Cardinal Seán's Blog

October 5 is Pro-Life Sunday, a time to remember our commitment to defend life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. In that context, I am glad to invite you all — but particularly the youth and young adults –  to attend an event  called “Walk as Children of Light” that will take place on that day.

The event will start at 10 a.m. at Cathedral High School with a Youth Rally featuring Father Stan Fortuna and will be followed by Mass at the Cathedral.

Participants will also be encouraged to participate in the annual Massachusetts Citizens for Life Respect Life Walk.

- – -

It is always very heartening to see successful members of the community give witness to their faith. Last Thursday, I was honored to attend a dinner at Northeastern University celebrating the accomplishments and service to the school of Neal Finnegan.

Neal gave a beautiful testimony to his Catholic faith and his commitment to the Church. For 10 years Neal was the chairman of Northeastern’s board of trustees. The school dedicated a plaza and a monument for him on the campus.

- – -

Friday, I was in Providence to celebrate the vigil Mass for the annual meeting of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

At the vigil, we awarded the promotions to different members. Among those promoted was Ted Furey, who is so active at the cathedral parish and was promoted to Knight Commander.

Saturday, the Mass was celebrated by the Order’s Grandmaster, Cardinal John Foley, who was visiting from Rome. It was a beautiful celebration. The singing was extraordinary. Under the leadership of Father Anthony Mancini, the choir at the cathedral in Providence is always an inspiration.

Father Kevin O’Leary, Father Jonathan Gaspar and Father Robert Reed were among the priests who entered into the Order.

That evening there was a banquet at the Marriott for all the members. This is Jack Monaghan’s first year as the lieutenant for the region. He honored Dennis Looney for all the hard work Dennis has done for the order and continues to do.

 

The order goes back to the 12^th century and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, where its mission was to defend the pilgrims and the Holy places and care for the sick. In our modern times, the order has been very much engaged in supporting the mission of the Church in the Holy Land, where the number of Christians has diminished considerably. Their work has been very significant in support of the works of evangelization and the works of mercy that have been carried on by the Church in the Holy Land.

- – -

Saturday, Catholic Television visited with me at the cathedral for the filming of a program, which is part of our bicentennial celebration. The program highlights the many Boston men and women who have gone to serve the Church in the missions. Many of the religious communities were represented. We hope this will raise awareness of the missions among the people and make them willing join us in prayer for the missions and make them generous with financial support.

One of the salient activities highlighted was the work of the St. James Society, which has sent priests to serve in Peru, Equator and Bolivia.

Each year, CatholicTV runs a telethon and this year many of the Catholic Daughters were there to answer the phones. Many people came to the studios to sing and perform during the program. It was a great success as always. Each year, the telethon is an opportunity to showcase the extraordinary work being done by Father Reed, Jay Fadden and the remarkable staff at CatholicTV.

With Heather Waxman, a local singer, at the telethon

I participated at the telethon to greet the people and encourage them to make their donations.

CatholicTV’s new venue at Watertown’s former St. Patrick’s Convent, a building completely refurbished for the needs of the television station, has been a wonderful asset for their ministry in the archdiocese.

- – -

Sunday, I celebrated Mass at East Cambridge’s St. Anthony of Padua Church to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the passing of Cardinal Humberto Medeiros.

The Mass brought together bishops, priests and the faithful as well as a number of relatives of Cardinal Medeiros.

Also attending was the Portuguese consul to Boston, a representative from the Catholic University of Portugal and Tim Toomey, the state representative for East Cambridge.

The actual day of the cardinal’s death was Sept. 17, this was the following Sunday when we celebrated his memory and the great contributions he made to the Church, as a priest and as a bishop: first as the pastor of St. Michael’s Parish in Fall River, then as chancellor of the Diocese of Fall River, and finally in Brownsville, Texas, a very large diocese with very few resources.

After serving so well in Brownsville, he came to Boston to replace Cardinal Cushing. Cardinal Cushing was a larger than life local hero and it was a challenge coming in at a time of great financial distress for the Church of Boston.

