|
The year 1961 saw the dawning of a new era for Catholic education on Staten Island. Monsignor Farrell High School was born. The school year 2003-2004 marks the forty-second year of this special high school for boys, which has excelled in academics, athletics, the arts, and the spiritual formation of young men.
Monsignor Farrell, a diocesan high school, was founded as a result of the successful drive for high schools conducted in the Archdiocese of New York under the leadership of Francis Cardinal Spellman.
Twenty
acres of land were purchased in the Oakwood Heights section
of Staten Island. The groundbreaking ceremonies in April
1961 signaled the beginning of construction. During this
time, a class
of 113 boys and five teachers
met in an annex of Saint Sylvester's School in Concord in
September, 1961, under the direction of Monsignor John Considine
as Supervising Principal and Brother Harold Delaney as Brother
Principal. In September 1962, the freshmen and sophomore
classes moved into the new building.
The
school is named after Monsignor
Joseph A. Farrell
who spent sixty years of his priesthood on Staten Island
as a pastor of Saint Peter's Church in New Brighton, Saint
Paul's in New Brighton, and Saint Ann's in Dongan Hills.
From these assignments he was responsible for the establishment
of three missions which, eventually, grew into the parishes
of Saint Christopher, Saint Sylvester, and Saint Margaret
Mary. Monsignor Farrell was, also, instrumental in the building
of the first parochial school on Staten Island at Saint
Peter's. Monsignor Farrell High School was dedicated to
his memory as a tribute to his multiple contributions to
Catholic education and the Church on Staten Island.
Follow
this link for details of
School Principals
since the school opened.
|
|
