Last Thursday, I celebrated a Mass for the Catholic School Foundation’s second class of CSF Scholars. These are children who are receiving scholarships as they graduate from our Catholic primary schools, so that they can continue on to Catholic high schools.

At the Mass they are given a pin to honor their achievement.

The Class of 2016 CSF Scholars met those who were inducted into the program at last year’s event. After Mass, we had a reception in the gym of Cathedral High School, and of course their families were all very happy to be able to be a part of this wonderful program.

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Saturday, I went to Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton to celebrate the Confirmations of about 60 young people. People were very enthused, the young people were very attentive.

One of my favorite tasks as a bishop is celebrating Confirmations in the parishes.

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That evening, had a Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the orchestra and choir who were in town to perform the symphony “The Suffering of The Innocents” at Symphony Hall on Sunday.

In addition to the orchestra and choir, which was just under 200 members, the Mass was also attended by several hundred members of the Neocatechumenal Way in the Archdiocese.

During the Mass, I gave the musicians my blessing.

The symphony’s conductor, Pau Jorquera, and the composer, Kiko Arguello, who is one of the initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way

I was very happy to welcome them to the Cathedral. As you can imagine, the singing and music at the Mass of course were spectacular!

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That Sunday we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of St. Blaise in Bellingham.

I was happy to see Father Al Faretra and Father Al Sallese at the Mass.

They had a procession of banners to indicate the various ministries within the parish.

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From there, I headed over to Symphony Hall for Kiko Arguello’s “The Suffering of The Innocents,” conducted by Pau Jorquera.

The event was a catechetical celebration that included the Symphonic work that focuses on the suffering of Mary under the cross, as a prime example of the suffering of the innocent in the world who can share their pain with Mary’s pain under the cross.

Kiko explained that when he was writing this work he was thinking on the suffering of all innocent people and particularly the suffering of the Jewish people in the Shoah.

The celebration began with readings from Scripture, followed by the performance of the symphony. Afterward, I gave a homily and prayers were offered for all the innocent victims of the world.

Carmen Tracy, a local college student who is the daughter of Greg and Donis Tracy who work for The Pilot,
proclaimed the Prayer for All Innocent Victims

To me, the most moving moment came when Kiko spoke about the suffering of the Jewish mothers, who would have been praying the Shema as their children were being led to the gas chambers, and that Mary certainly would have been praying that same prayer at the foot of the cross. Then he invited everyone at Symphony Hall to stand and sing the Shema. I found that very moving.

Conductor Pau Jorquera leading the audience in singing the Jewish prayer, Shema Yisrael

It was wonderful to see Symphony Hall filled with people. I suspect many of them where in Symphony Hall for the first time in their lives, which is a wonderful thing.

I attended the first performance of the Suffering of the Innocents during a retreat in Israel last year and I was very happy to see it performed in Boston. I am not an authority on music but people who are told me how good the orchestra and choir were. They said this was the kind of quality that you would expect to hear in Symphony Hall.

I must say I do not remember another religious event of this type held in Symphony Hall. Symphony Hall is an iconic cultural venue for Boston, one of the oldest auditoriums of this nature in the country. I think it a very historic event to be able to have a Catholic celebration there.

It was also very encouraging to see the participation of the Jewish community, with a number of Rabbis there.

For those of you who were not able to be present for the symphony, you can get a sense of the work from this video:

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Tuesday, I met with Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, head of the new ordinariate for Anglican groups entering the Catholic Church.

Because the Holy See was approached by many Anglicans looking for a path to enter the Catholic Church in a way that would allow congregations to maintain some of their traditions while, at the same time, fully embracing Catholicism, The Holy Father issued in 2009 Anglicanorum Coetibus, an Apostolic Constitution that allows Anglican congregations, and in our country Episcopalians, to join the Church. Through the directive, they can have an association with others who have been on the same journey.

The document provides that a bishop or a priest be named the ecclesiastical superior of this group. In this case Msgr. Steenson, who was the Bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Rio Grande, and has become a Catholic priest, was put in charge of this group in the United States.

We have one Anglican usage parish in the Archdiocese of Boston. Msgr. Steenson wanted to come to inform me about their plans and how things are going. He wanted to make contact with the archdiocese. I was very impressed with him. He is very zealous, really wants to help Episcopalians who want to become Catholics, and at the same time to maintain a certain cultural continuity with their past.