Cardinal Medeiros brought a sense of faith and peace and healing to a number of issues here in the archdiocese. His spirituality and humility were great graces for the archdiocese. You can read more about the event in this Pilot article.

- – -

Later on Sunday, we were able to show our appreciation to the sisters celebrating their anniversaries at a Mass for jubilarians.

Seventy five years

Sister Marian Batho calculated that there were 10,000 years of service represented.

Seventy and sixty-five years

Some of the sisters were celebrating more than 70 years of religious life. Even some contemplative sisters, the Poor Clares, came. One from Andover was celebrating 72 years of religious life.

Sixty years

Sixty years

It is a wonderful way for us to demonstrate the great affection and appreciation that we have for our religious sisters. Particularly those who have spent so many decades of their lives serving the Church and the people of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Fifty years

Twenty-five years

- – -

Monday, I was in Framingham to celebrate the funeral Mass of Father Frank O’Brien, the pastor of St. George’s, who died suddenly last week.

It was totally unexpected and Father Ben  Letran stepped into the breach with the help of his faithful staff and parishioners.

At the ceremony, there was a wonderful outpouring of affection for him. It was very moving to see there was standing room only as people mourned the loss of a beloved pastor who served them and the Church so well during these challenging times.

- – -

We have more than 200,000 Brazilians in the archdiocese, so it is not surprising that this year the national leadership team working in the Brazilian Apostolate would have its annual meeting in our archdiocese. We met at the Franciscan Center in Andover.

There were 50 or 60 priests present, most of them from Brazil.

The speaker, Bishop Alessandro Ruffinoni, is a Scalabrini missionary working for the Brazilian bishops with the task of traveling the world and helping people ministering to Brazilian immigrants. He has a special competence in addressing their needs. In fact, he just arrived from Japan, where there is a substantial Brazilian population.

I celebrated Mass for them and afterwards we greeted the people.

The other bishop present was Bishop Edgar da Cunha, who is a Vocationist Father and an auxiliary bishop in Newark, N.J., where they have a very large Portuguese-speaking community. Until Bishop da Cunha was ordained, I believe I was the only bishop in the country who spoke Portuguese.

Here in the archdiocese the second most common language spoken is Spanish. But, a close third is Portuguese, because of the tremendous numbers of people from Cape Verde, Brazil and Portugal.

It just so happened that the day was the Feast Day of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. It has been 40 years since the death of Padre Pio, and also on that day, the Holy Father announced his intention to visit the Padre Pio shrine at San Giovanni Rotondo. The shrine now receives more visitors than any other site in the world, except Guadalupe in Mexico.

After the Mass, we stopped by to say hello to the Poor Clares whose convent is next door to the Franciscan Center.

From Andover, we went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play the Cleveland Indians. We were invited to use one of the private boxes at the stadium and we were joined by several priests of the archdiocese and some members of the staff at the pastoral center.

 

I must say, after seeing the game from one of the private boxes, I can now say those seats down by home plate have lost their luster.

Of course, the Red Sox defeated the Indians that night to secure a place in the playoffs. There was great rejoicing at the victory.

The president of the Red Sox, Larry Lucchino came by to greet me and I told him I was very pleased to be there.

I also told him I was very proud of the fact that since I have been the Archbishop of Boston, the team has won two championships. Only one other Archbishop in the history of the diocese can make that claim.  Cardinal O’Connell saw the victories of 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918 … but, I have just gotten started!

- – -

Ralph McCloud, the new leader of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the anti-poverty arm of the bishop’s conference came to visit this week. With him was Randy Keesler. Randy is the staff person who takes care of this area of the country. Many years ago, he worked for me at the Centro Catolico Hispano in Washington. I have know Randy and his wife, Celeste, for many, many years. Randy has been very active in the service projects of the Church and promoting the cause of the poor. He has done a great job at CCHD. Randy was showing Ralph some of the projects in the archdiocese founded by CCHD.

Until my next post,

In Christ.

Cardinal Seán

Hello again!

I’m beginning this week’s post with the text of a document I thought may be of interest to many of you. It was sent to me by my friend Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete of Communion and Liberation.

As some of you may know, one of the primary missions of Communion and Liberation is to help Catholics understand the events of the world in light of their faith.

