Borough President Vito Fossella Presents Bishop J. Edmund Whalen With The Albert V. Maniscalco Award

​Borough President Vito Fossella presented Bishop Edmund J. Whalen with the 2023 Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award during a ceremony at Monsignor Farrell High School. 

The Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award, established in 1986, honors our ninth Borough President and celebrates civic-minded Staten Islanders who have dedicated their lives in service for the betterment of their community. His tenure from 1955 to 1965 saw the creation of the Greenbelt and the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Bishop Edmund Whalen, a West Brighton native, was ordained in 1983. His presence has been felt across the globe, including in Kenya where he served those who were underprivileged as a deacon to the Bukusu tribe.

He served as the principal of Monsignor Farrell High School from 2010 until his appointment as vicar for clergy in 2019.

“Normally, this service is done in a very quiet way in Borough Hall and a few family members come to speak,” said Borough President Fossella. “But, I thought if there was ever a place to have this ceremony, it would be right here at Monsignor Farrell High School, in part because Bishop Whalen basically helped to shape and create the faithful man -- as we all know, Vir Fidelis.”

Borough President Fossella said Bishop Whalen found his calling at a young age -- “a calling that was meant as the essential servant to speak with the voice of God and instilling a sense of doing better always with a high degree of faith.”

“In a world that moves rapidly and where there are a lot of young people who perhaps have drifted away, it was Bishop Whalen as a man of the cloth who was able to reaffirm and to ensure that every young person who walks through this school and through these doors, would have a conversation with Christ. It was the core of the faithful man that he tried to shape, that Christ is at the core of who we are.”

He called Bishop Whalen a “real leader who never seeks the limelight and never asks for anything in return.”

“We know there are so many folks whose lives you changed for the better,” said Borough President Fossella. “They may not know it at the age of 14 or 16, but in 20, 30, or 40 years, they will think that if it wasn’t for Bishop Whalen who knows where I would have been.”

Bishop Whalen said the reason “the witness of God comes out of us is because we see it in others and it is drawn of us.”

“It is an honor to receive this award from you, not only for the award itself, but more importantly because you are a true public servant in a country that seems to be forgetting that, but that is what makes Staten Island unique,” said Bishop Whalen. “Thank God for the people who are here and who bring the best out in each other. As the Borough President said, ‘learn from it, do it, live it.’ Thank you all for being here and thank you for this award.”