DAPHNE, Ala. — Christ the King Catholic School — which last month said goodbye to Sr. Maureen Nolan, its leader of 22 years — has a new principal.

Max Crain — a father of two from Champagne, Ill. — began administrative duties on July 1, and said he’s “checking and double checking everything that was set in place.”

In addition to educating himself with Nolan’s methods he’s been transitioning paperwork, ordering textbooks and learning how to operate the school’s phones and answering machines.

Crain also has studied yearbooks so he can have some advantage on Aug. 12 when students return to the Main Street campus.

Getting to know the students and cater to their individual, educational needs is part one of an ambitious goal: “My vision is that this be the best Catholic school in the state of Alabama,” he said.

Christ the King’s preschool, elementary and middle-school classes each require specific attention due to varying levels of cognitive development, Crain said.

Christ-centered classrooms will continue as the stage for intellectual development; Crain said he hopes to follow Nolan’s footsteps of keeping the Catholic faith at Christ the King’s core.

“As older children are able to acknowledge the world around them, we’ll have them model what Jesus wants them to do,” he said.

Nolan — a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — oversaw 500 students and 50 staffers, along with projects like the building of a library, kindergarten classrooms and a teacher’s lounge, before she left the school in June for a one-year sabbatical to visit family in Ireland. She will later undertake missions to help the poor.

Crain said he came to Daphne by a “total leap of faith.” He hadn’t heard of Daphne when the job opportunity arose, but he put the decision in God’s hands.

“I was nervous moving 1,000 miles away,” he said. “You have to be willing to ask yourself, ‘Does He speak to you?’ and to trust God when you get something.”

Cain served as principal of Regional Education Alternative Developmental Youth High School; assistant principal of St. Matthew's Catholic School; and as a seventh-grade language, math  and history teacher Franklin Middle School, all in Champaign.

Though he’s spent a couple of days in Daphne doing housekeeping at the 59-year-old school, his wife, Abby, and two daughters, Bailey, 2, and Jamie, 13, will move from Illinois on July 25.

He said he knew he made the right choice because he loved the atmosphere here.

“Everyone’s perception of the South is good until you come down and experience it; I didn’t like going back and dealing with the rude people (in Illinois),” he said. “That’s one thing that I’ve noticed; I do feel very at home.”

Some staffers said they are excited about the new school year, though they miss Nolan.

“He’s very personable and comes from a similar school,” Karen Wilson, a fifth-grade teacher, said. “Christ the King is such a good community that I’m sure he’ll fit right in.”

Donna Morgan, a second-grade teacher, agreed.

“I think it’s going to be a really positive transition,” she said. “Sister Maureen was ready to go; he’s someone with fresh ideas to come in and give everyone a chance to rejuvenate their batteries.”

The school’s Christian environment is its most important asset, both teachers said.

“He (Crain) has children that are going to be coming and he’ll want the same for his children that I want for mine,” Morgan said.