MILWAUKEE — Jesuit Fr. John Belmonte, principal of Marquette University High School, Milwaukee, announced his resignation effective July 1, 2010 to accept the position of superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Joliet, Ill.

Fr. Belmonte has been principal at MUHS since 2004. Prior to that, he served for four years as the director of pastoral ministry at St. Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit High School in Chicago.

As superintendent, Fr. Belmonte will oversee all aspects of school operations for the diocese, which include six independent preschools, 54 elementary schools and seven high schools. The Joliet diocese consists of seven counties of northern Illinois and has a Catholic population of more than 658,000, and 132 parishes and missions.

“I will miss Marquette High and the opportunity to serve such a devoted and faith-filled school community,” Fr. Belmonte said in a March 26 news release. “I am also excited – and humbled – by the opportunity to advance Catholic education at the diocesan level.”

The search for a new principal will begin immediately under the direction of the school’s president Jesuit Fr. Warren Sazama.