By Rita Ciolli
Newsday
October 6, 2002

When Bishop William Murphy moves into the top floor of the former convent at St. Agnes Cathedral this week, he will have established the first permanent, private residence for the leader of the nation's sixth-largest Roman Catholic diocese.

However, elevating the profile of the wealthy suburban diocese to the status traditionally associated with those in large cities is not without cost. Construction and furnishing bills for the 5,000-square-foot residence are running just under $1 million and there is lingering resentment in the parish over the displacement of nuns who lived in the building.

"Circumstances did dictate this. We are a very young diocese. It is important for the diocese to have a fixed residence for the bishop," said Murphy, who added that the imposing Gothic-inspired structure in Rockville Centre would be a place to welcome influential prelates.

The original renovation cost for the third floor of $500,000 has grown to $800,000, which includes the addition of a three- car garage in what was formerly a laundry area. There also is a new fireplace with an oak mantel, and a large vaulted ceiling was lowered and coffered, so a chandelier could be hung over a dining table. An additional $120,000 was spent on appliances, fixtures and furnishings, including three large Oriental rugs, a double Sub-Zero refrigerator, a professional range top and a wine cooler.

"Quite frankly, I am shocked at the cost overruns," Murphy said in an interview last week in part to respond to stinging criticism from Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin.

Murphy hopes most of the cost is recouped from the sale of a nearby 5,200-square-foot home that the diocese inherited from the family of the late Rev. Walter Kellenberg, the founding bishop of the diocese.

Then there are the nuns. When Murphy arrived in Rockville Centre a year ago, he moved into the private home but said it was too small for entertaining. He began a search for a new home. One option was buying another house. Another was living in the recently redecorated rectory; but he said that would disrupt the lives of the priests there. Nor would it provide the privacy to meet with priests or entertain visiting clergy, he said. He also noted that Bishop John McGann, who died in January, was living in the rectory's bishop's suite.

Next door to the rectory was the imposing convent. At one time, during the postwar boom on Long Island, the building was home to 56 nuns who established and taught in the St. Agnes elementary and high schools. But their numbers had dwindled to six and the building, which hadn't been significantly updated since it was built in the 1930s, was dark and drafty.

So in 2000, when the Rev. James McHugh was bishop, the parish made an arrangement with the remaining nuns. The third floor would be renovated to meet their needs with an elevator, 10 bedrooms and handicapped accessible bathrooms. In return, the first two floors of the building and basement would be converted to parish offices. The nuns moved out with the expectation that they would return in a year. But there were construction delays. McHugh died and Murphy was appointed.

"The convent was already under renovation, and it was close to the cathedral, which of course is my cathedral, and it makes sense that if I could be close to my cathedral, I should be," Murphy said.

So, Murphy asked the six nuns who had temporarily moved to St. Ignatius in Hicksville to relinquish the convent. "I would never move into a place and kick people out," he said.

"The sisters, I think, were disappointed but a disappointment they expressed with great generosity. They understood my dilemma," Murphy said, adding that he also agreed to install an elevator at the Hicksville convent.

"It is a difficult thing to say no to the bishop, but the question was asked," said Sister Virginia McGuire, who was prioress of the Dominican Congregation of the Holy Cross at the time. She noted that two of the six sisters were elderly and had since moved to the order's main convent in Amityville.

"What stings is that they could have been done away with so easily," said Sister Mary Hughes, who headed the Dominican congregation when the sisters left for St. Ignatius and is now executive assistant to the president at Iona College in New Rochelle. "In one fell swoop they were gone, without a ritual or a way to say goodbye."

The Rev. James Kelly, cathedral rector, said some St. Agnes parishioners share Hughes' sentiment. "Most people have a fond spot in their heart for the sisters, they bore the heat of the day, they lived simple lives and were heroic in their witness," he said.

The resentment over the nuns' displacement comes on top of general frustration with the pace of the parish's capital rebuilding campaign that began in 1999. The new parish offices have just opened in the convent and the two-story chapel, with its vaulted ceiling, stained-glass windows, and paintings of angels, has been preserved and restored. The building's roof and stone work were repaired, the windows and heating system replaced and air conditioning added.

However, a pipe organ for the cathedral, originally slated for $1 million, ended up costing $1.6 million, some of it due to gold gilding of the brass pipes. And the new parish meeting hall exists only in architectural drawings, although demolition of the old high school on the site begins this week.

The costs of the convent renovations, new organ and new parish center were to be covered by a fund-raising campaign of $5.5 million. The parish got pledges of $4.7 million and has collected $2.7 million so far. Kelly cited the slow economy as the cause of the fall-off in collections, saying only 2 percent to 3 percent of the pledges were being withheld because of the nuns. The final cost of the capital improvements is yet to be determined, but Murphy said the diocese will contribute $3 million to the fund because the parish buildings also are the seat of the diocese. Murphy has said the recent priest sex scandal has not affected contributions to the diocese. However, anger over the revelations has led to the growth of a strong voice of the faithful movement demanding greater accountability from the church.

Murphy is pleased with his new home. In what he refers to as the private wing, the bishop's suite has a bedroom with marble bath, a sitting room and a large study. But not all is perfect, he notes with a laugh. It is located directly over the youth center on the second floor. "They have a jukebox down there," he said.

Also in the private wing is a bedroom and study for his secretary, the Rev. Joseph DeGrocco. A third bedroom, which Murphy called the "cardinal's suite," has a bedroom as well as a sitting room and bath.

In the public wing, there is another guest bedroom for lay people, and a dining room, with a new table and 12 upholstered chairs. Opposite the dining area is a new gas-ignited fireplace with an oak mantel. The furnishings include three newly purchased Oriental rugs covering the restored original oak floors, an antique reproduction side table with a design that captures the cathedral's Gothic spires and a bar cabinet by upscale furniture manufacturer Baker. The Waterford goblets and silver flatware were gifts from his family, the bishop said.

Displayed in the public space will be the bishop's own art collection, which includes a sculpture by Louise Nevelson and an etching by Pat Steir, an abstract expressionist artist. "I am quite fond of 20th century women artists," he said.

The kitchen also was overhauled, with top-of-the-line appliances, including a side-by-side Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer unit and a six-burner Viking professional range. An adjoining pantry has an under-counter temperature-controlled wine-storage cabinet that can hold about 50 bottles.

Murphy's decision to allow a reporter and photographer to tour the residence last week was to show that Breslin's comments that 36 apartments could fit into his living quarters, weren't "fair or just." While the "misinformation" didn't matter to him, he said, people were "getting a false impression, thinking I am what I am not."