This fascinating independent study course introduces students to ten leaders who brought the light of education to America, serving Catholics, Protestants, frontier settlers, city dwellers, Native Americans, African Americans, and European immigrants. The ten visionaries profiled are John Carroll, John Dubois, Elizabeth Seton, Rose Duchesne, Catherine Spalding, Ann Therese Guerin, John Neumann, Martin Spalding, James Gibbons, and Katherine Drexel.

Students who complete this course will be able to trace the path of American Catholic education from its east coast roots to the mid-west frontier. They will learn about the three plenary councils that provided America with a unique system of parish education, seminary establishment, and a national catechism. Above all, they will be able to take pride in the pioneer spirits who devoted themselves to showing that all Americans were valued by a ‘one God, one country’ philosophy of citizenship.