It was founded by Christina Cox in 1995.Cox opened the first Catholic museum in the United States after receiving a standard blessing from then-Pope John Paul II. The museum has received support from the Archdiocese of New York although there is no connection between the two. Following controversy regarding the museum's status as a charity and its collection of funds, the archdiocese sought unsuccessfully to have the word "Catholic" removed from the museum's name.The museum's collection aims to cover the many facets of Catholic art, although in 2003 Joseph Berger wrote that it lacked a unifying theme, relying instead on donated works.The museum's original location was in the Olympic Towers on Fifth Avenue, near St. Patrick's Cathedral, a location that allowed the museum to take advantage of Christmas celebrations in the neighborhood. The museum moved several times, including to locations near Radio City Music Hall. In 2002, faced with increasing rents, the museum moved to E. 115th Street, the former home of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine which had recently been spared significant damage from a fire. The museum received around four million dollars in grants from New York State, in the hopes that it would help revitalize East Harlem.
