This article provides the history of Catholic state-aided schooling in Zambia for over a century. It notes how the Catholic Church came to view its school to be a pivotal means of church development. By cooperation with the state it entered more fully into the nation's future by offering high-quality state-sponsored schooling. This proved to engender its acceptance because this is what the younger generation of Zambians treasured. Progressively, the Catholic school faced a major challenge by becoming embedded in a paradigm of learning that ran counter to its religious mission. It will be argued that this dilemma remains and that the future of the Catholic school in Zambia and beyond pivots on a satisfactory outcome if it is to make a distinctive contribution.