McGill-Toolen looks to future at planning convocation

April 21, 2025

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
MOBILE — Staff, faculty and supporters of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School gathered April 11-12 to help set the school’s strategic mission over the next five years.

Participants joined for a “strategic planning convocation” at the school, brainstorming and identifying school objectives across eight domains—academics, advancement, Catholic identity, enrollment, facilities, finance, governance and student life. McGill-Toolen has teamed up with Partners in Mission, an independent, Catholic education consulting firm, for “A Future of Hope” campaign.

“I feel so strongly we must have strong Catholic schools,” school President Fr. Bry Shields told those in attendance April 11. “We have a great school, but we want to take a hard look at ourselves. We want to be frank and honest and we want to say where can we improve and how can we?”

Those participating in the convocation met in small groups and tackled one of the eight domains. They identified objectives based off a comprehensive report which identified school strengths and challenges based off feedback obtained from the school community through roundtables, personal interviews and surveys as well as data.

The objectives formed from the convocation will help lay the groundwork for a published report.
Fr. Shields stressed the importance of McGill-Toolen to those in attendance, expressing the impact it has on society and the Church.

“If I were to say why are we here? We are here because we desperately need the kind of graduates that McGill-Toolen forms and educates … both for our country and for our Church,” he said. “I believe very strongly that we must have citizens and we must have parishioners and we must have business people and we must have family people who understand what life is about.”

He also cited a study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate – a Georgetown University-affiliated research center that conducts studies centered on the Catholic Church.
In 2012 it found that 39 percent of Catholics born in 1982 or after who attended a Catholic secondary school attend Mass regularly and 34 percent of those who attended a Catholic primary school attend Mass regularly.

Only 5 percent of those who never attended a Catholic primary or secondary school attend Mass at least weekly.

“If you just look at this practically, why are we here and why do we need this school? Literally, I think without it we can’t really envision a future for our Church, not a strong future at all,” he said.