In his first pastoral visit, Archbishop Ronald Hicks visited Our Lady Queen of Angels School, then spent time with the neighboring Community of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. 

The school has served East Harlem since its founding in 1892 by the Capuchin Friars. Blessed Solanus Casey once lived at the convent that the CFR Sisters now occupy, having been rebuilt in 1954 along with the school following a fire. The Pre-K 3 through eighth-grade school currently serves 303 students. 

Our Lady Queen of Angels is also the only Catholic school in the United States to have received a papal visit. Pope Francis, during his only visit to New York in September 2015, went to the school. Archbishop Hicks viewed the statue that the pope gave to the school community, “Madonna Con Bambino” (“Madonna With Baby”), which stands in a case at the main entrance. “I can’t believe Pope Francis was here,” the archbishop exclaimed. “No one gets that.” 

The legacy of that visit continues today. “It’s still going,” said Dorinda Carrara, director of operations for the school. “When people come to visit the school, and we’re talking about it, we say, ‘This is the school the Pope visited,’ and parents’ eyes just light up. And when we talk to students about it as well, it still resonates,” she told The Good Newsroom. 

Archbishop joins CFR Sisters for adoration, fellowship, and a homemade scone 

Archbishop Hicks toured the school guided by student ambassadors and was joined by Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Schools Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Ph.D., Manhattan Regional Superintendent Michael Lenahan, and Principal James Sayer. 

The archbishop then joined younger students from the school at Our Lady Queen of Angels Convent next door, where CFR Sisters led the children in Eucharistic adoration. 

Following adoration, Archbishop Hicks visited the CFR Sisters at their convent, as they prepared for their twice-weekly Emmaus Cafe event, where homeless and other members of the local community in need join them for a meal and fellowship. The archbishop enjoyed a homemade scone and talked with the sisters about their work in the area. The order is expecting three new sisters to take their final vows on June 6. 

“My reaction is just absolutely happy and impressed to see that the mission of the Church is being carried out in such a specific way,” Archbishop Hicks told The Good Newsroom at the conclusion of his visit. “I have witnessed here catechesis, evangelization, and faith in action across all different people and communities. And then there is also the Eucharistic Lord, whom we are introducing our children to, and having the opportunity to pray with them has been one of the greatest blessings of my day,” he said. 

“We’re just truly blessed, truly honored. We’re just so impressed by him as a leader, not just of the Church, but of the mission, and we’re very excited for all the work he will be doing here in New York,” Principal Sayer said of the archbishop and his visit.