For many people, faith is associated with tradition, stability, and preserving established ways of doing things. For Linda Steel, however, faith demands something far more active. Throughout her career as a trustee with the London District Catholic School Board, she has understood leadership not as maintaining the status quo but as confronting injustice, advocating for those whose voices are often overlooked, and ensuring that Catholic education continues to embody its deepest values in a changing society.
As she explains,
We're not just here to be peacekeepers. We're here to be peacemakers, which calls you out of your comfort zone to go do something — not just maintain the status quo… As Catholic leaders, we are called to make an active difference in the world.
This distinction between peacekeeping and peacemaking captures Steel's entire philosophy of leadership. Peacekeeping avoids conflict and preserves existing arrangements. Peacemaking, by contrast, requires the courage to confront difficult issues, challenge inequities, and work toward a more just community. For Steel, faith is not a justification for inaction; it is the very reason action becomes necessary.
Faith Through Action
Throughout the interview, Steel repeatedly rejects the notion that Catholic leadership should simply defend tradition. Instead, she understands Catholic social teaching as a call to uphold the dignity of every person and to actively address situations that create exclusion or harm.
Asked how she balances her Catholic faith with advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion, her response is immediate.
I don't have any issues balancing these two, because I figure as a Catholic leader, we should absolutely be promoting, and not just promoting, we should be actively pursuing … equity and inclusion. To me, that's part of our job. You must advocate for students and even the teachers within the school board. So, you're always working towards equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Rather than treating Catholic teaching as a fixed set of prohibitions, Steel understands it through the lens of Catholic social teaching, which emphasizes the inherent dignity of every person, the pursuit of the common good, solidarity with those on the margins, and the moral responsibility to confront injustice. These principles provide the ethical foundation for her leadership. Questions surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion are therefore not external political concerns imposed upon Catholic education, but opportunities to live out its deepest commitments through action.
I think some people are very literal in their interpretation of what should be and are very critical of anything outside that box or those literal teachings. I guess it depends on who you are and what you pick and choose, but I think anything that hurts people we shouldn't be doing.
In many ways, this simple statement captures the practical ethic of Catholic social teaching. Rather than beginning with ideology or institutional self-preservation, Steel begins with the effects policies have on human beings. If a policy diminishes dignity or excludes members of the community, it demands reflection and, where necessary, reform.
This ethic shapes her approach to leadership. Questions surrounding gender identity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, racism, or other forms of inequality are not treated as abstract political debates but as practical questions about how institutions demonstrate compassion, dignity, and respect for the people they serve. Her understanding of leadership therefore reflects a broader tradition of values-based leadership, where authority is exercised through ethical commitment rather than institutional power alone.
Reforming Institutions from Within
Steel's philosophy becomes visible in the practical work of governance. Rather than pursuing symbolic gestures, she focuses on reforming policies and institutional practices that affect students' everyday experiences.
One example involves reviewing school uniform policies. Steel questions why expectations surrounding dress so often fall disproportionately on girls.
One of the things that bothers me is that it always comes back to the length of the skirt. … We're reviewing our whole policy for uniforms. It's always the females targeted, always, always, always. What are we going to do when it's uncomfortable? And I thought, ‘Well, what do you do in the summertime, when you're outside this building, and with what people are wearing these days?’ Women are still expected to be modest and this that and the other thing, which, you know, in this day and age … shouldn't make any d*#n difference.
Rather than accepting longstanding rules simply because they are traditional, she asks whether they continue to reflect the values they are intended to serve. In her view, faithful leadership requires institutions to examine whether their policies unintentionally reinforce inequities and to revise them when necessary.
A similar approach emerges in discussions surrounding LGBTQ+ inclusion. Steel describes how her board sought ways to acknowledge Pride while remaining grounded in Catholic education. Instead of allowing the issue to become a divisive conflict, the board developed alternative approaches that emphasized inclusion and reaffirmed the dignity of every student.
We decided to meet the issue about the Pride flag head-on a few years ago. We do not raise any flags except the Canadian flag in front of our schools. However, each individual school chooses to celebrate Pride, or whatever else…, within the school. So you're not going to get one on our flag pole outside the school, but there could be a Pride flag inside the school. The Catholic education center heard what we did to keep it flexible, as we set a whole series of lights during Pride Week. It lit up in rainbow colours.
Throughout these discussions, her guiding principle remained remarkably consistent: all children deserve to feel welcomed, respected, and valued within their schools.
