FAIRFIELD, CT - Donna B. Spigarolo, special education teacher in the Fairfield Public Schools, is this year’s honoree for the Fifth Annual Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Educators’ Communion Breakfast. She has been selected by CAPP to receive the award at Sacred Heart University on Sunday, March 3. The event is co-sponsored by CAPP and Sacred Heart University’s Isabelle Farrington College of Education.
Since 1988, Spigarolo has worked as a special education teacher and currently works at Roger Ludlowe Middle School. Prior to her dedicated work in special education, she was a religion teacher and director of religious education at the St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Fairfield and St. Rose parish in Newtown, Conn. Her work has involved establishing opportunities for catechist spiritual growth, implementing adult education programs and sacramental preparation for all parish children. She was also responsible for the recruitment, training and evaluation of catechists.
Apart from her established career in the fields of special and religious education, Spigarolo has devoted her time to helping her community through her work as a member of the Fairfield Education Association, the CT Education Association and the National Education Association. She also has served Habitat for Humanity in the greater Bridgeport area as chairperson of the partnering committee, member of the speaker’s bureau, the 15th anniversary chairperson, president of the 2000-2001 board of directors and co-chair for the Hearts & Hammers Ball. She was on the board of directors for both Bridgeport Catholic Family & Social Services and the Thomas Merton House of Hospitality. She is an active member of St. Anthony’s of Padua Church in Fairfield.
Spigarolo received her master’s degree in religion and religious education from Fordham University, graduating with high honors. She has earned 60 credits beyond her master’s degree in graduate education courses from Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University and Southern Connecticut State University. She completed her bachelor’s degree in special education from Southern Connecticut State University.
In announcing the award recipient, Bill Fox, president of the Fairfield County Chapter of CAPP said, “Donna Spigarolo was selected because of the passion and excellence she brings to her teaching. She was chosen as much for her excellence as a classroom teacher as for her active community involvement. She exemplifies the principles of Catholic social teaching.”
CAPP was founded in 1993 to encourage business people, academics and other professionals to study and promote Catholic social teaching. It is named for Pope John Paul’s encyclical of the same name that marked the 100th anniversary o f the landmark papal document on social responsibility, Rerum Novarum. The Diocese of Bridgeport is one of three pioneering dioceses in the United States to establish a chapter.
If you are interested in attending the CAPP Breakfast, please call 203-396-8097 or register at www.sacredheart.edu/CAPP2013. The cost to register is $35 per person and a table of 10 is $300. Keynote speaker Michael J. James of the Boston College Roche Center for Catholic Education will discuss, “Education and the Art of Loving.”
