Church to Cathedral - Installation

From Church to Cathedral
1957 - 2007
Celebrating 50 Years as a Cathedral

On Monday, May 27, 1957, Walter P. Kellenberg was formally installed as the first Bishop of Rockville Centre during a 3 hour service which included a procession on Quealy Place and Bishop Kellenberg's first solemn pontifical mass in the newly designated St. Agnes Cathedral.

The installation was presided over by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York. In addition to Cardinal Spellman, the installation was attended by three archbishops, twenty-five bishops, one hundred monsignors, four hundred priests and one hundred nuns.

Those attending included:

Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle, Washington	Archbishop John O'Hara, Philadelphia	Archbishop William O'Brien, Chicago
Bishop Harold Henry, Kwang-Ju, Korea	Bishop Hubert Cartwright, Wilmington	Bishop Philip Furlong, US Military Ordinariate
Bishop Edmund Reilly, Brooklyn	Bishop Coleman Carroll, Pittsburgh	Bishop Edward Dargin, New York
Bishop Lawrence Casey, Rochester	Bishop-Elect James Navagh, Ogdensburg	Bishop John Boardman, Brooklyn
Bishop Paul Hagarty, Bahamas	Bishop David Cunningham, Syracuse	Bishop James Griffiths, New York
Bishop Joseph Flannelly, New York	Bishop James McNulty, Paterson	Bishop Henry Klonowski, Scranton
Bishop Lawrence Shehan, Bridgeport	Bishop William Scully, Albany	Bishop William Arnold, US Military Ordinariate
Bishop James Connolly, Fall River	Bishop-Elect Bryan McEntegart, Brooklyn	Bishop Ambrose Senyshyn, Byzantine Rite Apostolic Exarchate, Stamford
Bishop Walter Foery, Syracuse	Bishop George Leech, Harrisburg	Bishop Stephen Donahue, New York
	Bishop Fulton Sheen, New York

Among the priests assisting at the installation were Fr. Edward Kellenberg, the new bishop's brother and two priests who would go on to be a part of the life of St. Agnes. Fr. John McGann who would eventually become the second bishop of Rockville Centre and Fr. Robert Mulligan who would one day become cathedral rector.

Installation Program

Click on each photo to enlarge.

Following the installation a luncheon was held at the Garden City Hotel.

Previous | Start

Sources:
- "From a Blacksmith Shop To A Majestic Gothic Edifice", 1935
- Leonard, CSJ, Sr. Joan de Lourdes, "Richly Blessed, The Diocese of Rockville Centre 1957-1990", (Walsworth Publishing, 1991)
- O'Neill, James "To Believe In A Vision" (Delmar, 1983)
- "Rededication Journal", 1982