Remaining in sync with this year's Mission Week, Karen Ristau, president of the National Catholic Educational Association, spoke Wednesday afternoon in the Weasler Auditorium about the goal of Catholic education as striving to provide students with a strong sense of integrity.

Ristau focused on the mission of the National Catholic Educational Association, which includes holding true to values and acting accordingly.

"Her ideas of mission and integrity were the most important concepts," said William Henk, a professor of education and dean of the School of Education.

Ristau also addressed critical issues for Catholic education today, including Catholic identity, affordability, accessibility and the relationship between the individual parish and the church as a whole.

"I would have liked to have seen more of what the Catholic identity meant because she didn't state what the criteria was to be a Catholic," said Erin Fitzpatrick, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Working with an "angry church" because of abuse allegations is also a critical issue Catholic schools must address, Ristau said.

Katie Muller, a junior in the College of Art & Sciences, believed it was important that she acknowledged the issues surrounding the abuse allegations.

"I think it was good to talk about it because it's there and it's an issue so why ignore it," she said.

During a question and answer session after the lecture, Melinda Skrade, principal at Pius XI High School, asked for Ristau's thoughts on why Catholics don't want to send their children to Catholic schools.

"We have to be unapologetic about being a Catholic education, and too often we try to be like the others and we're not like the others," said Skrade.

A major cause for this issue in the Milwaukee area is because the suburbs have quality public education, Ristau said.

Not ignoring the merit of public schools, Ristau said the state of Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee have been pioneers in being concerned and identifying social justice.

"The whole underpinning of what we do in the School of Education is around the topic she discussed of social justice," said Henk. "It is all focused on her original notion of mission and integrity."