Cardinal Seán's Blog

Hello to you all!

The Vatican announced this week that the Holy Father has lifted the excommunications of four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. I was pleased with the news which shows, once again, the Holy Father’s concern for unity and reconciliation in the Church.

In 1988 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was critical of some elements of the Second Vatican Council, ordained four bishops without the approval of the Holy Father, incurring in automatic excommunication on himself and the four bishops he ordained.

This action follows the publication of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum a year and a half ago, in which the Holy Father lifted previous restrictions on the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine Mass.

Just before the publication of the Apostolic Letter, I was privileged to be a part of a meeting of cardinals and bishops with the Holy Father in which he expressed his hope that his action would help convince those disaffected Catholics to return to full union with the Catholic Church.

So, his outreach to the communities who follow these bishops is just one more manifestation of his ardent desire to bring these people (which some estimate to be as many as 1.5 million) back into the fold.  We know that these are generally people who practice their faith and try to live a Christian life seriously but, unfortunately, I believe that they have been misled by their leadership.

Of course, lifting the excommunications was a first step; it does not regularize these bishops or the Society of St. Pius X, but it opens the way for a dialogue. This step was in response to a letter in which they professed their desire for full participation in the life of the Church.

It was tragic that one of the four bishops, Bishop Richard Williamson, had made outrageous statements about the Holocaust and about the September 11 attacks on the United States. It certainly raises questions as to the caliber of the leadership that the Society has. Additionally, as terrible as the comments were, it underscores the importance for the Holy Father to have increasing influence over those communities.

We are very sorry that the people in the Jewish community have been so pained and outraged by Bishop Williamson’s statements. I think the Holy Father’s statements and those of Cardinal Walter Kasper, chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, have been very clear to dissociate the Catholic Church from those kinds of sentiments. I was pleased that the head of the Society of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, also repudiated the statements of Bishop Williamson.

It is very important for us to always remember the Holocaust so that such an atrocity could never take place again. I recall the words of the Holy Father this week: “May the Shoah be for everyone an admonition against oblivion, negation and reductionism, because violence against a single human being is violence against all.”

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Saturday, I attended the funeral of Father Joseph Bertrand who was my vicar general when I was bishop in the Virgin Islands. Though he was a native of Dominica, his family moved to the Virgin Islands when he was a child.

He was the first West Indian to join the Redemptorist Order and served God’s people faithfully and generously in Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Thomas and St. Croix.

I was very impressed at Father Carlisle Blake’s beautiful homily about Father Bertrand’s life in which he said that, if the rule and constitutions of the Redemptotists were lost, they could be reconstructed by studying the life and example of Father Bertrand. It is very true.

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Also this week was the funeral of Rabbi Leon Klenicki of Argentina, a great figure in the field of Jewish-Catholic relations and a man I knew for many years.

Rabbi Klenicki

At my request, in August 2007 the Holy Father honored him with the Knighthood of St. Gregory, the highest honor that can be given to a non-Catholic.

  

Receiving the The Knighthood of St. Gregory in August 2007

He was a man of God who was a friend of the Catholic Church and a bridge between the Catholic and Jewish community in Argentina and in the United States. His death is a great loss.

Rabbi Klenicki greeting the Holy Father in 2005

I first met Rabbi Klenicki when I was a young priest. He conducted a Seder meal in Spanish for my parish and, ever since, we had maintained a very close relationship.

I want to express my condolences to his family and his community. We share in their loss at his passing.

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Last week, the March for Life was a great success. The numbers of people who participated — particularly the number of young people — and the enthusiasm of the people for the cause was very encouraging. However, it is disturbing to see that the secular press, for the most part, chose to ignore a gathering of this proportion.

This week someone shared an article with me written by Don Feder, whom many of you will remember as a long-time Boston Herald columnist.  In the article, he expresses dismay that the March for Life did not even receive a mention in the New York Times. He makes a strong point when he says that, had the cause been one that the liberal media was in favor of, even if there were just a few people there, it would be given prominence of place.

Sadly, the pro-life cause frequently receives this sort of unfair treatment. The media often seem to prefer to ignore the fact that huge numbers of Americans are dismayed at the lack of legal protection for human life in our country and are willing to express that in a public demonstration. This is certainly indicative of what a lacuna there is in our national media when it comes to the pro-life cause.

