Cardinal Seán's Blog

I am happy to share with you the following statement issued this evening by Caritas Christi concerning its decision to withdraw its membership in the CeltiCare Health Plan while continuing its commitment to serve the needs of the poor among us:

New Agreement Allows Caritas To Serve the Poor As a Provider in the Connector Program

Braintree, MA – Based on the decision of the Caritas Christi Executive Committee of the Board of Governor’s to relinquish its membership and equity interest in the previously established joint venture, CeltiCare Health Plan Holdings, LLC (formerly known as Commonwealth Family Health Plan Holdings, LLC) but maintain its important role as a provider of health care to many enrolled in the state’s Connector Program, the Archdiocese of Boston today expressed support for the new arrangement.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley said, “I am pleased that Caritas Christi was able to achieve this outcome. Throughout this process, our singular goal has been to provide for the needs of the poor and underserved in a manner that is fully and completely in accord with Catholic moral teaching. By withdrawing from the joint venture and serving the poor as a provider in the Connector, upholding Catholic moral teaching at all times, they are able to carry forward the critical mission of Catholic health care.”

Caritas Christi CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre said, “The opportunity for Caritas Christi to participate in the Connector program will allow Caritas to serve the low income and underserved population’s desperate need for quality health care. We are committed to fulfilling our mission, as we always have, rooted in the principles established by Catholic teaching, of providing the highest quality healthcare to patients across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Expansion of Caritas’ care for the poor and the uninsured was the original motivating force in entering the agreement with Celtic Group, Inc. (a subsidiary of Centene Corporation). Catholic health care in the United States has two principal goals: providing health care for all, a basic requirement of social justice; and protecting the sacredness of human life from conception until natural death. The protection of human life and dignity demands that Catholic institutions never contribute to procedures which are inconsistent with Catholic moral teaching, such as abortion and sterilization. These procedures and others are prohibited by the Ethical and Religious Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Having withdrawn from the original joint venture, the provider agreement will allow Caritas Christi to fulfill its mission of serving the poor without participation or cooperation in procedures forbidden by the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.

The decision to withdraw from the joint venture follows several weeks of discussions between Caritas and Centene and an extensive analysis by the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) which was undertaken at the request of the Cardinal. Over that time, subsequent discussions involving Caritas Christi, the NCBC and the Archdiocese were held and the Cardinal made his final determination. The Cardinal’s role in reviewing and seeking additional guidance on this proposal is rooted in his responsibility to ensure the Catholic identity and moral character of institutions affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, including Caritas Christi.

“The goal of this review was to ensure that Caritas Christi could serve the poor through a plan for participation in the Connector that is in complete accordance with Catholic moral teaching,” said Cardinal O’Malley. “I want to thank Dr. Ralph de la Torre and his team at Caritas Christi and the NCBC for their thoughtful collaboration. I also want to extend my sincere gratitude to Dr. John Haas and the staff at the National Catholic Bioethics Center for their diligent and comprehensive review of the proposal. I am pleased that they were able to provide a recommendation whereby Caritas can go forward in fulfilling its mission of Catholic healthcare.”

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I spent most of last week in San Antonio, Texas, at the Spring Meeting of the Conference of Catholic Bishops.

 

The meeting officially started on Wednesday, but I arrived earlier in the week to participate at committee meetings.  I was involved in meetings on Latin America, Africa, pro-life and immigration.

The general meeting began with a Mass at the Cathedral of San Antonio.

This one I took with my cell phone as we were processing in

 

At the plenary sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, there were presentations on a variety of subjects that were being voted on, for instance a new Mass in Thanksgiving for the Gift of Human Life and a Spanish Language Lectionary. Also, there were a number of votes taken on the different translations for the liturgy. We are still working on translations for the Mass.

During the executive session, there was a discussion on the situation that erupted at Notre Dame this year. It was a show of support for Bishop John D’Arcy. After the session we published the following statement that I want to share with you:

“The bishops of the United States express our appreciation and support for our brother bishop, the Most Reverend John D’Arcy. We affirm his pastoral concern for Notre Dame University, his solicitude for its Catholic identity, and his loving care for all those the Lord has given him to sanctify, to teach and to shepherd.”

You can read more on the meetings in this article published in this week’s Pilot.

