RICHMOND HILL — For Felicia Cruz, receiving one of the first scholarships named for Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Octavio Cisneros inspires her to learn more about the kindly, smiling, gray-haired man who often blesses students with the sign of the cross.

“Now I’ll know him better,” Felicia, a sixth grader at Holy Child Jesus Catholic Academy in Richmond Hills, told The Tablet. 

Felicia and eighth grader James Pulick were awarded the first two scholarships named after Bishop Cisneros on Oct. 16.

James, who has attended the academy since pre-K, said receiving a scholarship named for Bishop Cisneros is meaningful because the bishop has always been a part of his life. 

“My dad said I’ve known him since I was just born,” James told The Tablet. “He held me when I was young. Now, I am an altar server for him.”

Felicia and James accepted the accolades from the alums who organize the annual Holy Child Jesus Golf Outing, which raises money for the academy. Principal Patricia Winters was in attendance, as was Bishop Cisneros, who said the new scholarship brings him delight for more than one reason.

“It’s a joyful day for me to know that, some way or another, the presence of the Church continues in Richmond Hill, vibrant and alive, because of the generosity of so many people,” Bishop Cisneros said after the event. “They have not taken and gone — they have taken and brought back.”

Thomas Flood, a former student at the school, noted that the academy’s alumni are tightly connected, which served as a source of inspiration for establishing the Bishop Octavio Cisneros Scholarship Endowment Fund.

“The gift that we have received, thanks to the generosity of our parents and others, we want to share with this great school, our alma mater,” he said. 

According to Flood, the alumni formed an endowment to help ensure scholarships are available each year to one girl and one boy well into the future. He added that notable contributors were the Antignani, Gould, Flood, Browne, Smith, and McGovern families, plus all who support the Holy Child Jesus Golf Outing.  

Speaking with The Tablet, Flood explained that alumni have a deep affection for the school, the parish, and Bishop Cisneros. This community, he said, gives the former students the tools to pursue their careers and raise families of their own. 

“We’re just privileged to do it in your honor,” Flood told Bishop Cisneros. “You’ve been a pastor, a priest, a friend, and someone who’s been here for us in the highest moments and the lowest moments.”

Holy Child Jesus Parish was established in 1910 by Catholic families in the Richmond Hill neighborhood of Queens. The parish added the school, now an academy, in 1917. Bishop Cisneros was pastor of Holy Child Jesus Parish from 2007 to 2021 and is now a senior priest in residence there. He is also a frequent visitor to the academy, which faces his home in the parish rectory on 86th Avenue.

Flood noted that Futures in Education, which helps pay tuition at Catholic schools and academies in the Diocese of Brooklyn, will administer the endowment, help select the scholarship recipients, and award the funds.

The scholarship provides a portion of a student’s tuition for one year in line with Futures in Education’s “Angel Program,” Flood added. Two new recipients will be selected each year.

Representing Futures in Education at the event were Lauren McCormack, director of mission advancement, and Olga Scotto, scholarship program coordinator. McCormack thanked the alumni for making the scholarship possible. 

“Futures is super grateful for everything you have done and for knowing the importance of what an endowment is,” she said. 

During the event, Bishop Cisneros urged the recipients to heed the example of the alums who helped provide the scholarships.

“Our legacy is not what we receive, but what we give — your talents and your treasures, your person and your beliefs, the things that make you who you are,” Bishop Cisneros said. “Now you know people that you didn’t know before, but they were here, like you, and now they’re giving back to Holy Child. 

“And that’s what keeps the school going.”