For Steel, institutional leadership is measured not by resisting change but by ensuring that enduring values continue to guide institutions as society evolves.
Leading Through Institutional Constraint
One of the interview's most revealing themes concerns the changing nature of educational governance itself. Steel notes that many people assume trustees possess significant authority over schools, when in reality much of that authority has gradually shifted to the provincial government.
In educational institutions, most of us don't take a leadership role in the way we used to. It's all coming from the Ontario government. … So, most of the time we are trying to figure out the best way to follow our marching orders from the province. We do a lot of interpreting of how to meet their needs, meet our needs, and our distinctly Catholic identity. There are a great deal of people around who put together curriculum and activities that reflect our Catholic values within what the government tells us we have to do. So, I don't know at this level if we necessarily take a leadership role. That has been a source of frustration for trustees because we're supposed to be the local leaders, and slowly over the years our powers to do that have been eroded.
Budget flexibility has declined, policy requirements have become increasingly standardized, and trustees now exercise considerably less discretion than in previous decades.
Rather than expressing frustration alone, Steel adapts. She continues searching for opportunities to influence policy, support vulnerable students, and strengthen her community despite these institutional constraints.
Her experience reflects a recurring lesson found throughout this year's Leading Through Turbulent Times cohort: leadership is rarely synonymous with formal authority. More often, it consists of finding opportunities to exercise influence within imperfect institutions whose structures may themselves be changing. Effective leaders do not simply wait for greater power; they work creatively with the authority they possess.
Modelling the Community We Hope to Build
Steel also believes leadership depends upon example. Policies matter, but they only become meaningful when leaders consistently embody the values they promote.
As she explains,
We continue to model what we're supposed to be doing and keep saying it out loud; this is important, this is where we stand. You pass something, and if you don't talk about it anymore, it sort of dies in a corner. …
If we're behaving like idiots at the top of the food chain, it's unlikely people going down the tiers are going to behave much better, and that's an unrealistic expectation. So, in my position, I feel we have to hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability. And I expect that from everybody around me. It goes down the chain; the work is way down, so that's getting to where it needs to be. I mean, that's two ways too. I mean, we're always learning from the people around us. …If you're responsible for the whole operation and system, you better be a good person doing the best job you possibly can because a lot of people are relying on you and you have a direct impact on their success.
Leadership therefore becomes an ongoing process of shaping organizational culture. Values survive not because they are written into policy manuals but because leaders continually reinforce them through their decisions, conversations, and everyday actions. Justice, inclusion, and compassion must be practiced publicly if they are to become embedded within institutions.
This emphasis on modelling aligns closely with relational and moral theories of leadership, which argue that leaders influence organizations less through command than through the example they set and the relationships they cultivate.
Learning Courage
Steel traces much of her own leadership philosophy to an influential mentor from her secondary school years: Sister Maristella, a formidable teacher who demanded excellence while offering unwavering support to her students. The relationship began with conflict but evolved into one of profound respect. Looking back, Steel recalls a mentor who was willing to be disliked, willing to admit mistakes, and deeply committed to helping her students succeed.
The lesson stayed with her.
You don't ever give up… but you might have to adjust your approach.
That philosophy continues to guide her leadership today. Courage is not stubbornness. It requires persistence, reflection, and the willingness to change methods while remaining faithful to one's principles.
Leading Through Turbulent Times
Steel's leadership challenges common assumptions about both faith and public leadership. Rather than viewing Catholic education as an institution primarily concerned with preserving tradition, she understands faith as an ethical commitment to continually ask whether institutions are serving people with justice, dignity, and compassion. Rather than viewing Catholic education as an institution primarily concerned with preserving tradition, Steel understands faith through the principles of Catholic social teaching: affirming the dignity of every person, pursuing the common good, and accepting a responsibility to stand alongside those who experience exclusion or injustice. Change, from this perspective, is not a departure from faith but one expression of living it faithfully.
In times of social change, educational leaders often find themselves navigating competing expectations, shifting public values, and increasingly constrained institutional authority. Steel demonstrates that these tensions need not produce paralysis. Instead, they can become opportunities to reaffirm the fundamental values that define public service.
Her distinction between peacekeepers and peacemakers ultimately captures more than her own leadership philosophy. It offers a broader lesson about civic leadership itself. The most meaningful leaders are not those who simply preserve existing institutions, but those willing to strengthen them by confronting injustice, building more inclusive communities, and ensuring that enduring values remain relevant in a changing world.