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Chappaqua Residents Join As Cardinal Dolan Blesses San Miguel Academy

NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan visited and blessed San Miguel Academy of Newburgh on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary during an outdoors ceremony at the school. 

Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, recently visited the San Miguel Academy of Newburgh.

Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, recently visited the San Miguel Academy of Newburgh.

Photo Credit: Simon Feldman

He toured the facilities and ate lunch, homemade by parents in the school gym. 

San Miguel is a faith-based, nontuition-driven school for low-income middle school boys in grades five to eight whom society has determined to be “at-risk,” a term used to describe students who are considered to have a high probability of failing academically or dropping out of school. 

The boys face external circumstances on a daily basis that could jeopardize their ability to complete school, such as homelessness, domestic violence and parent incarceration, among other trying circumstances. 

The Rev. Mark Connell, the founder of San Miguel, focused on middle school boys because he believes that turning around males before they reach high school is the key to their success. 

Photo caption: Cardinal Timothy Dolan gathers with some of the San Miguel Academy of Newburgh board of trustees, front row from left, Pat Burns Inglis, Barbara Eager, (both Chappaqua) and Joanne Welty Cannella (White Plains), Tom Crispi (on the end) board of trustees chair (Armonk); back row, Don Giuseppi, (Pelham), Lauren Steers, (Rye), Cardinal Dolan, Greg Kiernan, 2015 San Miguel Academy Newburgh, Defying the Odds Dinner Honoree and board of trustees member (Chappaqua), Juan Paneto (New Hampton) , Brendan McCarthy (Darien, Conn. ) and the Rev. Mark Connell (Newburgh) San Miguel Academy students/guides are: Alexis Marin, Nehemiah Williams and David Salazar.

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