The Choir School mourns Founding Bishop George H. Niederauer

The Choir School community was saddened to learn of the death of Archbishop George H. Niederauer on Tuesday 2 May in San Rafael, California. Archbishop Niederauer was the Eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City, serving in Utah from 1995 - 2005, and the Eighth Metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco serving in this post from February of 2006 until his retirement in 2012. The Archbishop was the founding bishop of the Choir School, who after carefully reviewing the feasibility study prepared by a committee, approved the opening of the new school on 21 May 1996. The Choir School opened its doors to over 100 students on 26 August 1996. Drawing upon friends in his native Los Angeles, the Archbishop also provided the school with start-up funding, and later secured a $1 Million gift toward the purchase of the school’s new campus in 2002.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday 12 May in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. A Requiem Mass will be offered by Bishop Solis in the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Monday 15 May at 5:15 PM.