Anyone who walks into the atrium for the theater at Ursuline Academy of Dallas will most likely encounter the natural light that fills the space.
Schools
It is not the accolades received, nor the projects completed, but the community encountered that Patrick Magee treasures most as he prepares to retire his post as president of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, the longtime administrator said. After more than two decades of leadership at the Dallas school, including more than a dozen years serving as the institution’s first president, Magee is stepping down from the position at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, with Lisa Long set to take up the mantle.
A mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe smiled upon the congregating Prince of Peace Catholic School students as they pooled into the school’s new Guadalupe Outdoor Classroom for its formal dedication on May 6. Each entering with a flower in hand, the students laid their bright blossoms one by one before the image of the Blessed Mother — officially turning over a new leaf for outdoor education at the Plano school.
Highlighting the role of Catholic schools in forming students in faith and academics, the Diocese of Dallas on April 24 named three educators as 2026 Distinguished Educators of the Year at its annual banquet, held at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Parish.
Bishop Lynch High School senior midfielder Madison Murphy was stationed in front of the Houston St. Agnes Academy net, prepared to convert a left cross struck by freshman forward Mila Van Loggerenberg near the end line into a golden goal in overtime of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Division I girls state soccer final in Round Rock on March 6.
The sport with the greatest growth in participation and achievement at Saint Paul Catholic Classical School in Richardson is not football, basketball, or baseball, nor is it volleyball or tennis. No, the sport does not involve a ball at all — simply a bow and arrow and a target some distance away; it is the ancient sport of archery.
With pom-poms waving and thank you signs held high, students, faculty, and administrators at St. Philip & St. Augustine Catholic Academy welcomed a busload of members of The Crystal Charity Ball on Feb. 19. Joined by school board members and Diocese of Dallas Catholic schools Superintendent Jeannette Lambert, the special guests toured the southeast Dallas campus as SPSA celebrated its selection as one of eight nonprofits chosen as a 2026 The Crystal Charity Ball beneficiary.
As Ursuline Academy of Dallas senior Lexi Obi participated in the Ursuline Education Network Student Retreat earlier this year, she learned something surprising: Despite hailing from different grades, different schools, and even different states, the student attendees each had something fundamental in common — a sense of “serviam,” or sense of service, rooted deeply in their common Ursuline formation.
When she speaks with school principals, pastors, or parents, Isabel Puente sees them all the same: as family. The 28 year old has spent four months traveling throughout the Diocese of Dallas to show them how children can be educated in Catholic schools using the recently created Texas Educational Freedom Accounts.
Samantha Lopez, a fourth- and fifth-grade science and math teacher at Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Academy in Dallas, saw her dream of providing personalized support to each of her students become a reality this school year.