The Notre Dame Sponsorship Transition

Feb. 22 Pioneer Press Editorial

Notre Dame picks Smyth as leader

In forging new leadership for Notre Dame High School in Niles, the school's executive board has heeded the requests of parents and alumni who asked that the school -- operated for the past 51 years by the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Indiana -- not abandon its tradition of having a member of the clergy at its helm.

The Notre Dame College Prep board, a pilot lay leadership model of an "Association of the Christian Faithful," brings a combination of talents, experience and determination to steer the high school forward.

In the solution, announced last week, the board chose a familiar face with lots of leadership experience in educating young people -- the Rev. John Smyth, who for four decades headed Maryville Academy in Des Plaines and its many related outreach centers for children around the archdiocese. Over the years some of the young men in Maryville's care had attended Notre Dame.

Smyth, 72 -- while he took on an incredible load of duties on his broad shoulders over the years -- eventually stepped down from running Maryville several years ago in a controversial dispute over the expectations state officials set for Maryville Academy to integrate increasingly troubled teens into its facilities. Maryville Academy has been working to reinvent its own mission since the state removed its wards.

Smyth continues to operate the Rev. John P. Smyth Standing Tall Charitable Foundation, and continues to have many supporters throughout the Chicago area -- including many Maryville alumni and friends who still believe in him.

So this is a new chance for Smyth -- a different set of challenges, a different set of players, but a forum for education that he understands. He has administrative and fundraising experience, both important factors as the high school shifts gears and tries to establish itself as a new financial entity.

His concern for helping young people to grow into new, productive lives and his legendary skills as a mentor should serve the Notre Dame community in good stead as a pastoral leader. He has never lacked vision or social conscience, and Notre Dame's student body offers him fresh opportunities for molding leaders for the future.

Pioneer Press Newspapers serve Chicago's neighborhood and suburban markets with 64 intensely local newspapers delivered weekly. Pioneer’s focus remains as it has always been--on the needs of readers as homeowners, local taxpayers, parents of school-age children, followers of local high school sports, fans of the arts, and as people who work hand-in-hand with others to better life and living conditions in their communities and neighborhoods. That focus is the passion that drives Pioneer Press to produce newspapers that meet the changing and growing needs of readers and advertisers, and to live up in every way to its motto -- "Your Local Source."