On March 12, 2018, the Diocese of Rockville Centre made a stunning announcement: Bishop McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead would be no more.
A year later, the school that had become a home to generations of families sits unoccupied behind locked gates. The future of the property remains in limbo, with no clear answers yet on what will become of the school building. READ
The gigantic scandal that is the Roman Catholic Church continues to grow worse, with new revelations of criminal behavior and the sexual abuse of children. With each new disclosure, the church itself looks more and more like a criminal cabal partly inhabited by pedophiles whose behavior was covered up and filed away, hidden from the public. READ
Two women now in their 60s say they were sexually abused by priests at St. Agnes Parish in Rockville Centre when they were around 11 years old, and that one of those priests was John R. McGann, who would go on to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. READ
Bishop McGann-Mercy High School students have gone right to the top in their efforts to save their school, which the Diocese of Rockville Centre will close at the end of the year. During a trip to Italy last week, they took their case to the Vatican. READ
As I watch my community stagger and reel from the blow we have been dealt, I have thought almost constantly, “What can be done?” The sinking feeling, the nagging thought that creeps in is: “Nothing.” READ
News that the Diocese of Rockville Centre will close Bishop McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead at the end of the current school year broke late in the day on Monday. News of an impending announcement was delivered to the homes of students at the high school via robocalls, with the announcement itself coming in a video statement, delivered by Bishop John Barres, posted on the diocese’s website. READ
Bishop McGann-Mercy High School senior Sarah Dern arrived home from school earlier than usual Monday, because after-school activities were canceled. There, the phone rang almost immediately with a message from the school to check for an important email. READ
The Diocese of Rockville Center will be closing Bishop McGann-Mercy High School at the end of this school year. READ
A new bishop has been appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Diocese of Rockville Centre, succeeding retiring Bishop William Murphy.
Bishop John Barres will assume his role as fifth bishop of Rockville Centre on Jan. 31, the diocese announced in a press release last Friday. He’ll oversee a population of more than 1.45 million Catholics across Long Island.
TIM KELLY FILE PHOTO | Cutchogue’s Sacred Heart Parish Church, which originally served the local Irish community, held its last Mass in January 2013.
This month marks one year since the Diocese of Rockville Centre ordered Sacred Heart Parish Church in Cutchogue to close its doors. But the dilapidated historic structure is far from forgotten by some local residents. (more…)