Alliance for Catholic Education
This week I have been listening to an audiobook called The Happiness Crisis: How Adversity Can Build a Resilient and Joyful Next Generation by Jonathan Eckert. Eckert’s discussion of joy and gritty optimism in this book resonated deeply, and helped me further understand what it means to be a Catholic school leader who “leads with zeal.”
Eckert highlights the problem with making happiness the ultimate goal for our children, and for ourselves. We often hear comments like, “I just want my child to be happy.” But, happiness is fleeting, a momentary emotion caused by external circumstances. I am happy when Notre Dame wins on a football Saturday, or when my husband takes care of the pile of dishes in the sink. Should this be the goal when life is inherently filled with struggle?
Instead, Eckert proposes that the goal of our lives, and of education, should be joy and flourishing. He describes joy as “the overflow of enduring love and gratitude for others that emerges from struggle.”
This definition offers a powerful lens for Catholic school leadership:
Enduring love: I often have the privilege of supporting Remick leaders as they discern principal positions. When I am listening to a leader describe the school they are applying to, I ask them “Can you imagine yourself falling in love with this school and community?” I ask this because being a principal is really, really hard. There are challenges you could never predict, and it is love for the school - its identity, mission, history, people - that allows you to move through the difficulties so that the joy can emerge. Leading with zeal begins with enduring love.
Gratitude for Others: Joy is shared with others. “Joy abounds when we not only belong but also matter…Others count on us, we count on them” (Eckert, Chapter 3). Could any of us truly succeed in this work alone? Leading with zeal requires collective commitment, from faculty, staff, students, families, parishioners to move toward a shared vision. Consider the joy of enrollment growth that is the result of teachers, staff and parents collectively engaging in marketing efforts. We experience joy not only in the accomplishment itself, but in walking the path together.
Adversity and Gritty Optimism: We will face pain and difficulty, but we can choose to move through it with what Eckert calls gritty optimism - the grounded hope that things can improve because we have overcome challenges before. This idea is central to our faith and the Holy Cross charism, Ave Crux, Spes Unica ("The Cross, Our Only Hope"). It is easy to turn to this truth only when we are sinking into frustration or despair. However, gritty optimism challenges us to accept - and even invite - struggle as a step toward abounding joy.
The Remick definition of Leading with Zeal asks that leaders maintain positivity, optimism, and hope in the face of challenges rooted in the Cross of Christ. As you step into the week ahead, lead with gritty optimism, giving your teachers and students every opportunity to experience joy by doing hard things through God and one another.
Sandria Morten
Faculty, Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program
References
Eckert, J. (2026). The happiness crisis: How adversity can build a resilient and joyful next generation. Thomas Nelson.