I have been working in Special Collections at the Catholic University of America for about a year now. But this semester, I had the pleasure of cataloging the papers of Dr. John Convey for my practicum project. He was a former provost and Elizabeth Ann Seton Professor of Education at Catholic University. My job was to reorganize the collection and create a finding aid from the ground up. This had been my first time starting a project like this from the very beginning so I was excited to have a chance to use my skills. Being given full creative liberty to catalog this collection, I decided to completely restructure how it had been stored in the first place while at the same time, maintaining the original order the records kept.

During his 44 year career, Dr. Convey has written and edited a total of eight books and won several awards from the National Catholic Education Association, whose records are also in Special Collections, including the C. Albert Koob Award in 1991, the O’Neil D’Amour Award in April 2011, and the Elizabeth Ann Seton President’s Medal in October 2011. In November 2005 he was the recipient of the Benemerenti Medal, given by Pope Benedict XVI in recognition of his service at the Catholic University of America as well as to catholic education as a whole. Convey’s achievements and contributions during his career are reflected throughout his papers.

This collection in particular contained evaluations, consultations, and planning studies conducted on the education system of catholic schools across several parishes, dioceses and archdioceses in the United States. These studies aimed to improve catholic education by analyzing what problems were present and how school administrations as well as faculty could work to fix them. Through the process of gathering any necessary data and conducting surveys on parents or pastors alike, Convey compiled all this information to draft up reports and provide recommendations on how to solve problems regarding enrollment, finances, teachers’ salaries, faculty and student life as well as others depending on the statistics and requests of each parish or diocese.

An example of one of these studies that stood out to me was the Strategic Planning Study conducted for the Archdiocese of Boston, where my middle and high school in Arlington, MA were mentioned in his area plans. Between 1989 and 1991, Convey served as a consultant for the Archdiocesan Planning Committee for Catholic Schools as they worked together to expand access to Catholic education for their Catholic students by improving enrollment as well as resolving the issue of rising expenses and attendance costs. Each school across the Archdiocese of Boston submitted parish plans outlining any relevant issues or assistance required for their community over the course of the two year study. In the final recommendations, the planning committee, with the help of Dr. Convey created a long term plan that would cover nine different areas of Massachusetts to encourage Catholic identity for students, increase enrollment, and provide a stable financial plan. This is just one of the many studies conducted to improve Catholic education and administration in U.S. dioceses.

His work and service to the improvement of catholic education had earned him the title of Professor Emeritus after his retirement in 2018. In the words of his former doctoral student Kevin J. Calkins in his 2024 Alumni Essay, “John leads by example, teaching me (often without words that faith, hard work, kindness, selflessness, and lightheartedness are necessary to be an effective educator and, more importantly, a Catholic educator.”

If you would like to view the John Convey Papers yourself, please see the online finding aid or make an appointment to visit the Catholic University Special Collections by contacting them at lib-archives@uca.edu. You can also check out additional Catholic education resources with a research guide and an online exhibit.  Special thanks to John Convey for sending me his biography and to University Archivist, William J. Shepherd, for showing me this collection.