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NEW APPOINTMENT — Capuchin
Br. Bob Smith, president of Messmer High School,
has been appointed by
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan as archdiocesan director
of educational and formational services. “One
of the things I was very excited about with the
archbishop was his willingness to look at new
options for the (Catholic) schools,” said
Br. Smith. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)
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MILWAUKEE — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan has named
Capuchin Franciscan Br. Bob Smith, president of Messmer
High School, to be archdiocesan director of educational
and formational services. Br. Smith, who also serves
as his order’s vicar provincial, will serve the
archdiocese part-time until July 1, 2005, when his other
responsibilities end.
Br. Smith has served at Messmer since 1986, beginning
as a theology teacher. He was school principal from 1987
to 1997, when he became president. His new archdiocesan
position will cover not only Catholic schools but religious
education programs, adult and family ministries, ministerial
formation, and the Catholic Press Apostolate, publisher
of the Milwaukee, Madison, and Superior Catholic Heralds.
In an e-mail to central offices staff members, Archbishop
Dolan noted Br. Smith “is recognized as a local
and national leader on a variety of Catholic education
issues.” Br. Smith is a strong proponent of school
voucher programs, which allow children from low-income
families to attend the school of their choice, regardless
of cost.
In an interview with the Catholic Herald, Br. Smith explained
how he came to be chosen for the post.
“The way it came about, I was approached by the
president of the Catholic school board, John Stollenwerk.
He and
a couple of other people who are big supporters of the
diocese and the Catholic school system had asked me to
seriously consider this; probably the most influential
was the late Don Schuenke. It certainly is something
that is a major change after me spending so many years
at Messmer, but I did a lot of praying and thinking about
it and it is something I think I can be helpful to the
archdiocese in, and that’s really how it came about.
I did speak a couple of times with the archbishop, in
terms of his vision and what he was looking for, and
it certainly is something I believe in.”
“What better person could be in a position to give
leadership to our Catholic schools than Bob Smith?” Stollenwerk
said in a June 9 Journal Sentinel story. “He has
all the qualities that we’re looking for — new
ideas, innovation, change, leadership, and all of it
with a real dedication to Catholic education and Catholic
identity in our schools.”
Br. Smith said in the first few months of his tenure “what
I would expect to do ... is to listen, to read, and to
talk to people about what currently is going on, and
certainly beginning with the archbishop and what his
ideas are. So it’s going to be a lot of study initially,
but there certainly are things that are ongoing in the
school system — being able to plug into those,
there are a lot of things going real well and there’s
no reason to change that.”
“I think we have some excellent schools in the
archdiocese, and we need to find out what it is that
makes those schools
the way they are and copy it for everybody,” Br.
Smith added. He noted enrollment challenges at some schools
and said that competition with other private and public
schools would require marketing and sales efforts, “and
some real introspection to ask ourselves what we need
to be doing to attract more students and to get the trust
and confidence of parents and guardians.”
Br. Smith said finances were another challenge the schools
face. “Any number of schools have operational deficit
issues, or building issues, and there are only so many
resources in the community,” he said. “One
of the challenges will be to find out how we can work
together and also support the schools that have those
kind of challenges.”
Despite those two significant issues, Br. Smith is optimistic.
“You have the downsides, but one of the things
I was very excited about with the archbishop was his
willingness
to look at new options for the schools,” Br. Smith
said. “Instead of everybody looking at doom and
gloom and problems, look at possibilities of growth and
newness.”
