New Catholic schools boss gets going
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- November
- 20
My colleague Randi Weiner sat down yesterday with the new superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York, Timothy J. McNiff.
I was supposed to sit in, but I got sidetracked.
Anyway, Randi did a fine job getting a sense of the new boss, who comes to NY after 13 years in the same job for the Diocese of Arlington, Va. (That’s McNiff yesterday at St. Augustine’s in Ossining, chatting with the church’s colorful pastor, Monsignor Hilary Franco.)
I know that some in New York had hoped that an insider would get the job. But others feel that an outside perspective is a good thing, given the many and varied challenges facing Catholic education in NY.
McNiff, a marathon runner, doesn’t sound shy. He wants to find new “financial models” for the schools:
I think they were looking for someone who had a vision for Catholic education that could take the archdiocesan high schools into the future, and someone who had track experience in this type of work. Someone who is not bashful or inhibited about marketing the wonderful work that Catholic schools do. I feel perfectly comfortable in that forum.
Having heard Archbishop Donald Wuerl from Washington, D.C., speak on this topic recently, I can’t help thinking that new financial models will involve partnerships with the business world.
This is a bit of a homecoming for McNiff. His family moved around a lot with his FBI-agent father, but he spent some time as a student at St. Augustine’s in New City.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm by Gary Stern.
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The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