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Also this week, as we feared, the President has chosen to reverse the Mexico City policy which prohibited U.S. government money from being used in  programs which provide or promote abortions overseas.  We can only speculate on what the implications of that decision are going to be.

When we see the numbers of abortions being performed in the developing world — many of which are directed at girls in the womb — it is very disturbing to think that our country is going to be promoting this kind of assault on human life and dignity throughout the world.

Abortion is a great evil and anytime restrictions to abortion are lifted it is a tragedy. As I said previously, it is very encouraging to see so many young people participating in the March for Life and in other events throughout the year. We must continue to educate new generations about the gift of life.

A friend sent me a link to a video commercial on the issue that I want to share with you. It speaks for itself.

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Last Thursday evening, I went to New York to participate in an ecumenical celebration marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity sponsored by the American Bible Society. I gave the Spanish keynote speech. There was a large audience there at the headquarters of the American Bible Society representing various Catholic and Protestant Churches. It is one more indication of the American Bible Society’s desire to work with the Catholic Church and to make their resources available so that the Word of God will be accessible to everyone.

Mario Paredes, who has been working on the Board of the Society and is now on their staff, has done much to create closer ties between the American Bible Society and the Catholic Church.

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Monday evening we had a meeting of over 200 group leaders from Arise! Together in Christ  Program here at the Pastoral Center.

It was very encouraging to hear their reports and also to learn that the Arise for Youth Program has been developed. Some of our parishes are leading the implementation of those post-confirmation-type of programs to bring our young people together for prayer and faith formation.

The Arise program has been a great blessing and we’re happy that more and more parishes are coming on board.

It was also encouraging to hear from the various ethnic groups — the Haitian, Portuguese-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Vietnamese  communities — that are participating in this program that we initiated as an observance of our Bicentennial year.

I also want to express my gratitude to the Arise participants from St. Mary’s in Dedham who sent me a card expressing their thanks for the program a few weeks ago.

 

 

I am so pleased that Arise is making a difference in the lives of so many around the archdiocese.

In Lent, we’ll have another group of parishes launching the Arise program. So, as they say, it is never too late to Arise!

Until next week,
Cardinal Seán

Welcome!

This has been a busy week with quite a lot of traveling.

Last weekend, I participated at the Sixth World Meeting of Families in Mexico City and then flew to Washington, D.C. Wednesday for the March for Life.

The World Meeting of Families took place in a very modern convention center in Santa Fe — which is a new area of Mexico City. More than 10,000 participants from all over the world, including 300 bishops and cardinals, attended the Meeting of Families, which was organized by the Holy See.

The exhibition hall where there are various booths set up, all involving groups and Ecclesial movements that are connected with supporting the family

Cardinal Tarsicio Bertone represented the Holy Father at the event.

Cardinal Bertone

This Conference was Cardinal Antonelli’s first as the new Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Family. He replaced Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo who passed away last spring, and who did an outstanding job particularly in promoting the Gospel of Life.

Cardinal Antonelli greeting Cardinal Rivera of Mexico City

Being in Mexico, I had an opportunity to see many wonderful pro-life leaders again, like Leonardo and Marta Casco from Tegucigalpa. I met Leonardo and Marta in Washington, D.C. many years ago when Leo was studying law at Georgetown. I baptized their first child, and they used to come to the Spanish Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Martha and Leo are both very involved in the pro-life movement in Honduras and were invited to participate in the Politics and Law round table discussion at the conference.

I also met Sister Josephine and Sister Nieves there , both Sister Disciples of the Divine Master who have been in the Archdiocese of Boston for years, who also happened to be in Mexico City this week. Sister Josephine is the superior of the house on West St. in downtown Boston, and Sister Nieves, who used to be on West St., is now serving as the Provincial for the Order and lives on Staten Island.

It was a very important event to energize all of those working in family life ministry and in pro-life offices throughout the world.

I gave one of the talks on Friday morning during the Lectio Divina, meditating on the Gospel of the Good Samaritan.

Right after that talk I was interviewed in Spanish by Eduardo Martinez of TV Arautos.

On Saturday, we had a very moving vigil service at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe — it was the most beautiful testimony I have ever heard from families throughout the world.

Inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Then we had the closing Mass on Sunday morning. We had a huge crowd of people outside of the basilica and we received a message from the Holy Father and received his blessing at the end of the Mass. It was then announced that the next conference will be held in Milan in 3 years.

