Cardinal Seán's Blog

Since my last post, I have been to Ohio and am currently in Rome.

Last Saturday I went to Cleveland to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the monastery of the Poor Clare Sisters. It was the place where I celebrated my first Mass, and that community has always been close to my family. We had a sort of a family reunion at the anniversary.

Prior to the Mass, I visited the Poor Clares with Father Bob McGreevy,
a Capuchin priest involved in priest formation ministry in Cleveland

We celebrated the Anniversary Mass at Our Lady of Angels parish which is very close to the monastery. To the left is Bishop Emeritus of Cleveland Anthony Pilla and to the right retired auxiliary bishop of Cleveland Edward Pevec

These two sisters are the “extern” sisters. They were the only two sisters
who attended the anniversary Mass. They are not cloistered and deal with the external business of the monastery

The Church was full. As a child my parents brought me often to Mass
to this church that was entrusted to the Franciscans.

On the left are the parishes’ two permanent deacons with their wives.
To the far left is Father John Cregan, the current pastor at Our Lady of Angels

The nuns have always been very close to me and to my family, and I was happy to be part of their 100th anniversary celebration for their monastery.

While I was there, I visited the second Poor Clare monastery in Cleveland.

- – -

From Cleveland I flew to Rome at the request of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to participate in a meeting discussing the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio about the use of the older form of the Latin Mass. There were about 25 bishops there, including the president of Ecclesia Dei Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Cardinal Francis Arinze, several heads of bishops’ conferences as well as some cardinals and other residential bishops.

They shared with us the Motu Proprio and the Holy Father’s letter explaining it. We also had an opportunity to read the Latin document. We each commented on that, and then the Holy Father came in and shared some of his thoughts with us. The Holy Father is obviously most concerned about trying to bring about reconciliation in the Church. There are about 600,000 Catholics who are participating in the liturgies of the Society of St. Pius X, along with about 400 priests.

A photo with the Holy Father after the meeting

The Holy Father was very clear that the ordinary form of celebrating the Mass will be the new rite, the Norvus Ordo. But by making the Latin Mass more available, the Holy Father is hoping to convince those disaffected Catholics that it is time for them to return to full union with the Catholic Church.

So the Holy Father’s motivation for this decision is pastoral. He does not want this to be seen as establishing two different Roman Rites, but rather one Roman Rite celebrated with different forms. The Motu Propio is his latest attempt at reconciliation.

In my comments at the meeting I told my brother bishops that in the United States the number of people who participate in the Latin Mass even with permission is very low. Additionally, according to the research that I did, there are only 18 priories of the Society of St. Pius X in the entire country. Therefore this document will not result in a great deal of change for the Catholics in the U.S. Indeed, interest in the Latin Mass is particularly low here in New England.

In our archdiocese, the permission to celebrate the Latin Mass has been in place for several years, and I granted permission when I was in Fall River for a Mass down on the Cape. The archdiocesan Mass is now at Immaculate Mary of Lourdes Parish in Newton. It is well attended, and if the need arises for an extension of that we would, of course, address it.

This issue of the Latin Mass is not urgent for our country, however I think they wanted us to be part of the conversation so that we would be able to understand what the situation is in countries where the numbers are very significant. For example, in Brazil there is an entire diocese of 30,000 people that has already been reconciled to the Church.

- – -

Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend the weekly audience with the Holy Father.

Greeting the Holy Father at the Wednesday audience

At his Wednesday audiences, the Holy Father has been giving reflections on different fathers of the Church. This past Wednesday he reflected on St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century bishop. I thought you would like to read his address:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our attention today will be focused on St. Cyril of Jerusalem. His life represents the coming together of two dimensions: on one side, pastoral care and, on the other, involvement in the controversies that weighed upon the Church of the East at that time.

Born in 315 in Jerusalem, or in the surrounding areas, Cyril received a fine literary formation that became the basis of his ecclesiastical knowledge through the study of the Bible.

He was ordained a priest by Bishop Maximus. When Maximus died and was buried, in 348, Cyril was ordained a bishop by Acacius, the influential metropolitan of Caesarea in Palestine, a follower of Arius who was convinced he had an ally in Cyril. Hence, Cyril was suspected to have received the episcopal nomination through concessions given to Arianism.

