Home Education and Careers Sister Donna Smith accepts reassignment with Daughters of Charity, plans to leave...

Sister Donna Smith accepts reassignment with Daughters of Charity, plans to leave Cathedral school at end of academic year

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Nadia Beatty works with Sister Donna Smith at Cathedral of St. Peter School. Dialog photo/Joseph P. Owens

The Daughters of Charity will keep a presence in the Cathedral of St. Peter School in the Diocese of Wilmington, but its longtime principal will be moving on.

Sister Donna Smith informed staff and the school community Feb. 7 that she will be accepting another assignment with the religious order and will finish her tenure at the Cathedral school at the end of this academic year. Her new assignment is not yet disclosed.

“I want to say how grateful we are for Sister Donna and the Daughters of Charity for 190 years of services, and grateful that their presence will remain with a sister present at the school,” said Lou De Angelo, diocesan schools superintendent, adding that he expects one of the sisters of the religious order will remain next year. He said a search will be conducted for the new principal and will be open to a lay or religious person.

In an interview with the Dialog last month, Sister Donna said two other sisters currently work at the school and a total of six live at the Daughters of Charity House on the parish campus in Wilmington.

Sister Donna started at Cathedral school as a teacher years ago and has a combined 23 years in different stints at the school, she said.

The diocese is part of the search for principals at four elementary schools with pending vacancies expected at Cathedral, Ss. Peter and Paul, Holy Angels and Christ the Teacher schools.

The Daughters of Charity are a community of women who devote their lives to serving the poorest and most abandoned individuals in today’s society, according to the order’s website. Simple, not solemn vows, as first established by St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac, are made annually.