OUR VERY FIRST PRINCIPAL!

St. Catherine of Siena Academy Foundation Board is pleased to announce the School’s first Principal, Rev Richard J Elmer,CSB.

Effective July 1^st, 2010, Fr. Elmer has graciously accepted the position of Principal of St. Catherine of Siena Academy.  He has more than 40 years of experience working in Catholic education.   Fr. Elmer is retiring this June from the Presidency of Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, MI.  His first position at the School was from 1952 to 1954 as an English/Social Studies teacher.  He returned from 1960 to 1978 as the Director of Guidance, Director of Athletics and then Principal.  From 1978 to 1986, Fr. Elmer directed the National Catholic Educational Association’s Annual Convention and Exposition out of Washington, D.C. He then became the Dean of Student Services at the University of St.Thomas in Houston, Texas from 1986 to 1990. Once again, he returned to Catholic Central as the Director of Alumni and Development, and, more recently, the President. 

Fr. Elmer graduated from Detroit Catholic Central in 1946 and entered the Basilian Fathers Community in 1947, making his Final Profession of Vows in 1952, the same year he graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA degree. He was ordained a priest in 1957, the same year he earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree.  In 1968, he received a Master of Guidance and Counseling degree from the University of Detroit.

Fr. Elmer has been involved with St. Catherine of Siena Academy since the beginning. He believes in the Philosophy of the School to teach young women to understand and embrace the “Truth” that is Jesus, and the late Pope John Paul II’s concept of the “Feminine Genius”.  The St. Catherine of Siena Foundation Board is pleased to welcome Fr. Richard Elmer, as the School’s First Principal.

To quote Fr Elmer, “I am convinced that the health and energy I have is meant to serve our Lord’s Church in the area of education. The word “retirement” is not in my personal vocabulary at the present time.  My first task will be to identify a Congregation of Sisters to staff the School.”