Cyril soon found himself at odds with Acacius for doctrinal as well as juridical reasons, because Cyril reinstated the autonomy of his own see, separating it from that of the metropolitan of Caesarea. During 20 years or so, Cyril suffered three exiles: the first in 357, by decree of a synod of Jerusalem; a second in 360 by Acacius; and a third in 367 — the longest, lasting 11 years — by Emperor Valens, a follower of Arianism. Not until 378, after the death of the emperor, was Cyril able to resume possession of his see, bringing back unity and peace to the faithful.

Despite certain writings from his day that call into question his orthodoxy, others of the same epoch defend it. Among the most authoritative is the synodal letter of 382, after the ecumenical council of Constantinople in 381, in which Cyril had a significant role. In that letter, sent to the Roman Pontiff, the Eastern bishops officially recognize the absolute authority of Cyril, the legitimacy of his episcopal ordination and the merits of his pastoral service, which death brought to an end in 387.

We have 24 of his celebrated catecheses, which he wrote as a bishop around the year 350. Introduced by a “Procatechesis” of welcome, the first 18 are addressed to catechumens or illuminandi (in Greek “photizomenoi”) and were kept in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.

The first five deal with the dispositions required to receive baptism, conversion from pagan customs, the sacrament of baptism and the ten dogmatic truths contained in the creed or symbol of faith.

The following catecheses, Nos. 6-18, make up a “continual catechesis” of the Symbol of Jerusalem, which is anti-Arian. Of the last five, Nos. 19-23, the so-called mystagogical ones, the first two develop a commentary on the rites of baptism, the last three deal with confirmation, the Body and Blood of Christ and the Eucharistic liturgy. There is also an explanation of the Our Father (”Oratio Dominica”), which establishes a path of initiation to prayer that develops parallel to the initiation with the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist.

The foundation of instruction in the Christian faith developed, although amid controversy against the pagans, Judeo-Christians and followers of Manichaeism. The development of the instruction was based on the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament, with a language rich with images. Catechesis was an important moment, inserted into the broad context of the entire life, and especially the liturgical life, of the Christian community. Within this maternal womb, the gestation of the future Christian took place, accompanied by the prayer and witness of the brethren.

Taken together, Cyril’s homilies make up a systematic catechesis on the rebirth of the Christian through baptism. To the catechumen, Cyril says: “You have fallen into the nets of the Church (cfr. Matthew 13:47). Let yourself be taken alive: Do not run away, because it is Jesus who takes you to his love, not to give you death but the resurrection after death. You must die and rise again (cfr. Romans 6:11-14). � Die to sin, and live for justice, starting today” (Pro-Catechesis, No. 5).

From a “doctrinal” point of view, Cyril comments on the symbol of Jerusalem with recourse to the use of typology in the Scriptures, in a “symphonic” relationship between the two Testaments, pointing to Christ, the center of the universe. Typology will later be wisely described by Augustine of Hippo with these words: “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is revealed in the New” (”De Catechizandis Rudibus,” 4:8).

His catechesis on morality is anchored in profound unity to the doctrinal one: Dogma slowly descends into souls, which are asked to change their pagan ways to adopt new life in Christ, the gift of baptism. The “mystagogical” catechesis, was the height of instruction that Cyril imparted, no longer to catechumens, but to the newly baptized and neophytes during Easter week. He led them to discover the mysteries still hidden in the baptismal rites of the Easter vigil. Enlightened by the light of a faith, deepened in the strength of baptism, the neophytes were finally able to better understand the mysteries, having just celebrated the rites.

There was great enthusiasm at the weekly audience.

In particular, with the neophytes of Greek origin, Cyril focused on visual aspects, most suited to them. It was the passage from rite to mystery, which availed of the psychological effect of surprise and the experience lived in the Easter vigil. Here is a text explaining the mystery of baptism: “You were immersed in water three times and from each of the three you re-emerged, to symbolize the three days that Christ was in the tomb, imitating, that is, with this rite, our savior, who spent three days and three nights in the womb of the earth (cfr. Matthew 12:40).

“With the first emersion from the water you celebrated the memory of the first day that Christ spent in the tomb, with the first immersion you witnessed to the first night spent in the tomb: As he who in the night is unable to see, and he who in the day enjoys the light, you too experience the same thing. While at first you were immersed in the night and unable to see anything, reemerging, you found the fullness of day. Mystery of death and of birth, this water of salvation was for you a tomb and mother. � For you � the time to die coincides with the time to be born: One is the moment that achieved both events” (”Second Mystagogical Catechesis,” No. 4).

