Cardinal Egan Warmly Recalled at Memorial Mass by School He Founded

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The Academy of St. Joseph continues to remember and honor its founder, Cardinal Edward M. Egan.

The private, independent Catholic school marked the one-year anniversary of Cardinal Egan’s death with a Memorial Mass offered by Cardinal Dolan at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village on March 4.

Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York from 2000 to 2009, died on March 5, 2015. The cardinal, who was serving as the first archbishop emeritus in the archdiocese’s history, was 82.

“Cardinal Egan is now and will always be the heart of the Academy of St. Joseph. We live out each day making our good, better and best, as gratitude to our founder,’’ said Angela Coombs, head of school at Academy of St. Joseph.

“He was so gracious with his time and was a great role model to our community. He’s missed very much, but he made such a strong impression on all of us, he’s still very present.”

The Academy of St. Joseph was founded in 2007 under Cardinal Egan and Dr. Catherine Hickey, retired secretary of education for the archdiocese. The academy, which opened with two students, enrolls 110 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 8 and will graduate its first eighth-grade class in June.

Cardinal Egan returned each March to celebrate the academy’s Founder’s Day, the feast of St. Joseph. Starting in 2016, academy officials have decided to mark March 5 as the school’s Founder’s Day as a tribute to Cardinal Egan.

The academy is remembering Cardinal Egan by naming its National Elementary Honor Society chapter The Edward Cardinal Egan Chapter. The academy also started a modified sports program for the current school year and uses the team nickname Cardinals in his honor.

“Cardinal Egan meant a lot to this entire school,’’ said Satchel Bookstein, 14, an eighth-grader at the Academy of St. Joseph who was one of academy’s students to attend Cardinal Egan’s Funeral Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“He was one of the nicest people I’ve known and he was very inspiring. It’s sad because he’s not physically present with us, but I’m sure he was watching us all honor him,” Bookstein said.

At the Memorial Mass, Cardinal Dolan followed a procession of second-graders dressed as saints and later introduced himself to each of the saints during his homily, during which he recalled “always hearing Cardinal Egan brag’’ about the academy.

“I really thank God for Cardinal Egan,” Cardinal Dolan said. “He was a great man, and I especially got to know him and love him after I arrived here in 2009. I miss him, and it was just a year ago that he died and went to the Lord.

“So I offer this Mass in gratitude for him, asking Jesus to have mercy upon his noble soul, and letting him know that we love him and we are grateful for who he was and what he did.”

Concelebrants at the Mass included Father James Cuddy, O.P., pastor of the Dominican-run parish, and Father Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., parochial vicar there.

Following the Memorial Mass, Cardinal Dolan toured the school with academy and church officials, interacting with the students and teachers.

“We’re so grateful Cardinal Dolan came to celebrate the Mass,” Ms. Coombs said. “It says Cardinal Dolan shares in our love for our founder.”