Dear Colleague,

Thank you for contacting the web site of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers. We hope the information we have posted is of interest and value to you.

In the structure and successful operation of today's Catholic schools, the lay teacher is central. Good lay teachers make good schools. The Catholic school lay teachers directs the spiritual, educational and personal development of children in the classroom, but this is only part of the lay teacher's vocation. To be truly whole, Catholic school lay teachers must also be empowered. Only through representation can the interests of the teachers, the students and the schools be addressed, only through collective action, can they be advanced.

Since NACST began in 1978, our organization has worked tirelessly to promote the interests of Catholic school lay teachers. Our motto, Justice and Dignity for Catholic School Teachers, says it all.

The Catholic Church has, for over 100 years, championed the rights of the worker. The US Bishops have promulgated a number of documents which speak to employers, Church employers most especially, exhorting them to recognize the rights of employees to organize and to bargain through whatever association or organization they freely choose. All the moral principles that govern the just operation of any economic endeavor apply to the Church and its agencies; indeed the Church should be exemplary.

NACST stands ready to assist teachers in individual schools as well as school systems throughout the United States to achieve empowerment through recognition of their teacher organization and its subsequent representation of them in the process of collective bargaining. Only then will lay teachers become full partners in the educational enterprise as defined by the US bishops in TO TEACH AS JESUS DID.

Please let the National Association of Catholic School Teachers know how we can be of assistance to you. Contact us at 1-800-99-NACST or at nacst.nacst@verizon.net. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Rita C. Schwartz
President