Cardinal Timothy Dolan visited Cathedral High School on Wednesday, March 7, to bless its new academic home on East 97th Street in Manhattan. 

Cathedral High School began welcoming students to its new premises at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year. While it’s not the first time the school has moved since it was founded in 1905, a change of location hadn’t happened in half a century, not since Cathedral began using its former premises in the New York Catholic Center in 1973.

Cathedral President Juliette Picciano thanked Cardinal Dolan, “colleagues and friends” at the Marymount School, the Archdiocese of New York, and Cathedral High School’s supporters, benefactors, faculty, and staff as she introduced the morning’s honored guest. Students and teachers filled the school’s ground-floor gymnasium, festooned with blue, silver, and white balloons for the occasion.

After two scripture readings and intercessions, Cardinal Dolan addressed the group. 

“We miss you, down the block on First Avenue. You were there for so long at the archdiocesan office,” he said. “But coming here today gives me great consolation, to know that you have a radiant new home in the area to carry on the great traditions of Cathedral High School.” He thanked Juliette Picciano, along with the school’s board and benefactors for helping to make a smooth transition between its locations.

Following his remarks, Cardinal Dolan blessed the school, its students, and faculty with holy water. The student assembly concluded with a performance of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” by members of Cathedral’s music club. 

Cardinal Dolan then toured Cathedral led by two student guides, visiting its chemistry lab, dance studio, and other classrooms, along with its basement cafeteria, meeting teachers and students throughout the building.

Joining Cardinal Dolan on his visit to Cathedral was Monsignor Joseph LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York, and Father Philip Kelly, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish, which owns the building, formerly occupied by the Marymount School of New York.