Dr. Randall Smith, professor of Theology at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, has been named to the list of US Catholic Leaders Survey 2024 in the category of Education published by Catholic Herald UK in partnership with the “Herald” magazine in New York.

“Randy Smith has become a leading Catholic voice in the public square,” Dr. George Harne, executive dean of Arts & Sciences, said. “Whether he is writing as a scholar for other scholars or as a thoughtful and faithful Catholic addressing contemporary matters of broad concern, his work is incisive, illuminating, and immediately engaging. He represents our university well.  And his leadership offers model of integrity and courage,”

Last year saw the founding of the Catholic Herald Institute with its mission to become a world-leading Catholic think tank supporting the 135-year mission of the “Herald” magazine to defend Catholic values and influence the Church for good. Part of its apostolic mission is to support and nurture future generations of Catholic Leaders. 

The complete special report list of 250 people reveals how lay stewardship continues to shape the narrative of politics and education. This list, in its second year, is more extensive than before and is enriched by the addition of more entries in the sphere of Catholic education at a time when the mission of several high-profile U.S. universities, notably Harvard, Penn, and MIT, have been under existential scrutiny, according to Jamie MacGuire and William Cash, authors of the article that includes the survey results. 

The article authors wrote, “…outstanding individuals on our list are shaping intellectual public debate and education today…”

Smith was also appointed this year as a Cardinal Newman Society Fellow for Eucharistic Liturgy and a member of its Eucharistic Education Task Force, which is expanding substantially in 2023-2024 as part of the U.S. Bishops’ Eucharistic Revival effort.

According to the Cardinal Newman Society, the Eucharistic Fellows were appointed to “develop guidance and resources” for Catholic schools and colleges on teaching the “Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist” across the curriculum and adding “reverence and beauty to student Masses, Eucharistic processions, and prayers.” The Society’s Newman Guide to Catholic Colleges remains invaluable for parents and students wanting an alternative to the increasingly secularized Catholic college experience.

Smith is the author of six books in Catholic theology and writes articles every other week for the on-line journal "The Catholic Thing," many of which are translated into French, Spanish, and Portuguese. He has also published articles at Crisis, Catholic World Report, and the pages of The New Oxford Review.  He has lectured in universities and churches across the United States, in several countries of Eastern and Western Europe, in Latin America, and China, and he appears regularly on Catholic radio programs.  His next book on St. Bonaventure's Journey of the Mind into God is due out soon from Cambridge University Press.

His first love, though, he says, after the Church and his adorable wife, is teaching his wonderful students at the University of St. Thomas.