The mystery to behold is God’s design; this is achieved through the salvific actions of Christ in the Church. The mystagogical dimension complements that of symbols, expressing the lived spiritual experience that they cause to “explode.” From St. Cyril’s catechesis, based on the three components described previously — doctrinal, moral and mystagogical — there results a global catechesis in the Spirit. The mystagogical dimension brings about the synthesis of the first two, directing them to the sacramental celebration, in which the salvation of the entire person is realized.

It is an integral catechesis, which — involving the body, soul and spirit — remains emblematic of the catechetical formation of today’s Christians.

The audience was very large. Some of the people were in St. Peter�s Basilica and the rest filled the audience hall. So he actually went to both places. In attendance was an archdiocesan group from Xaverian High School in Westwood.

- – -

On Thursday evening, the vespers were offered in preparation for the Feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The statue of St. Paul stands outside the basilica

The tomb of St. Paul is located under the baldacchino

The relic of the chains of St. Paul

The artwork of the dome is magnificent

Usually the vespers are held at the Basilica of St. Peter, but on Thursday the Holy Father held it at the tomb of St. Paul. There he declared a Pauline year in preparation of the synod on the Holy Scriptures. This Pauline year will underscore the importance of Paul for Catholics throughout the world. It will also raise people�s awareness of the upcoming synod.

The Holy Father celebrating Vespers

Today, the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the new archbishops from throughout the world assemble in Rome and receive the pallium from the hands of the Holy Father. There is one archbishop from the United States, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.

Archbishop Kurtz kissed the Holy Father’s ring at the Pallium Mass

- – -

A blessed feast of St. Peter and Paul to you all!

I’ll be taking some summer vacation over the next couple of weeks so I will not be able to make my usual posts.

I have asked some of our newly ordained priests share their experiences since their ordination with you until I return.

Yours in Christ,

Cardinal Sean

Today, on the Feast of St. Thomas More, the four bishops of Massachusetts are launching a prayer and education campaign for the vocation of marriage. Over a year ago, I assembled a committee to look at what the Church in Boston could do to help promote the Sacrament of Marriage in our remote preparation of youth and in proximate preparation, what we call the Pre-Cana. I also wanted to find ways to help people experience the grace of the sacrament and to be able to fulfill the very special mission the sacrament has in the world.

Cards with the prayer for marriage are being mailed to every parish

Family Life Office staff helped put together the mailings

�

In our country, more and more people are opting not to get married but instead to cohabitate. In Massachusetts, the government has redefined marriage away from its original purpose, which is so intimately connected with having and raising children. Certainly, the vocation to marriage, which is the way most people live out their discipleship, is something that is very, very important. And it certainly is being obscured in our modern and secular culture.

I often tell people that part of transmitting the faith is instilling in our young people a sense of vocation. For most of our young people, their vocation is to marry and to have children. When I speak to confirmation classes, I always speak to them about vocations, particularly the vocation to marriage. People often talk about the shortage of vocations to the priesthood, but just as grave for the Church is the situation with the vocation to marriage. Another thing we need to instill in our young people as we pass on the faith, is a sense of sharing a common mission with the other members of the Church in trying to transform the world to make the values of the Kingdom of God more present among us — His kingdom of peace, of justice, of love and of service.

We were very enthusiastic about the launching of a new statewide educational campaign on the meaning and importance of marriage and we were very glad that the bishops in the state�s other dioceses are collaborating with us in this effort. We hope this campaign will help people to refocus on the sacramental meaning of marriage.

I am very grateful to all of those who have lent their talent and time to be a part of preparing this initiative, and I want to urge all of the Catholics of the archdiocese to help us to promote the sacrament of marriage. We need to rekindle a sense of vocation in all of our people, especially marriage as a call to holiness, a call to service, so that our Christian families will truly be sanctuaries of life where new generations of disciples are born and reborn in the faith.

- – -

This week I have participated in the spring meeting of the U.S. Bishop�s Conference, which was held in the Diocese of Santa Fe. The spring meeting is hosted in a different city each year. The bishops meet again each fall in either Baltimore or Washington.

The gathering had a retreat format. We met at a hotel in Albuquerque which was owned by an Indian tribe. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Archbishop of Quebec, was the preacher for the retreat. He is a wonderful theologian who gave fantastic talks. He was also there to promote the Eucharistic Congress that will be held next year in Quebec City.

During the course of the week, we had also seminars directed at the different priorities of the Bishop�s Conference. We looked at faith formation, marriage and pro-life issues. It was a very profitable gathering.

