The renovated cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese of Rochester and seat of the diocesan bishop, as well as home to a parish community.

With the approval of the Holy See, the diocese sold St. Patrick's Cathedral to Eastman Kodak in 1937 and it was dismantled that same year.

[2][3] The diocese completed an extensive and controversial eighteen-month renovation of the cathedral in January 2005 at a cost of $11 million.

Richard S. Vosko, a liturgical design consultant and priest of the Diocese of Albany, supervised the renovation.

[6][7] Apart from structural repairs and improvements, the renovation comprised moving the altar from the front of the church to the center in order to foster a feeling of participation, removing a large statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hung on the wall in the sanctuary and replacing it with a new organ (the choir will now stand in the former altar space; fully visible), placing a new immersion baptismal font in the main aisle of the church so the community can share in baptisms, removing the pews and replacing them with padded chairs to allow flexible seating for events and moving the tabernacle out of the sanctuary to a side chapel.