Culture is the water in which organizations and institutions – including schools – swim. Culture is the medium, in a sense, that sustains institutions and influences everything that happens in them. Others have described culture “as the glue that holds things together” or “the way things are done are here.” Culture holds and sustains Catholic identity. Therefore, it is the platform on which a better understanding of it should be built.
Practices, structured by norms and supported by persuasive narratives, are the building blocks of institutional culture. Changes in culture take place when those involved in the institution adjust or reinforce practices while adopting or adapting accompanying norms and enhancing or revising the narratives that make the practices compelling.
Given that, the way to better understand and enhance institutional Catholic identity is to look at these three elements as they operate in the three principal domains of Catholic schools: learning, character, and the practice of the faith.