The church of St. Alphonsus (Alphonsus Maria de Liguori) became the cathedral for the new diocese.
He studied at the College of Our Lady of the Assumption, Roermond, Limburg, the Netherlands, and at St. Alphonsus Seminary in Wittem, Limburg.
Father Michael McNaboe served ten years as pastor of St. Alphonsus in Suisun, when in 1882, Archbishop Alemany recalled McNaboe from rural Solano County to San Francisco.
Connell spent novitiate year at the Redemptorist house in Annapolis, Maryland after which he was sent to Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary in Esopus, New York to study philosophy and theology in preparation for priestly ordination.
The Irish Channel St. Patrick's Club has done activities, such as block parties, to help fundraise for different charities such as the Special Olympics; the Chrones Benefit Golf Tournament for Chrones Research; The Chefs' Charity of St. Michael's Special School; distribution of Thanksgiving food baskets and active support of The Friends of St. Alphonsus.
That same year, the sisters staffed schools in three German parishes in Baltimore, Maryland: St. James, St. Michael, and St. Alphonsus, as well as opening the Institute of Notre Dame, a private school for German girls.