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When I first arrived in San Antonio, I had dinner with Father Jim Fischler, a Missionhurst priest, who as a seminarian many years ago used to work for me at the Centro Catolico in Washington, D.C. Now he is pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Del Rio, a border town 150 miles west of San Antonio.

When he heard I was going to the bishops’ conference, he called me and invited me to dinner. He asked me if there was anything I would like to see, and I told him I would like to see the cathedral. So he called the rector who graciously invited us to tour the cathedral that evening, which allowed me to take some photos with my cell phone for you to see.

Father Fischler (right) with Fr. Steven Anthony Gamez, parochial vicar of the cathedral, pose under a statue of San Fernando, who is the patron of the cathedral

The Church of San Fernando was founded in 1738 by the first Spanish settlers, a group of 15 families who came from the Canary Islands and who founded “La Villa de San Fernando.”

In the late 19^th century, the current cathedral was built over the older Church of San Fernando as the city became the See of the new Diocese of San Antonio. Some of the walls of the original church are still there as part of the Sanctuary.

The Canarian settlers planned the layout of the town around the church which was to be at the center. On the floor, in the center of the church, there is a marker which was placed right below the dome of the original church. This marker is the point used to determine mileage from San Antonio, so it is officially the center of the city.

The “retablo” behind the main altar was recently completed in Mexico. I was impressed by the spectacular gold leafing.

There are two side altars honoring the patronesses of the church, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candlemas) — a patroness of the Canary Islands — and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe.)

Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

The baptistery

Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James,
and Salome at the empty tomb.

This is the tomb of the first bishop of San Antonio, Bishop Pellicer

Below is a close-up of one of the altars that shows the early Franciscan missionaries.

Texas was first evangelized by the Franciscans from Mexico. There are several mission churches that are still run by the Franciscans in the area of San Antonio. The famous Alamo Mission, which is just a few blocks away from the cathedral, was turned into a museum a long time ago.

The Alamo

As you may know, the Battle of the Alamo took place here after the Texans had declared independence from Mexico. Mexican President Santa Anna arrived to San Fernando and placed his headquarters around the Church of San Fernando, attacking and defeating the Texan forces stationed at the Alamo Mission.

The Texans then defeated President Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto, with the battle cry of “Remember the Alamo!” which obtained them formal independence from Mexico.

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That weekend I gave a retreat to a group of Hispanic leaders gathered from all over the country who are part of CALL, The Catholic Association of Latino Leaders. CALL was established three years ago by Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio to provide a forum for Hispanic professionals and entrepreneurs.

With Archbishop Gomez and a group of seminarians

At the retreat, 30 professionals from all over the United States actively participated in a series of reflections and attended lectures on Catholic life.

The organization is expanding its presence around the country and currently has established organizations in Denver, Miami and San Antonio. In the not too distant future Chapters of Catholic Latino professionals are expected to be created in Boston, New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. 

The retreat took place at the seminary, which is part of the chancery compound in San Antonio. Next to this is the old MAC, which used to be the Mexican American Cultural Institute, which is now a bilingual Catholic College.

If the 104 degree weather did not convince me I was in Texas, when I saw this sign telling me I could not take a gun into the chancery, I knew that I was in the Lone Star State.

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Tuesday, on my way back to Boston, I stopped in New Jersey where I gave talks at the International Institute for Clergy Formation at Seton Hall University.

Each year, Seton Hall has a number of seminars  for ongoing priestly formation. During the summer they are held in New Jersey and during the winter they are held in Florida.

There were a couple of Boston priests there — Fathers Bill Dunn and John O’Donnell.

The sessions are held at San Alfonso Retreat House in Long Branch, a beautiful retreat facility that belongs to the Redemptorist Fathers.

I was there during the day and that night I came back to Boston in time for the Holy Hour and to give a conference to our Boston seminarians who are on retreat in Dover.

 

Fathers Harrington and Hennessey of our Vocation Office
organized the retreat

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Vigilant blog readers have noticed that the dove tabernacle that was at the Pastoral Center Chapel suddenly disappeared from the photos of the events there, until it showed up again a few weeks ago.

It did not fly off! What happened was that one of the wings fell off last summer. We welded it back together, but were afraid it was not going to hold. So, we sent it back to the manufacturers in Spain to be repaired.

Our beautiful dove tabernacle has recently been restored to its place of honor, and we are very pleased that it is back.

Until my next post.

