St. Viator president leaving to work with immigrants in Chicago

msilverberg@dailyherald.com The Rev. Corey Brost, president of St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, told students Wednesday he will be leaving at the end of this school year.

Brost, who started in his role at the private Catholic school in 2013, told the St. Viator board of governors recently that he would not seek a second three-year term as president because he wants to perform advocacy work for migrants and refugees.

"I feel I have a sacred obligation to leave my comfort zone," Brost said in a news release. "As a Viatorian, we take vows to be mobile and go to people whose suffering others can't or won't address."

Brost, 55, said he plans to work with a team of Viatorians assisting immigrants in the Chicago archdiocese. He said he wants to use his skills as a priest and a lawyer with a degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to help children seeking asylum in the United States.

He announced his plans to students during an all-school Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday. While Brost serves as president of the school, St. Viator also has a principal, Eileen Manno.

The Rev. Thomas von Behren, president of the board of governors for St. Viator, said the group plans to meet Thursday to start discussing the search for a new president. They hope to have someone named to the position by February or March 2016, he said.

"We will look within the Viatorian congregation to see if there is someone who is available, prepared and willing to accept that responsibility," von Behren said.

During Brost's years at St. Viator he oversaw a capital campaign that included building a new cafeteria, commons area and updated visual and performing arts facilities at the school. A 1:1 iPad program was created during his tenure, and St. Viator earned recognition as a Blue Ribbon school in 2014.

Brost was a Viatorian brother for years before he was ordained as a priest in 2006. He previously served as chairman of the religion department and vice president of mission effectiveness at St. Viator.

In 2011, Brost was honored by Shoulder to Shoulder, a national interfaith campaign, for his work starting Children of Abraham, a group that brought together teens and adults from the local Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities to promote tolerance and understanding.

"He was doing very well over there and enjoying it," von Behren said. "He certainly loved the ministry with young adults, but he felt called to this particular ministry for his own life at this time."