In addition to the larger gathering they always add a number of committee meetings, which allows us to save on travel since we are already together. I am on three of the committees ? the Latin American Secretariat, Committee on Immigration and the Missions Committee.

Though I was unable to attend the missions meeting of a scheduling conflict, I attended the other two meetings and was pleased to discover at the one on Latin America that the Catholics of Boston were the largest contributors nationwide to this year�s Diocesan National Collection for the Church in Latin America � $403,354. (The total amount collected nationwide was $7,147,635.) At the session, committee members discussed the different proposals for grants that we receive from bishops and missionaries throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America.

The Immigration Committee meeting was spent talking about the new immigration legislation. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez came to New Mexico to talk to us and urged us to support President�s Bush�s effort to pass a comprehensive immigration bill. We also spoke, via conference call, with Senator Robert Men�ndez of New Jersey. He has been very involved in immigration matters.

The Bishop�s Conference is very anxious to ensure that the principle of family reunification is not jettisoned from the new legislation in favor of people with more academic qualifications. We see that one of the strengths of our nation�s immigration laws has been the family. That has been a constant in our policy, and we would like to see that maintained.

Our second concern is that some of the regulations concerning the path toward citizenship have become too unreasonable and burdensome. Sometimes people are required to go back to their own countries and come in again, which makes it difficult for them to pay their bills and maintain their jobs. Some of the regulations that have been introduced, we feel, are too punitive. The purpose of the legislation must be to try to deal with all those who are already here and also to ensure that the United States is in control of who is entering the country. If we do not come up with a way that makes it possible for people to regularize their situation, then it will defeat the purpose of the legislation.

The meeting went very well, and the bishops were able to share our concerns with Secretary Gutierrez who answered our questions. He and Senator Men�ndez had different points of view, but both were in favor of this legislation. Gutierrez was much more favorable to the present legislation whereas Men�ndez would like to see changes such as family reunification. He said, �Well, if we had those regulations before, Jonas Salk � who developed the Polio vaccine� and many other people would never have gotten into the country because their parents were laborers and did not speak English.� Because our country allowed reunification of families, their children became luminaries in the United States.

This legislation has been a roller coaster ride, and there were times when I thought it would be passed only to see it derailed. The problem is that if it is not dealt with now, most observers think it will be many years before we will be able to deal with the issue again. With the presidential elections coming up, it would likely be several years, and we really cannot afford to wait that long � too many people�s lives are at stake

Also at the Bishop�s conference we marked the fifth anniversary of the abuse crisis and the charter for the protection of children. At our vespers service, we offered this special prayer for healing of this great crisis in the life of our Church and for victims of abuse:

A prayer for healing

Victims of abuse

God of endless love,

Ever caring, ever strong,

Always present, always just:

You gave your only Son

To save us by the blood of His cross.

Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace,

Join to your own suffering

The pain of all who have been hurt

In body, mind, and spirit

By those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

Hear our cries as we agonize

Over the harm done to our brothers and sisters.

Breathe wisdom into our prayers,

Soothe restless hearts with hope

Steady shaken spirits with faith:

Show us the way to justice and wholeness,

Enlightened by truth and enfolded in your mercy.

Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts, heal your people�s wounds

And transform our brokenness.

Grant us courage and wisdom, humility and grace,

So that we may act with justice

And find peace in you.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be…We ask this through

Christ, our Lord. Amen

On another evening, all the bishops were invited to a screening of the movie �Bella� and to listen to a talk by the film�s director, Alejandro Monteverde.

He made the movie out of his desire to be at the service of the Church and to teach a pro-life message using modern means. He told us of people who, after seeing this film, decided not to have abortions and he said that one family even named their baby �Bella.� He said that this was, in fact , the whole purpose of this film: to try to teach the Gospel of Life using a story, a very simple story of a woman who finds herself in a difficult pregnancy. She has lost her job and this Hispanic family befriends her� but I won�t tell you how it ends! I recommend the film to all of you because I think that the message is so beautiful. Please click here to watch trailers of the movie and spread the word to your friends…

It was all very well organized for the screening, they even served us all popcorn! We were very happy for that�lol!

- – -

At St. Coletta & Cardinal Cushing Schools of Massachusetts they have an annual fundraiser, which they call a spring event. Cardinal Cushing started this school for children with special needs 60 years ago with the Franciscan sisters from Milwaukee. Cardinal Cushing had a very great love for children with special needs. It was one of his passions in life, and so he was very instrumental in establishing the Cardinal Cushing Centers.