Therefore, when a significant social or political event presents itself – such as our current presidential race – they will often produce a flyer like this one to help Catholics form their consciences in accord the teachings of the Church.

As the November elections approach, I know many are considering their choices. I thought this flyer could be helpful in that process.

Click the image below to read the full text.

- – -

On Thursday, Sept. 11, we were at MCI in Norfolk for a visit with the prison ministries there. We celebrated Mass with them and anointed some of their sick inmates in the hospital facilities. Every year, the Mass is a great occasion. A large contingent of inmates filled the auditorium and there were three wonderful choirs; one English, one Spanish and one Vietnamese.

The sisters have done a tremendous job for many years working with Deacon Bill Kane, our director of Prison Ministry.  I understand there is also there is a very active chapter of the Third Order of the Dominicans at MCI in Norfolk.

After the Mass, there was a dramatic production with impressive choreography that depicted the descent into a criminal lifestyle — how a prisoner is led into the use of drugs — and then his conversion. It was very, very well done and directed by one of the sisters.

Following the production, we were given a presentation on the various ministries and activities that have been organized at the facility. It really is encouraging to see how much has been accomplished there and the very positive effect it has had on the lives of the prisoners.

The Bay State Correction Center, also in Norfolk, is a much smaller prison, where Father Tom Stanton has been doing a wonderful job in his prison ministry. We had Mass there just this Wednesday, which was the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Father Tom Stanton arranged for us to pass out prayer cards with the prayer of St. Francis on the back.

After the Mass, Robert Soares, the deputy superintendent, gave us a tour of the prison and talked to us about the different programs there. A few years ago, Robert gave me a tour of MCI Cedar Junction and I was so pleased to see him again.

We also met with an instructor from Boston University, Paule Verdet, who for 18 years has been working in the prisons; in fact I often see Paule at other prisons I have visited. There are many educational options available to the inmates. BU has a program, started by Dr. John Silber almost 20 years ago, that allows a prisoner to continue with their studies at the school if they began to matriculate while incarcerated. That program, in addition to the GED and other programs are so important as inmates prepare for their lives outside of prison.

- – -

Msgr. Bob Deeley came to visit us at the cathedral rectory Friday. He and his brother, Father Kevin Deeley, a Navy chaplain, are both in Italy. Father Kevin is stationed at naval station at Gaeta and Msgr. Bob works at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. They are both Boston priests on “Lend/Lease,” and the monsignor was home visiting his family and he stopped by to check in.

It was good to see him.  We are all grateful for the important work he is doing in Rome.

- – -

Saturday morning, we went to the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade to cheer on members of the Caritas Christi team, who taking part in the Boston Heart Association’s “Boston Start! Health Walk.”

There were so many people from Caritas there, including Caritas CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre. They all had their lime green shirts on and Caritas had a large tent there for the walkers. I was told there were more than 15,000 walkers in total.

Even some dogs had shirts!

Here I am with Dr. de la Torre and Jared Fogel whom many of you will recognize from the Subway sandwich shops ads. Subway is one of the sponsors of the Heart Association progrm

- – -

Later that afternoon, we celebrated the Centennial Mass at St. Michael Parish in Avon. The parish was very welcoming and the Mass had a wonderful music program. Father Palmieri is giving the parish very strong leadership and everyone I spoke to was very happy about the way things are going there.

 

I was also very happy to see a strong presence of the Knights of Columbus

- – -

Sunday morning, we went to the St. Bridget School in Framingham to celebrate its 50th anniversary. I was pleased to see Roseanne Mungovan, the principal and Msgr. Frank Strahan, the pastor as well as past and present students.

There was just a little drizzle as we blessed the cornerstone outside the school.

 

Inside, they had great pictures of Cardinal Cushing laying the cornerstone.

The Mass was enhanced by the wonderful music program. The children sang so beautifully. Msgr. Strahan, who is quite the singer and musician himself, composed a special hymn for the school. It was very moving.

- – -

Also Sunday morning, the parish community of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross hosted a special reception after the 11:30 Mass to welcome members of the recently closed Holy Trinity Church Parish.

