Catholic HS entrance exam Oct. 31, 2015.

Regarding entrance to a Catholic high school in Nassau or Suffolk County, New York, the dates are fast approaching.  Please see the website linked here for a list of deadlines and other information about taking the test.  The website includes applications for the exam with or without a request for exceptional treatment "with accommodation."
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There are seven Catholic high schools in Nassau County and three in Suffolk County. One entrance exam counts for all. An eighth-grader may apply to three schools.  

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I wonder about the ratio between the number of test-takers and the number of seats available in the seven high schools. 
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The 2015 edition of the Official Catholic Directory gives these enrollment figures:
St. Domnic High School, Oyster Bay, 465 students.
Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Syosset, 486 girls.
St. Mary High School, Manhasset, 620 students.
Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, 825 girls.
Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, Hicksville, 1,145 students.
Chaminade High School, Mineola, 1,700 boys.
Kellenberg Memorial High School, Uniondale, 2,600 students.

St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Centre

This view of St. Agnes Cathedral greets a person who arrives in Rockville Centre, Long Island, by train. To the left of the church is the rectory and the bishop's residence.

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The parish address is 29 Quealy Place, Rockville Centre, NY 11570, telephone 516-766-0205. The parish website is here.  Please check the parish website for photos of the renovation of the interior of the church.  

Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

Would anyone comment on the saints depicted here on the new baldachin?  On the left, I can identify Thomas More and John Vianney.  On the right, the pope seems to be Pope Pius X. Sister Faustina Kowalska appears low on the right rear column.

At the left is St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, in the center Mother Seton.  Who's on the right? In dim light I could not read the pedestal.

The above photo was taken in 2012 or earlier.  

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The A.I.A. Architectural Guide to Nassau and Suffolk Counties (Dover Publ., Mineola, 1992) describes the cathedral as of Norman-Gothic style, of limestone-trimmed buff brick with a single cross-crowned tower.  In 1887, the first Mass was offered in Rockville Centre in a blacksmith's shop on Centre Avenue.  An anvil from that shop is said to be in the cathedral, but I have not found it.

Above is the bishop's residence. 

Within the same block, the elementary school is at 70 Clinton Avenue, Rockville Centre NY 11570, telephone 516-678-5550. Its website is linked here.  With about 845 students, it is the largest elementary school in the diocese.

This large hall between the church and school has similar porticoes, east and west. The cornerstone reads 2004.  One of its purposes is to provide space for catered events, for example, a reception after a Mass celebrating the jubilees of religious, which we attended here in 2012.

The diocesan office building is a few blocks away, at 50 North Park Avenue, between Sunrise Highway (NY 27) and the railroad station.  The above view of  its west side shows how it began with an older building (maybe a former bank), where the flag is, at the corner of Sunrise Highway and North Park Avenue.  The addition, with a tall cross facing the railroad, is sheathed in a green similar to that of The Long Island Catholic website.  This page might explain some of the diocesan offices.  I was about to use the word Chancery to describe the above building, but it appears that the Chancery is only part of the organizational structure.