“So daring, bold and courageous.” That’s how Father James Orsini described Bishop Larry Silva’s decisions to allow him to apply for and then accept the position of principal of St. Anthony Jr./Sr. High School in Wailuku.

Father James Orsini

“I never thought he would say yes,” the Maui priest told the Hawaii Catholic Herald last week.

Father Orsini, who taught at St. Anthony as a Marianist in the 1960s and ‘70s, will leave his position as pastor of St. Rita Parish, Haiku, Holy Rosary Parish, Paia, and St. Gabriel Mission in Keanae to assume the 123-year-old school’s top job on July 1.

Father Orsini said Bishop Silva’s possibly unprecedented move of allowing a parish priest to take the full-time administrative reins of a Catholic school underscores his powerful commitment to Catholic education.

“This guy is gutsy,” the priest said of his bishop. “He puts his men where his mouth is.”

Father Orsini, 67, will replace Edwina Wilson-Snyder who came to the position three years ago after a distinguished 35-year career in public education. The Maui native and St. Anthony graduate, who is credited for shepherding the school through a tough period of low enrollment, is retiring for health reasons.

Carmen Himenes , superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools called Father Orsini “the right man” to continue the “good work” of Wilson-Snyder.

She said she is “really excited about what he can bring” to the school, based on his past experience in diocesan leadership, as a Maui pastor and as a former Marianist.

She does not recall another instance of a diocesan priest in Hawaii taking a full-time school administrative position.

Father Orsini’s association with St.AnthonyHigh School goes back to 1968 when he was assigned there as a Marianist teaching brother. He served as teacher, counselor and chaplain until 1976.

He was ordained a Marianist priest in 1974 in California and in 1976 he was named pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Wailuku, serving for five years. In 1981, he was appointed executive vice-president at Chaminade University of Honolulu where he also taught.

He left the Marianists to become a diocesan priest in 1986. Since then he has served as a parish priest at St. Joseph Church, Hilo; Holy Trinity, Kuliouou; the Molokai Catholic Community, St. Jude, Kapolei; and St. Catherine, Kapaa.

Back on Maui for the past two years, Father Orsini had renewed his St. Anthony connections, serving as a chaplain, on the school’s board of directors and as chairman of its finance committee.

When Wilson-Snyder announced her intention to retire, Father Orsini said it was suggested that he add his name to the list of replacement candidates.

“I gave him permission to apply for the open position,” the bishop said. “I told him that I wanted the principal selection committee to screen him along with all the other candidates and to make their recommendation for the best choice.”

The committee made its recommendation and the bishop and Himenes approved its recommendation.

Father Orsini called the bishop’s consent an “amazing leap of faith.”

He said that his earlier years at the school has reaped a healthy list of alumni he knows well and on whom he expects to call for support.

Father Orsini said he is also “blessed with a good administrative team, an excellent staff who have clearly embraced the Catholic and Marianist ideals.”

“It’s going to be a delight to work with them as principal,” he said.

According to Himenes, St. Anthony Jr./Sr. High School is Hawaii’s only diocesan school, that is, the only school whose administration answers directly to the Hawaii Catholic Schools office and the bishop.

All other schools, including St.AnthonyGrade School and PreSchool in Wailuku, are either parish schools or private Catholic schools.

Up to a few years ago the high school had been under the leadership of the Marianist Brothers and Fathers, the same order that runs St. LouisSchool and Chaminade University of Honolulu.

According to Father Orsini, the school maintains Marianist sponsorship thanks to a large grant, and continues to uphold the Marianist educational character that includes a family spirit, an openness to adaptation and change, and a commitment to service, justice and peace.