RUMFORD — Seventh-grader Kassie Thibodeau thinks it’s pretty cool to have Bishop Richard Malone of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland visit her school.

“To be able to bond, for him to tell us his expectations and for us to tell him what we’re learning” is special the Holy Savior School student said Wednesday.

For fifth-grader Kenrick Thibodeau, seeing Malone was exciting.

“He was at my confirmation two years ago. He’s so high up in the priesthood. He’s the best,” Thibodeau said.

Malone chatted with students and looked over their work, then shared lunch with the school staff during his annual visit. He goes to each of the state’s 12 Catholic schools at least once a year.

The Rumford school, with 49 prekindergarten to eighth-grade students, and a Catholic school in Winslow with a similar number of students, are the state’s smallest schools, Sister Rosemary, superintendent of the state’s Catholic schools, said.

“The Rumford school continues to be a concern, but it has strong parent and parish support,” she said.

“We want to do all that we can to keep it going,” Malone said.

A visit by the bishop is always an upbeat experience, she said.

“We’re excited to have him here,” Principal Barbara Pelletier said. “He’s such a positive person.”

Malone said he often gets some humorous questions when he visits the church’s schools.

“One older boy asked me if I traveled with Swiss guards, like the Pope,” he said.

Soon after Christmas, Pelletier, and the Rev. Phil Tracy of the Parish of the Holy Savior will meet with Malone to discuss his visit.

Malone presides over 65 parishes, which are served by 65 priests. Another 100 priests are retired and are sometimes called on to temporarily serve a parish.

He said another eight or nine men are now in seminary for eventual service in the state’s Catholic churches. Sometimes priests are brought from other countries, such as Tanzania, and some men who decide to go into the priesthood are doing so in midlife as a career change, he said.

Malone, originally from the Boston area, became Maine’s top Catholic official in 2004.