In Christ

Cardinal Seán

 

On Thursday, the Feast Day of St. Barnabas the Apostle, we had a Mass at the Pastoral Center with something of a missionary theme.

St. Barnabas, like St. Paul, was a great missionary to the Gentiles and, at the Mass on his feast day, we honored two men for their missionary service. It was a wonderful celebration of the commitment to the Mission Ad Gentes of the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Boston.

First, we presented the mission cross to Father Mark De Angelis who will soon be serving in South America with the St. James Society. He will be studying Spanish first and then assigned to a ministry with the society, which works in  Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. In the last 50 years, we have sent over 300 priests to work with the St. James Society in those areas.

Father Mark’s family and friends were there to honor him, including a group from the parish school of St. Patrick’s in Stoneham, where he currently ministers.

 

The students  and teachers from St. Patrick’s with Father Mark and their pastor, Father Bill Schmidt

Also, in attendance was the new head of the St. James Society, Father Kevin Hays.

Father Hayes and Father Mark

We also recognized Msgr. Andrew F. Connell for his decades of service as the director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the archdiocese, which most people know as the Propagation of the Faith office. We presented him with the official document naming him Apostolic Protonotary, which is the  highest rank of monsignor in the Church.

Also in attendance was Msgr. William Glynn who has been in the Propagation Office for many years and began serving there even before Msgr. Connell. The service of these two men, Msgrs. Connell  and Glynn — along with many others — has led the archdiocese’s Propagation office to be one of the most successful in the world.

Father Thomas Kopp is carrying on that tradition as the current director.

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The following day, I attended the grand opening of Bruyere Gardens, a new affordable housing development for the elderly in Lowell. The facility is run by the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa and it was developed with the help of our Planning Office for Urban Affairs.

Many involved in bringing the development to fruition attended the dedication ceremony including: Planning Office director Lisa Alberghini, Lowell mayor Bud Caulfield, State Senator Steven Panagiotakos and State Representative Thomas Golden.

 

Lisa Alberghini

The sisters are already doing an extraordinary job in their ministry there. The provincial of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, Sister Prescille Malo, was also there of course, and we were able to visit one of the sisters, Sister Gertrude, who had a fall and had to have brain surgery. I was pleased to see she is doing well.

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On Saturday morning, I had the privilege of ordaining a new Jesuit priest, Father Todd Kenny, at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Chestnut Hill.

 

Father Todd is originally from Belmont and had served with Jesuit volunteers in Micronesia and had also spent time in Brazil. The last two years of regency were in San Salvador de Bahía Brazil, and he will be returning there this summer.

Of course, many of his family and friends were there to share this special occasion with him. We also had a very large contingent of Jesuits who attended including Archbishop Larry Burke, the retired Archbishop of Kingston, Jamaica.

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Later on Saturday, I traveled to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bridgewater to mark the anniversary of the second apparition of Fatima. The parish has a rosary procession and benediction on the 13^th of each month from May to October to commemorate the six apparitions.

While I was there, one of the parishioners, Joe Black, showed me some paintings that he has made of the risen Christ, Blessed Mother Teresa and me. In the painting of me, I am raising the host, so you don’t see so much of my face – which is just fine with me!

With the artist, Joe Black

The picture of Mother Teresa is extraordinary!

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On Sunday, I attended the memorial Mass at the Firefighters Lot at Forest Hills Cemetery followed by a service to mark the 100^th anniversary of the monument located at the site where firefighters have been buried for over a century.

 

  The ceremony was very stirring and included the bagpipe corps

 

with Father Dan Mahoney, Chief Chaplain of the Fire Dept. and Pastor of St. Francis de Sales in Charlestown and Boston Fire Dept. Commissioner Roderick Fraser

I spoke at the event about the selflessness of the profession of firefighters. People will often make great sacrifices for their loved ones and their friends, but firefighters are a class of people who are prepared to risk their lives for strangers each day.

It is a beautiful sense of dedication to the common good. And as we gathered at the monument, our hearts were filled with gratitude, as were the hearts those who erected the beautiful monument 100 years ago.

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For much of the rest of the week I have been in San Antonio, Texas for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Spring meeting. I will tell you about my experience in my next post. In the meantime, you can read a bit about the issues we discussed on the USCCB website.

Until then, blessings to you all!

Cardinal Seán