Planning is underway for our 15th Annual 2027 National Conference, which will be held July 13-16, 2027, at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas. To accomplish the purpose of our National Conference — to deepen Catholic educators’ understanding of the nature and purpose of Catholic education and its roots in the liberal arts tradition — we are soliciting Breakout Speaker Proposals and Scholars Track abstracts from our Member Schools until Monday, February 8, 2027.

As a theological virtue, hope is a gift of God’s grace anchored in the reality of the Incarnation. It is received in humility and docility and reveals that we are made in the image and likeness of God, beckoning us toward ultimate human flourishing.

The 2027 ICLE National Conference theme, “The Reason for Our Hope,” invites Catholic educators to ground their mission in a Christological anthropology, recognizing Jesus as both the model and the means of human formation. It calls us to follow Christ the Teacher who forms us by uniquely uniting wonder with reason in the truth of His own person. 

Aristotle noted that wonder is the beginning of philosophy, and the Church offers wonder as the starting point of faith. Authentic Catholic education is a path of transformation in Christ. It is an education made possible by humbling the soul through an encounter with reality: a geometric proof, the order of creation, or the beauty of a poem. By providing a framework for what ignites wonder, we prepare our students to see how all truth coheres in Christ, and this gives us hope for both the renewal of Catholic education and for our ultimate destiny in Him.

We invite you to join us at the 2027 National Conference as we renew our calling, always at the ready to give the reason for our hope.

Where possible, we encourage presentations that draw from and reflect the conference theme, but we will also consider separate topics. More details about each submission type — Breakout Proposals and Scholars Track Abstracts — may be found below.