It was a quintessential New York street scene. The presence of saw horses indicated to oncoming drivers to avoid East 106th Street as if the temporary stage and rows of folding chairs in the road didn’t say that. A mistress of ceremonies gave instructions in English and Spanish over a public address system. Small groups on the sidewalk spoke in other languages. Metro North trains zoomed by in the background, joined by the occasional street sweeper. The sun made it hot, but no one wanted the rain in the clouds that threatened overhead, either.

One hundred fifty years to the day that its cornerstone was laid, Cardinal Timothy Dolan came to East Harlem to join the parishioners of the Church of St. Cecilia and Holy Agony for the celebration of a bilingual Mass that included a fellow cardinal, a number of visiting priests, and several religious from the community.

Small children from the parish welcomed Cardinal Dolan with pom-poms as he processed towards the outdoor altar.

“Brothers and sisters, thank you for your invitation and thank you for your presence. But no thanks for the sun,” Cardinal Dolan joked in his opening remarks.

“I love you all very much, and I love this parish. We can dance afterward,” Cardinal Dolan said in his homily. 

“I thank God for 150 years of the presence of our priests and our dear sisters, many of whom are here this morning. For the presence of you, God’s people. But most of all, I thank God our Father, that his son Jesus, has been here with us, Emannuel, for 150 years. He has been here yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I thank you for your love of Jesus and His Church. Alleluia,” Cardinal Dolan said.

Concelebrating the Mass with Cardinal Dolan was Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, Archbishop of Kigali, Rwanda, who had been a seminary classmate of St. Cecilia’s Pastor, Father Peter Mushi, AJ.

“The cultural make-up was different. It was founded by Irish and the Germans and the Italians. The language is not the same. But the place is the same. Our traditions are the same. It’s the same faith, the same Church, the same Jesus,” said Father Peter Mushi, AJ, St. Cecilia’s pastor. 

He expressed joy that both Cardinal Dolan and his former classmate Cardinal Kambanda were able to join the celebration. “It was great! It was like God was blessing us,” he said. 

The cornerstone for St. Cecilia Church was laid on September 9, 1883, 150 years to the day of the celebration. Once a parish primarily populated by Irish and German immigrants, the church is now in the heart of East Harlem, in the area known as El Barrio, also called Spanish Harlem. The Church of St. Cecilia was merged with Holy Agony parish in 2017.

The celebration then continued with cultural performances, including the drama of St. Cecilia and her martyrdom in Rome, along with dances by Ecuadoran, Mexican, and Filipina parish groups.

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