Holy Trinity was the home of the Tridentine Latin Mass and German-language Masses for many years and I was so happy to spend time with them as they socialized with members of the Spanish and English language communities at the cathedral.

- – -

From there we went to Peabody’s Bishop Fenwick High, where the North Region was holding its Bicentennial Picnic. There were also some informative conferences that we attended along with information booths for different groups and ministries of the region.

We concluded the picnic with a Mass celebrated in the school’s auditorium with Bishop Frank Irwin. I was pleasantly surprised that so many priests and pastors from the region were able to join us for the Mass. Sunday afternoons are busy times for parish priests, so I was thrilled that so many of them were able to make it.

Bishop Irwin and I were very entertained by a cultural presentation made by a Vietnamese group. It was obvious that they had worked very hard to prepare, and all that hard work paid off.

Each of the regions have marked the Bicentennial in their own way. This picnic was a great example of the strength and diversity of the archdiocese. It was especially nice that the event was held at Bishop Fenwick, which is a beautiful school with a great looking campus. Sister Catherine Fleming, the school’s principal, has done a superb job and was very gracious to host the picnic.

- – -

On Monday I had a visit Bishop Ramazzini, from the Diocese of San Marcos in Guatemala.

He was in the area for a conference at Boston College and offered Masses for members of the Guatemalan community in Lynn and East Boston—all part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the murder of his predecessor, Bishop Juan Gerardi. Bishop Gerardi was killed shortly after he publicly delivered a report by the country’s bishops on the human rights violations in that nation.

After Bishop Gerardi was killed, I was performing visitations of the seminaries in Guatemala and I stayed at the bishop’s residence. It was on that visit that I first met Bishop Ramazzini, and we have been friends ever since. Bishop Geraldi’s murder was a terrible tragedy and a sad chapter in Guatemala’s history, which is plagued by much violence and persecution of the Church.

Having said all that, we were very happy that the bishop came and it certainly was appreciated by the Guatemalan and greater Hispanic community.

- – -

Tuesday morning at the Cathedral we celebrated the opening Mass for the 1,500 students of the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy.

Our Superintendent of Schools, Mary Grassa O’Neill, was there to greet the children as the entered the cathedral

It was a great gathering of so many leaders and supporters of the 2010 Initiative.

We are incredibly grateful to those individuals who have done so much to revitalize Catholic education in Dorchester and Mattapan.

The Mass was a wonderful way to initiate the new school year and see all of the students at the school, because the academy is made up of five campuses.

As I watched the children ooo-ing and ah-ing at the remarkable arches, stained glass windows and the majestic of the cathedral’s interior, I realized that for many of them it was the first time any of them have been to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

I am always very pleased when our people can come and experience the beauty of our cathedral, which is everyone’s church.

The students proclaimed the readings and the prayers

 

The children played some lovely music for us

Prior to the final blessing, Mary Grassa O’Neill delivered some remarks

- – -

Wednesday evening, we attended the Annual Lawn Party fundraiser for Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, our school for men who discern their vocation later in life. It was their biggest crowd ever. Joanie and Doug Kingsley and the other members of the party committee created a wonderful event for supporters of the seminary where they can meet the seminarians and learn about the school’s mission. The rector, Father Peter Uglietto, gave me such a wonderful welcome and I was very happy to meet with and thank the attendees.

Walking with Father Uglietto

In addition to Father Uglietto and I, the attendees heard from Msgr. Cornelius McRae, who was the rector here from 1986 to 1995, and two of the seminarians –  Frank Camp, a former writer, who gave a very moving account of a great priest he found in Paris to give his wife the last rites,  and Rendell Torres, a former music professor, who shared with us the idea that the school is a unique coming together of 65 seminarians and 65 stories.

Frank Camp

Rendell Torres

 

- – -

Finally, thought this week has been filled with such joyful occasions, we must remember the hardships and sufferings of the inhabitants of Haiti, Cuba, Louisiana and Texas.

To provide a concrete way for people to help, we have authorized special collections in the parishes. Please be as generous as your means allow.

Until next week, blessings to you all!

- Cardinal Seán