When prenatal tests suggested Vicki Szostek’s daughter Abby would be born with Down syndrome, she wondered if her child would still belong in a Catholic school—and heard too often, “Don’t even try.”
Years earlier, Susan Schuller had asked a similar question about her son Michael only to become convinced that separating children from their peers couldn’t possibly be what Jesus would want.
Those parallel paths met – and from that came Rising Together Alliance, a parent-led effort in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to help Catholic schools say yes to inclusion and to walk with families through the process. From there, Szostek, Schuller and co-founder Caitlin Haas went to work, educating teachers, accompanying principals and pastors, and showing how side-by-side learning changes hearts as well as classrooms.
Since then, they’ve hosted training sessions, shared practical strategies, and encouraged a simple ‘yes’ on the faithful path towards inclusion. Rising Together Alliance is supported by Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Dr. Andrew McLaughlin, secretary of elementary education for the Archdiocese and Sr. Kathleen Schipani, IHM, former director of the Office for Persons with Disabilities.
“I initially thought, would we have to move to a better school district?” Szostek said of the days following her daughter’s prenatal diagnosis. “Would the Catholic schools take a child like Abby? I wasn’t sure.”
As she connected with other parents in the Down syndrome community, the answers were often discouraging. “Many of them said, ‘I don’t think our Catholic schools are set up to take kids like ours. The public school is really the best place,’” she said. “That made me sad. I’ve always wanted my kids to have the experience I had growing up in Catholic schools.”
Her longing was not just about academics but about faith, family, and community. Abby, she believed, deserved the same parish-based education and the same chance to grow alongside her peers as any other child.
The Gift of Inclusion
The word Szostek kept coming back to was inclusion.
“Inclusion means being side by side with your peers, not down the hallway in a separate classroom,” she said. “You’re learning alongside your peers, and they’re able to learn from you as much as you learn from them.”
She has seen this firsthand. Abby, now in kindergarten at Visitation BVM School in Trooper, continues to develop her speech. Despite intensive therapy, progress was slow—until one day her classmates modeled saying their names. Abby spoke her own name for the first time, not in a clinical session but among friends.
“It was their encouragement,” Szostek said. “Sometimes it’s easier to learn from a peer than from an authority figure. That’s the beauty of growing up together.”
A Mother’s Determination
Schuller knows the feeling of fear that comes with the birth of a child with Down syndrome. Her son Michael, now 18, was the fifth of her six children. “When he was born, my first thought was, do we move all of our children from the Catholic school?” she said.
At the time, Schuller assumed Catholic schools could not accommodate him. But over time she saw Michael learn, thrive, and reveal gifts that went beyond any diagnosis. When the public school refused to teach him letters, she decided to push harder for inclusion.
“I realized this isn’t what Jesus would want, to separate kids out,” Schuller said. “Jesus would want us together.”
Eventually Michael was included, first at a Catholic school in Connecticut and then after a family move at St. Katharine of Siena School in Wayne. He went on to become a full part of the school community — so much so that it became irrelevant to those at St. Katharine that Michael had Down syndrome.
“People hardly notice,” she said. “He’s just Michael.”
Rising Together
Szostek, Schuller and Haas initially connected through online parent groups and advocacy webinars. They recognized a common need: families like theirs wanted Catholic schools to be welcoming places for children with intellectual disabilities.
“We didn’t want parents to hear ‘don’t even try,’” Szostek said. “We wanted to give the opposite message: ‘let’s try, and we’ll walk with you.’”
The three mothers began meeting with Archdiocesan leaders, teachers, and principals. They organized conferences to train educators, bringing in professionals and teachers with real experience of inclusion. They offered simple guidance, such as understanding that slower processing time is not disobedience, but part of how children with Down syndrome learn.
At its core, Rising Together Alliance is a parent-led network: families supporting families, schools, and parishes to take the step of saying yes. Much of the resistance they encountered, the founders believe, stems not from malice but from fear.
“Teachers and principals want to do their best,” Szostek said. “But if they’ve never worked with a child with special needs, they’re afraid—afraid of doing it wrong, of not doing enough.”
The Alliance tries to ease those fears through education and accompaniment. “Not everything’s going to be perfect, and that’s okay,” Szostek explained. “If something doesn’t go well, we’ll try something different tomorrow. We’re partners in our children’s education.”
Schuller has seen the transformation in schools that make the leap. Inclusion, she believes, is not only about giving her son access to academics but about giving every other student access to the gift of knowing someone God intentionally created to be different.
“We want our children to be proud of how God made them, and when their peers grow up alongside them, they learn something about Jesus too,” she said. “We are all created in the image and likeness of God. So, we can all learn something about Jesus through each interaction we have. Being together allows this opportunity for all the peers.”
Faith as the Foundation
For both mothers, faith has carried them through moments of fear and uncertainty.
Szostek recalled the early days after Abby’s diagnosis: “The love we feel from the Father is the love our daughter deserves everywhere she goes.”
Schuller found consolation in Scripture and in prayer. She remembers the words of Jesus about the man born blind: “This man was born this way so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” For her, Michael’s life has embodied that truth.
“It’s pro-life to include him,” she said. “Every time students choose him as a peer mentor or teach him wrestling moves, it’s God’s work on display.”
Building Momentum
Rising Together Alliance is still young but already making an impact. Its first Celebration and Award dinner was sold out, with demand so high that a larger ballroom was booked for the next one on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at the Springfield Country Club.
Families are reaching out, schools are beginning to say yes, and a culture of belonging is taking root.
“The fact that schools are proud to do it—that’s what makes me happiest,” Schuller said. “Because I know what a gift it is.”
Szostek agrees. For her, the Alliance is a way to ensure that the next generation of families won’t face the same isolation she felt at the start.
“Our hope is to stand beside families and help them work with their schools and pastors,” she said. “This is where our children belong—in their parish, with their peers, where they see the same kids at Mass on Sunday.”
For both women, Rising Together Alliance is not simply about services or programs. It is about hope rooted in faith, community, and love.
“Our kids embody missionary discipleship,” Szostek said. “They show us how to love our neighbor and accept all people. Their classmates don’t have to go somewhere else to see that—it’s right there in their classroom every day.”
Or as Schuller puts it: “Inclusion provides an opportunity for hope for everybody.”
***
Faces of Hope is a series of stories and videos highlighting the work of those who make the Catholic Church of Philadelphia the greatest force for good in the region. To learn more about a new way forward for the Church of Philadelphia, visit TrustandHope.org. If you know someone you’d like to see featured, please reach out to editor@catholicphilly.com.
Share this story