I was sitting in my library office when the email arrived. Subject line: “Lectio Book Award Announcement.”

My stomach dropped before I even opened it. You know that feeling when you just know the news isn't good? Lectio had been running at Holy Family for years. Our students enjoyed participating. Parents appreciated the curated Catholic list. Teachers used it to anchor their literacy programs.

The email was brief. Professional. But final.

Lectio Book Award was closing. Not next year. Not even next semester. Now. Summer 2025. Schools and librarians that had built reading programs around it were on their own.

What We Lost When Lectio Closed

Let me be clear: Lectio was good. It gave Catholic schools something we desperately needed—a thoughtfully curated book list that we could trust. Twenty books each year. Student voting. Achievement celebrations. Catholic values in mind. It worked.

But here's what I'd noticed over the years: running Lectio was hard. I loved having a curated reading list, but actually implementing and managing it consumed hours and hours every week. PDF tracking sheets. Manual record-keeping. Constant student reminders. Coordinating with parents who were already overwhelmed. Trying to remember which students had read which books and when voting opened and whether we'd ordered enough certificates.

It was worth it because reading programs matter and because there were no other alternatives for Catholic schools. But I'd often wondered: what if there was a better way?

The Question That Changed Everything

That night, I couldn't sleep. My mind kept circling back to one question:

“What would the perfect Catholic reading program look like if we could build it from scratch?”

Not just a replacement for Lectio. Not just another book list like Bluebonnet. But something that solved the real problems I'd watched librarians and teachers struggle with for years.

I grabbed my notebook and started writing. By the morning, I had pages of ideas. A week later, I had a name: Lux Libris. Light from Books.

Building Something Better

In 24 months, I had transformed our library program at Holy Family. I'd won the 2025 FACTS Innovation Teacher Award for my signature Everything-arium shows. I'd spent 15 years in Catholic education, plus a PhD studying how stories shape faith. And I had already started to teach myself to code.

If anyone was going to do this, maybe it should be me.

But I didn't want to just replicate the Lectio tracking sheet digitally—that would be little more than a fancy-looking Google spreadsheet. I wanted to ask: what if we could keep everything educators and librarians love about reading programs like Bluebonnet and Lectio while fixing everything that was broken?

Within weeks, I was building.

The Part I Didn't Expect

Here's what surprised me: building the technology was hard, but it wasn't the hardest part.

The hardest part was watching other Catholic school librarians—people I'd never met—email me about Lectio closing. The relief in their voices when I told them about Lux Libris.

I realized this was bigger than one school's reading program. Catholic schools needed this. Not because Lectio was bad, but because we could build on its foundation and create something that actually reduced the burden on educators instead of adding to it.

Why Saints?

People always ask about the Luxlings—the 227 collectible saints students earn through reading.

Here's the truth: I was tired of Catholic education treating faith formation and academic learning as separate things. What if encountering the saints could be as engaging as collecting Pokémon? What if students chased reading streaks not just for points, but to unlock St. Joan of Arc or St. Thomas Aquinas?

I designed the system so students earn Common saints (14-day streaks), Rare saints (30-day streaks), and Legendary saints (90-day streaks). Grade-level liturgical saints. Marian saints at each grade completion. And one final Ultimate Luxling for students who complete the entire 5-year journey.

It's gamification, yes. But it's also discipleship. Every saint has a feast day, a biography, virtues to learn from. Reading becomes the doorway to knowing the communion of saints.

Where We Are Now

Lux Libris launched its pilot program this year. Schools and dioceses across the country are starting to use it. Students are collecting saints. Librarians are spending less time on admin and more time celebrating readers.

The platform can host multiple reading programs—it's designed to grow. Eventually, we'll partner with other organizations to bring their book lists onto the platform. We're developing a Catholic high school reading list. The technology is just the beginning.

But here's what matters most: we didn't just replace Lectio. We built what Catholic schools needed all along—a comprehensive reading ecosystem that makes literacy formation joyful instead of overwhelming.

For Schools Looking for What Comes Next

If your school loved Lectio and has been searching for what to do now, I understand. I was there too. That email closing Lectio felt like losing something irreplaceable.

But here's what I learned: we didn't lose Lectio. We graduated from it. Everything good about that program—the care in book selection, the emphasis on student voice, the celebration of Catholic values—all of that lives on in Lux Libris.

And we added what was missing: the tools to make it actually sustainable. The gamification that meets students where they are. The formation woven into every feature.

Lectio showed us what Catholic reading programs should value. Lux Libris shows us what they can become.