Father Robert L. Marciano had no idea that he was seriously being viewed as a candidate for president of Bishop Hendricken High School when John A. Jackson, who has retired after 46 years at the school, suggested he apply for the post.

Jackson, who served as president for eight years, announced his plans to retire in February, giving the diocese ample time to find his successor. But following a joint interview with Father Marciano and Jackson on Christmas Eve, it would seem that Bishop Thomas Tobin and superintendent of Catholic Schools Daniel Ferris had their eyes on Father Marciano, although they also conducted a search.

Father Marciano, a 1975 graduate of Hendricken and one of 19 Hendricken graduates to go into the priesthood since the school was founded, said his first concern was St. Kevin and St. Benedict Churches, where he is pastor, and to St. Kevin School. He wasn’t keen on following up on Jackson’s suggestion to apply for the job if it meant leaving the two parishes. Apparently, a similar lobbying effort was mounted by Ferris, who went so far to suggest he might be able to stay on as pastor while taking on the job at Hendricken. That intrigued Fr. Marciano.

As St. Kevin and St. Benedict learned from social media over the weekend preempting Fr. Marciano’s intent to deliver the news from the pulpit, Father Marciano starts the job as president of the all-boys school on New Year’s Day.

“I never say no to Hendricken,” he told parishioners over the weekend.

And, yes, he also stays on as pastor.

Father Marciano will address the Hendricken faculty and students the morning of Jan. 2.

How is he going to do it or, more reaching, what is the bishop expecting of him and what does he hope to accomplish?

Not surprisingly, Father Marciano has considered and prayed about these questions.

In his homily Saturday and Sunday, Fr. Marciano acknowledged concerns over handling multiple jobs.

“Let me assure you of two things,” he said. “I am very good at managing and budgeting my time and I am a very good delegator and also, I think often of the quote, ‘The person who loves his work, as I do, will never work a day of his life.’”

Fr. Marciano, 61, also spoke of his “lifelong love and gratitude for the gift of Catholic education,” adding that he feels it is his responsibly to give back and strengthen Hendricken.

In the interview, Fr. Marciano said he sees his role at Hendricken as strategic not operational. The operational aspect of running the school falls to Principal Mark DiCiccio, also a Hendricken grad, who he feels is an ideal role model for the school’s 900 boys.

As disclosed, but not defined in the Diocese press release, Ferris is quoted, “He [Fr. Marciano] will also be responsible for strategic planning, institutional advancement, financial stewardship, and preparations for the largest capital campaign in the school’s history.”

Fr. Marciano believes that capital campaign could be as much as $30 million for a new fieldhouse and to build an endowment that would annually spin over revenues to the school.

“Those are the toughest dollars to raise,” Jackson said of an endowment, “but it is so important.”

Jackson and Fr. Marciano think such a campaign is viable, pointing out that, now that the school is 60 years old, many of its alumni are financially able to contribute. Jackson further notes the school has initiated planned estate giving – not that he is looking for anyone to die.

Fr. Marciano has a track record of successful campaigns, with one of the largest being the $2.2 million raised for St. Clement/St. Rose.

His success at St. Kevin School surely had the attention of Ferris and Bishop Tobin, too. In 2014 the school had an enrollment of 139. Today it has 247 students, a growth of 67 percent.

“You first develop the product, then you market it,” Fr. Marciano said.

Fr. Marciano attended all the classes at St. Kevin and personally evaluated the teachers. He then compared his findings with parent evaluations, finding they were in agreement and letting five teachers go. Fr. Marciano also opened lines of cooperation with Hendricken, providing 7th and 8th graders at St. Kevin access to learning opportunities at Hendricken.

Jackson and Fr. Marciano worked on a plan to transform St. Kevin into a middle school that would draw students from St. Peter and St. Rose Schools while diverting lower class St. Kevin students to those schools. The proposal did not meet with the bishop’s approval. The bishop also rejected Jackson’s proposal for a Hendricken girls school at Our Lady of Providence Seminary on Warwick Neck. Jackson thinks both plans are sound, but he doesn’t see them being implemented at this time.

The challenges facing Hendricken, said Jackson, are enrollment and finances.

Fr. Marciano listens and nods. He said what Hendricken needs is a “leader who leads and is not afraid to put the Catholic stamp on what we do.” He described Jackson as such a president.

In his vision for the school, which he shared, Fr. Marciano talks about the fiscal challenges, a shrinking church, and moral decay of society.

Looking ahead, he writes, “We must be passionate in those things that last and make us unique in the academic world in which we live and thrive. The enduring quality of excellence in moral character, challenging and purpose drive academics, and personal and spiritual growth each day, developing the whole person, with a gratitude and humility before God that allows us to call Him Father…”

Ordained a Roman Catholic priest on December 10, 1983, Fr. Marciano has more than 30 years of experience in various pastoral settings including parish administration, parochial school administration, military and public service chaplainries, community boards and civic involvement. Fr. Marciano has a gospel-focused approach to education and parish life and an often-quoted insistence that no child should be denied an education in a Catholic school because of a family’s finances.

Fr. Marciano, a 1975 graduate of Bishop Hendricken High School, has been pastor of St. Kevin Church and School in Warwick since 2012 and Administrator of Saint Benedict Parish, Warwick since 2017. Among his many accolades, Fr. Marciano serves as Chaplain and a team member of the Campus Ministry at Bryant University, Chaplain of the Warwick Fire Department and served as a Chaplain in the Rhode Island Air National Guard from 1994-2016.