that all together in a presentation before their peers, before parents, and obviously before their teachers, to give an articulate representation and response to that question, “Who am I and why do I exist?”

So it’s this perennial human question that every generation sort of struggles with. We want our students to grapple with those early and each year often.

The sixth pillar: formation for culture and mission. We’re hoping that our Cabrini graduates are not called to withdraw from the world, but to transform it.

The seventh pillar: attention to the whole student. The Cabrini School attends to the social, emotional, and spiritual needs of each student.

The eighth pillar: partnership with parents. Extremely important. So our parents, if you’re listening and you’re interested in these Cabrini schools, know that there’s definitely a part that you will have to bring and offer. Parents are the primary educators, of course. So the Parent Evangelization Program or component of Cabrini schools—the idea or the plan is to offer a monthly formation for our parents, maybe an evening, maybe a retreat afternoon, or service opportunity, to help parents grow spiritually, emotionally, and communally along with their child. Because, again, once again, we recognize parents as the chief educators of their children. We’re just trying to support them.

The ninth pillar: teachers as ministers of the Gospel. The teacher is key, of course, in various aspects of education. But each classroom is now envisioned as an encounter with truth, each subject a path to God.

And then the tenth is community and communion. So the goal, the objective of Cabrini schools, are these schools are to be schools of communion—places where learning, worship, and daily life are shared in relationship, not competition. Communion flows really from the recognition that we share a common humanity, we share a common faith, and hopefully we’re all striving to help each other to get to heaven.

So those are the ten pillars of these two new Cabrini schools that we are opening. Not unknown to classical education in general, so they’re not novel, but we want to be very intentional in how we do continue to develop our Cabrini schools, but in general Catholic education.

And a word to the homeschoolers: we have on our website, on the Cabrini website, there is some information about homeschoolers, some grants for homeschooling curriculum, encouragement for homeschooling collaboratives that may develop around a parish with the pastor’s support and encouragement. So I would just encourage those who have an interest in education—not just classical, but Catholic education—to check out our school website, and particularly the Cabrini School link that is off of that.

And finally, just a word about this initiative. For Christmas this year, we are gifting to every student in our Catholic schools a backpack that will be stuffed with school supplies, and also we’re making that opportunity available to our Catholic homeschoolers as well. And we’re seeking collaborators, if anyone’s listening and would like to help contribute to the cause.

We have purchased L.L. Bean backpacks, school supplies. There’ll be sort of spiritual bags in there with rosaries, how to pray the rosary—I believe a Miraculous Medal as well. Every student in our schools will receive one of these backpacks at Christmas, just as a sign that we want to show them a little love, of course, the season of giving where Christ has given us so much by becoming human, becoming man and dwelling among us.

We want to give them some love and show them that love of Christ, and also help them to stay organized, because as parents know, it’s an ongoing—for some of our students and some of our adults—it’s an ongoing challenge, of course, to stay organized, and hopefully these backpacks will be a help to that. They’re very durable. They’re authentic L.L. Bean, not fake.

So again, if you’re interested in helping collaborate, contribute to that, make a monetary donation, sponsor a backpack or two or three, just again check out our school website. The link will be in our notes of this podcast today.

So I know this has been a lot, and it may sound like sort of just rambling, but hopefully as you listen to this podcast today, not only will you glean a little bit more about the March for Life that’s coming up and the National Prayer Vigil that’s associated with it, but maybe I’ve piqued your interest about the whole Mother Cabrini Maine Catholic Education Initiative that we have been so blessed to embark on.

And all of these efforts really serve the mission of the Church—to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, which is good news of salvation, to bring others into communion with Christ and to build the kingdom of God beautifully here on earth with the Holy Spirit and with others.

Thank you for listening, and I entrust it all to the Blessed Mother as I pray:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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