BY WILLIAM MURRAY | Catholic Standard

Sister Patricia Ralph has seen a lot in her decades as a Sister of St. Joseph teaching and leading Catholic schools in Washington, D.C.

On July 22, in the middle of a summer when most teachers try to get their minds off the classroom, she took her assignment as a teacher at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy, where she has worked since 1997, to a new level. That Saturday morning, a rented white Hummer pulled up to the Southeast Washington school to take six students and recent graduates to National Harbor, Maryland. There, a crowd of thousands awaited at the National Black Catholic Congress XIII.