Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Bishop David Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown has granted the Rev. Richard Murphy’s request to retire as president of Ursuline High School, effective July 1, after serving his alma mater for 14 years.

Murphy, a 1972 Ursuline graduate, was appointed the first-ever president of the high school in 2012. He has also served as the administrative liaison to the school board of directors. Murphy also taught in the religious education department at Ursuline for 22 years on both the junior and senior levels and served as associate principal for pastoral ministry between 1986 and 2008.

The Youngstown native is also pastor of Queen of Heaven Parish (Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in McDonald and St. Mary Church in Mineral Ridge) and has served the Diocese of Youngstown since 1980.

“I am grateful to Father Murphy for his dedicated service to Ursuline High School. Father Murphy’s commitment to the priesthood and Catholic education in the spirit of the Gospel is exemplary,” Bonnar said.

Murphy said, “After months of prayerful reflection and 14 privileged years serving my alma mater as its first-ever president, it is time to acknowledge at age 72 that the many good things the school community, its boards of governance and I have sought to advance as goals and vision for Ursuline are best served by a person with new energy and their own initiative.”

Murphy said his most proud accomplishments in Catholic educational leadership include promoting the spiritual mission of the school, engaging students in service to their community, and meeting important goals in fundraising for scholarships and capital investment.

Dr. Steven Jones, along with the Ursuline Board of Directors, will begin the process of searching for the next president immediately. Murphy said the school is in good hands, his love for Ursuline remains undimmed and he still hopes to serve the Ursuline community.

“I look forward to serving the Ursuline family, my students and alumni, in whatever capacities the new president finds useful. My pastoral support for the school, Catholic education

throughout the diocese and Ursuline Sisters Mission will thankfully continue within my ministry as pastor of the newly formed Queen of Heaven Parish in Trumbull County,” Murphy said.