The tent was crowded with friends of the school

Addressing those gathered

Two of the students serving the food .They did a wonderful job

�

There were about 500 people there for a dinner and fundraiser. The youngsters performed this new kind of synchronized dancing. It is very athletic and jumping around … all very synchronized.

�

The percussion group formed out of an occupational therapy exercise called, Brain Gym. It involved crossing the mid line of the body with the arms and legs and improves concentration and learning.

And then one young man, a graduate from the school, sang from the musical �Man of La Mancha.� He had a beautiful voice.

Joey Remington, a former student, sang and received a standing ovation

They honored a number of people, including one of the Franciscan sisters who was there.

Cardinal Cushing also built a replica of the Church of the Porziuncola in Assisi in the Hanover school campus. I visited the chapel.

Our local Porziuncola. That’s a statue of St. Francis in front.

The Porziuncola is a small chapel that St. Francis restored becoming his home. There he founded in 1209 the Order of Friars Minor. St Francis assembled all the Friars in the Chapter every year at the Porziuncola to discuss their rule and to renew their dedication to the Gospel Life. The original Porziuncola in Assisi is now covered by a big basilica, whereas the one we have in the archdiocese is more like the one St. Francis would have seen, which was surrounded by woods.

The original Porziuncola, located inside
the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi

The exterior is a perfect replica of the original (the stone was even brought from Assisi) though the inside is much fancier, and much more finished looking than the original.

Cardinal Cushing was so fond of the site, he chose to be buried there.

- – -

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate a diaconal ordination Mass for the friars of the primitive observance at Mission Church three weeks ago.

The new Deacons Andrew and Benedict and their Superior, Fr. John Sweeney, FPO

Photos we requested from the event have only just arrived so I thought I would share them with you today.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help � known by almost everyone as simply Mission Church � is the only basilica in the Archdiocese.

It is Boston�s Redemptorist church and, as you can imagine from the name, is dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the special patroness of the Redemptorist order. When I was in the West Indies, it had been a Redemptorist mission, and I was always very edified by the great devotion that the Redemptorists had instilled in the people. On Wednesdays, the churches would always be filled at Mass because it was the novena Mass to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

This umbrella is one of the symbols of a basilica. Originally, umbrellas like this were used to protect the Holy Father from severe weather. It is kept half open to signify that the Basilica is always ready to welcome the Holy Father.

This processional miniature tower with a small bell is yet another symbol of a Basilica.

The Redemptorists have some of the largest and most beautiful churches in this hemisphere. Recently, our Holy Father visited the Basilical of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, which is run by the Redemptorists and is the largest church in the western hemisphere. Many of our people here in New England and from the rest of the United States, I am sure, have visited the Basilica of Sainte-Anne de Beaupr� in Quebec, also a Redemptorist church. In Brooklyn, the largest church in the diocese is the Redemptorist�s Our Lady of Perpetual Help. We are very grateful for all of the wonderful ministry that the Redemptorists do, and particularly at their parish here. These photos are just to share with you the beauty of our only basilica.

The chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

�

The main Altar

- – -

I am going to Rome next week to attend some meetings at the Holy See. While I am there, I will be at the Wednesday audience, and then on my birthday, June 29, I will be at the Pallium Mass, where the new metropolitan archbishops receive their pallium from the Holy Father. Archbishop elect Joseph E. Kurtz, who has just been appointed to the archdiocese Louisville, will be among those receiving the pallium next week.

Since I will be away for my birthday, my staff presented my with a surprise happy birthday cake yesterday.

- – -

Finally, for my photo of the week I have chosen this icon and prayer which have been printed on the 1 million prayer cards to be distributed throughout Massachusetts. I encourage you all to pray this prayer daily that the vocation of marriage may be strengthened.

Heavenly Father,

through the intercession of the Holy Family,

Help us treasure the gift of marriage that

reflects the love of Christ for the Church,

where the self-giving love

of husband and wife

unites them more perfectly and

cooperates in your plan for

new life created in your image.

Help us support men and women

in their vocation of marriage,

especially in difficult times when

they join their sufferings to the Cross.

Help us uphold the institution of marriage

in our society as the place where

love is nurtured and family life begins.

Help us acknowledge that our future

depends on this love and on your

providential care for us. Amen.