Fr. Daniel Kennedy may not be a Milwaukee native, but his journey has taken him down many Jesuit roads, including Wisconsin Avenue, where he was ordained at Church of the Gesu. He also served as a novice at the Jesuit retirement community at St. Camillus, about 11 miles west.
Fr. Daniel Kennedy, SJ, the 12th president of Marquette University High School. (Submitted photo)
Now, he is immersing himself in the mission of his new role as president of Marquette University High School, just a few miles from Gesu at 34th Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee’s Merrill Park neighborhood.
“I have felt extremely grateful amidst being in a new job and trying to get my bearings and really get to know the community, both as president, really as a pastoral person in the role trying to get to know people,” said Fr. Kennedy, who is the 12th president in the 169-year history of MUHS. He succeeds Fr. Michael Marco, who concluded his tenure in June.
“I feel the gratitude really welling up in my heart for how people have welcomed me into something that’s very sacred to us all, and something that a school and a community that so many people in the Milwaukee metro area and beyond this area really care about and deeply are invested in.”
Fr. Kennedy said he feels the responsibility of inheriting, fostering and advancing what he calls a “dynamic tradition” built by generations of students, faculty and leaders.
“How can we best continue to live according to our mission that Christ has given us, that the Church and the Society of Jesus has given Marquette High to form men for others in the model of the ‘Man for Others,’ Jesus Christ?” Fr. Kennedy shared.
In time, Fr. Kennedy will find out if a chili dog at Real Chili matches the Detroit Coney dogs he got used to while serving as a vice president at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy — or those at nationally known Tony Packo’s in his hometown of Toledo, where he attended St. John’s Jesuit High School.
In the meantime, Fr. Kennedy is discerning within what he calls the “concrete circumstances” of the job to discover where God is already acting and where the Holy Spirit is leading Marquette High in its mission of service.
He’s thankful to have plenty of help.
“Trying to cue into how God has been working in a certain group or certain area is always key,” he said. “I feel fortunate to have so many people helping me think through, pray through, discern through what will be some of the next things on our agenda as a school.”
That discernment is informed by a long road through Jesuit institutions of learning. Fr. Kennedy received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and master’s degrees from St. Louis University, Regis College at the University of Toronto and John Carroll University. He also served and developed his leadership abilities at Creighton Preparatory School and Jesuit Academy in Omaha.
That movement in both geography and experience has helped him develop a trust in God when facing unfamiliar responsibilities and places — something he will lean on during his first year at Marquette High.
“From all the various things I’ve gotten to do as a Jesuit and all my various missions, I feel more trusting of the Lord to guide us even in difficult times because I’ve had to find how the Lord has guided me,” Fr. Kennedy said. “In difficult times where I was doing something new and I didn’t necessarily know the way, that’s when the Spirit finds you.”
At Marquette High, Fr. Kennedy is now charged with helping the school continue its mission of developing young men into Christ-like people who care for and serve
Fr. Kennedy presiding over the MUHS Holy Spirit Mass on Sept. 3, 2026 (Submitted Photo)
the world around them.
“I have the sense as I walk the halls and talk to the boys, the Catholic dimension of the school is very much alive, that people feel like they’re encountering Jesus through the collection of retreats, liturgies, prayer opportunities and theology, and then also expressed in the other disciplines as well,” he said. “The sense of being called to be of service to the world is very palpable in our school community.”
Fr. Kennedy also recognizes that the fruits of his work as president may be seen long after students graduate, in the adults they become and the lives they lead.
“Are they similar to the seed scattered in the sower’s hand in the parable, to lead to good fruit in other places, in their family lives, in their homes, in their parishes or other faith communities, in their professional locations? Are they individuals that are very much fruit pleasing to the Lord?” he said. “I think that’s the case. There’s much fruit that’s developing here that will even ripen further.”