On Monday, we went to bless the new building dedicated to San Juan Diego at the Seminario Hispano, a seminary sponsored by the Archdiocese of Mexico City, to supply priests to work with the Hispanic population in the United States.

Also, we went to visit the Capuchins Poor Clare, the “Capuchinas,” at their very famous monastery designed by Luis Barragan — one of the most outstanding Mexican architects.

One night, we celebrated Mass at the Iglesia de San Josemaria Escriva. The church is magnificent, and was designed by an architect in Spain to resemble praying hands.

We were joined by an archbishop, a bishop and four priests — all from Nigeria. A group of pilgrims from Nigeria attended the Mass, and they sang beautifully. It was a wonderful celebration, and showed how universal the Church is.

The Chapel is run by the priests and laypeople of Opus Dei. In the sanctuary they had a stunning painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as an original painting of St. Josemaria by artist Martha Orozco.

We also had another wonderful celebration of the Mass at a brand new, very modern, chapel next to the Convention Center with the group from Valencia, Spain. The Cardinal of Valencia, Agustin Garcia Gasco was there as well as the Bishop of Murcia, Juan Antonio Reig. Following the Mass, we all had lunch togather.

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, one of the more comic experiences for me was that, all throughout the week, people kept on asking for my autograph and telling me how much they enjoyed my books, because they all thought I was Father Raniero Cantalamessa!

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From Mexico City we had planned to fly to Washington on Tuesday, but our flight was canceled due to mechanical problems, so we had to stay an extra night in Mexico City. Fortunately, however, I was still able to arrive in time to participate at the traditional Vigil Mass that takes place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the evening before the March for Life.

The Basilica was, of course, very, very crowded for the vigil. The procession of seminarians, priests and bishops took about 20 minutes to get us all into the basilica.

Thursday morning we were supposed to go to the Verizon Center for a pre-march rally and Mass with the youth, but by 7:30 it was already filled.

So the Boston group was unable to get in. We had over 100 seminarians there from Boston as well as several bus loads of young people from parishes but our group couldn’t get in. So we went to nearby Holy Rosary Parish and had Mass for them there.

Afterwards, I met the Blessed John XXIII seminarians for lunch, and then went to the march. We had a beautiful day for it. People were very enthusiastic.

 

Nellie Gray, founder of the March for Life

The rally on the National Mall ended with Cardinal Justin Rigali — the chairman of the USCCB’s pro-life committee — introducing the bishops who were there. Then Bishop Knestout, the new auxiliary of Washington, concluded with a prayer.

Then we marched to the Supreme Court, there was a huge crowd.

As I mentioned, one of the measuring sticks of the attendance was how quickly they had to start turning people away from the Verizon Center. The 23,000 seat arena was already filled at 7:30 in the morning to attend the 10 a.m. Mass!

At the march, we did not get a call from the president this year. We were all praying for that miracle, but that didn’t happen.

Everyone is praying that the new administration will come to realize how important the pro-life cause is, and will begin to understand the obligations of government to protect the most vulnerable of our society, especially the unborn.

I was very happy with the number of youth from Boston who participated in the March for Life this year

As our young people and seminarians were traveling by bus to the March, thousands of Catholics across the archdiocese were attending “Holy Hours for Life” at their local parishes. A total of 188 parishes joined in this prayer effort that was sponsored by the newly established “Boston Deacons For Life” in collaboration with the Office of Clergy Support and Ongoing Formation, and the Pro-Life Office.

Deacon Kenneth Ryan from Sacred Heart Parish in Weymouth

It was wonderful that so many people, especially the elderly and parents with young children who were unable to go to Washington, were truly united together as a Church in prayer for respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, for those who have been wounded by abortion, and that those who govern us may be guided by justice, truth, and a love for the gift of life. Services were conducted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Polish.

Deacon Robert Breen from St Joseph Parish in Medford kneeling in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament

Parishioners at St. John the Baptist in Quincy praying

I am deeply grateful to the “Boston Deacons for Life” who have committed themselves to study more fully the many facets of the Gospel and Life and preach the truth of the dignity of the human person in their parishes. These deacons and their wives have already participated in two training sessions and will be attending another in February on end of life issues. The deacons have also offered to serve as spiritual advisors to their parish pro-life committees.

Until my next post,

Cardinal Seán