Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese Bishop David A. Zubik kneeled this afternoon in the muddy gravel before a white steel beam, the last piece of the steel bone skeleton of the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry as he and some two dozen construction workers signed the beam as part of a "topping out" ceremony.

A 100-foot boom hoisted the beam into the blue sky then gently settled it into its resting spot: the stair tower of the first new Catholic high school to be built in this region since 1967.

Calling the moment a "historic occasion" that he was "grateful" to be part of, Bishop Zubik said he expects the school to one day hold 1,000 students.

Construction is expected to be completed in January 2014 with classes there to begin in August 2014.

At that point, the building that houses North Catholic High School on Troy Hill will be decommissioned and sold. The school currently has an enrollment around 200.

Bishop Zubik likened the situation to North Catholic "giving birth" to the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.

He said its location near Cranberry where local Catholic elementaries are "bursting at the seams" promises a capacity enrollment at the new high school on the north side of Route 228, directly across the highway from St. Kilian Elementary in Cranberry.

The site comprises about 71 acres.

First Published: December 14, 2012, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: December 14, 2012, 12:59 p.m.