Daniel O’Keefe has spent the past 37 years as a Catholic educator and administrator, enlightening and inspiring young students who “hunger not only for knowledge, but also for God, faith, and the meaning of life.”
“Catholic education has the opportunity to change students’ lives by inviting them to delve into the faith and develop a relationship with Christ. Christ gives life its true meaning,” said O’Keefe, 60, who had most recently served as president of Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx since 2015.
For his entire career, O’Keefe has served Catholic high schools and a seminary in New York. That changes on Aug. 1, when he brings his passion for Catholic education and considerable experience to the Paterson Diocese as the new president of the Catholic Academy of Sussex County in Sparta. The academy comprises Pope John XXIII Regional High School, Pope John XXIII Middle School, and Rev. Brown Memorial School, which serves students from pre-K to fourth grade.
O’Keefe told The Beacon he’s “excited” about his new position, which he calls a “big change for me, heading into a new situation.”
“I want to take the academy’s strengths to the next level by enhancing its Catholic identity, increasing its enrollment, and strengthening its financial management,” O’Keefe said. “I also will build relationships with all academy stakeholders. I want prospective parents who visit to say, ‘I want my kids to go here.'”
O’Keefe will succeed Father Michael Parisi, diocesan vicar general and pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mountain Lakes, as Catholic Academy president.
A Newton resident, O’Keefe will have a shorter commute to the Catholic Academy than he did to New York. He and his wife, Lucy, have lived in Sussex County for 24 years. They worship at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Sandyston, where they taught confirmation prep. Their four daughters, now aged 21 to 30, were altar servers at St. Thomas. O’Keefe is also a Knight Commander with Star in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
“St. Thomas is a beautiful and strong faith community,” O’Keefe said. He praised the leadership of Father Wayne Varga, pastor of St. Thomas and St. James the Greater Parish in Montague. O’Keefe said he is happy to work with Father Richard Carton, a former pastor of St. Thomas and the current pastor of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Sparta, which founded the Rev. Brown School.
Born and raised in Queens, O’Keefe attended Catholic schools his entire life. He was an altar server at his parish and part of a vocations program. The “brilliant and faithful” Franciscan priests and brothers at his parish and schools had inspired him.
O’Keefe taught English and theology and coached soccer and track at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen, N.Y., and Cathedral Prep Seminary in Elmhurst, N.Y., Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney’s alma mater. There, he rose from assistant principal to vice principal and then to academic dean.
In 2011, O’Keefe became principal of Cardinal Spellman, a co-educational, urban high school with more than 1,200 students. Over the past 14 years, he has served as president and principal of the school. O’Keefe has also been a professor of Church history and dogma at Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, N.Y. He has taught Church history and Scripture in the Diaconate Formation Program of the Brooklyn Diocese.
O’Keefe remembers Bishop Sweeney’s visits to Cathedral Prep when he was the vocations director for the Brooklyn Diocese as a priest.
“In the Paterson Diocese, Bishop Kevin is a phenomenal spiritual leader. He leads by example, caring for people and especially being dedicated to the Hispanic community,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe is also an avid runner who has completed more than 50 ultramarathons and a writer whose articles have appeared in Ultrarunning Magazine, The Tablet, and Catholic Virtual.
At Cardinal Spellman, O’Keefe and the school community promoted its Catholic identity. These efforts led to a dramatic increase in students attending daily morning Mass and receiving baptism and confirmation through its Christian initiation program.
In the classroom, O’Keefe helped students make connections with their faith, often in a culturally relevant way.
“One young woman was ambivalent about the faith during theology classes. She was of Mexican heritage, so I introduced her to the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She was captivated. That shifted her focus to the Catholic faith,” O’Keefe said. “Students also can grow in faith by relating to the lives of the saints and wanting to emulate them as role models. It can start a conversation about the Catholic faith.”
