After Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Cast out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4
Dear DIA Collaborators,
Here we are at our ninth annual DIA Schools Summit in our nation’s capital on the campus of our national university of the Catholic Church in America. What a fitting setting for our largest and most diverse gathering yet of evangelizing Catholic school leaders, teachers, and apostolates!
Some have asked about how the annual Summit began. A decade ago, a few founding Board members of DIA attended the Napa Institute in northern California. There, among the vineyards, we were inspired by a new approach to the New Evangelization in our country and for our Church. Neither liberal nor conservative, the organization’s ethos is a bold call “to cast out” and renew the Church and our culture in an authentic and unabashedly Catholic way. The founders of DIA felt called to provide a forum and platform specific for Catholic schools to grow in fellowship, support, and resources to do this very work in the context of Catholic K – 16 education.
It is fitting, then, that we bestow recognition on a special man—a true apostle—who has inspired DIA and our work. Mr. Timothy R. Busch co-founded the Napa Institute in 2011 along with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J. and has been a leading Catholic philanthropist. He and his wife, Steph, have been strong advocates and supporters of Catholic education, in particular, as major benefactors of Catholic schools in their home state of California and more recently at The Catholic University of America, where the school of business is named in their honor. At this year’s Summit, it is a privilege and honor to bestow DIA’s inaugural Luke 5:4 Award to Mr. Tim Busch for his support of DIA, his heeding Christ’s call to “cast out into the deep” with the work of the New Evangelization, and his inspiring love of Christ and his Church.
May we all continue to support and inspire one another in this mission-critical work of our Church!
Duc in Altum!
Kyle