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On Wednesday, we had twelve priests celebrating their 25^th Jubilee. They were here at the Pastoral Center for the noon Mass. Combined, their work provided 300 years of ministry to God’s people.

We thanked them for their generosity and urged everyone to pray for vocations.

With the priests marking their 25th anniversary after the Mass at the Pastoral Center

A blessed week to you all!

Cardinal Seán

Friday I was very pleased to attend the annual American Cardinal’s Dinner to benefit the Catholic University of America.

The dinner is held every year to raise money to fund scholarships to help many deserving students to have an opportunity to attend CUA, including many from the Boston area.

Each year, it is held in a different city, and this year it was hosted by Cardinal George in Chicago.

There was a beautiful Mass in Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, presided over by Cardinal George. I was very pleased to see the new renovations of the Cathedral.

Like our Cathedral, the Cathedral the Holy Cross, the Cathedral of Chicago was built by the famous architect Patrick Keely. However, they had a fire and were forced to do extensive renovations, but they turned out just marvelously.

I continue to be impressed by the wonderful work John Garvey is doing as president of Catholic University.

President Garvey speaking with Cardinal George

I was very pleased that I was able to be part of this very important event to support the U.S. Bishops’ University.

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Saturday, I returned to Boston to attend the Fifth Annual Eucharistic Congress held in the North End.

I celebrated Mass for them in the afternoon.

The highlight of the Eucharistic Congress was the procession through the streets of the North End. After a half hour of adoration inside Sacred Heart Church we all went into the streets to proclaim our faith publicly.

We walked once around some of the beautiful cobble stone roads near Sacred Heart Church, stopped for a public adoration near the Paul Revere House, then walked over to St. Leonard of Port Maurice Church on the corner of Hanover and Prince Streets.

It was wonderful to see so many of our college students and young adults at the Eucharistic Congress. It is such a moment of grace for the whole Church. We are grateful to all of those who gave their time to organize the event.

I especially want to thank Office of the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults director Father Matt Williams, Office for Campus Ministries director Father Richard Clancy, and Vocations Office director Father Dan Hennessey for coming together with so many volunteers and staff to bring us such a wonderful public witness.

This past weekend was Good Shepherd Sunday, and so I would like to remind everyone to pray for vocations in our archdiocese and throughout the Church.

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Also that evening, I attended a fund-raising reception for the Little Sisters of the Poor held at the Harbor View Hotel.

The Little Sisters of the Poor have such a wonderful ministry, being devoted particularly to the care of needy elderly.

Here in Boston, they run the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Somerville.

In my remarks at the reception, I told the guests the sisters are a good example of a Christian response to people who were facing the last stages of life, and that our opposition to physician-assisted suicide finds a very concrete expression in the sense of solidarity and charity the Catholic community provides through ministries such as that of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

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Sunday, we had the Centennial Mass for St. Clement Parish in Somerville, Father Dennis Dever’s parish.

A fact I found quite interesting was that, in its 100 year history, St. Clement’s has had only four pastors, Father Dever being the fourth.

With Father Dever

I was particularly impressed to see the number of Sisters of St. Joseph who were there gathered for the celebration. They had staffed the parish school for many years and many of those in attendance were natives of the parish.

Likewise, many of the priests in attendance were also from St. Clement’s. I think this is just one indication of the deep faith and vitality of this parish to have spawned so many vocations to priestly and religious life.

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That afternoon, I went with a group of priests to Symphony Hall to see Mozart’s Coronation Mass. This is always been one of my favorite Masses of Mozart. The origin of the name is not certain but one theory holds that it was written for the coronation of an image of our lady in Austria. It’s a beautiful Mass and the soprano, Rosemary Joshua, was making her debut in the part did just a fantastic job.

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Monday, I was visited by a group of children making their First Communion from Father Chris Hickey’s parish, St. Mary’s in Hanover.

It was wonderful to meet with the youngsters though I was happy he didn’t bring the whole First Communion class along. I understand that this year the parish has something like 240 First Communions!

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On Wednesday, I was invited to attend the World Mission Dinner for the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States that was held in New York.

I was very happy to accompany Father Rodney Copp and Maureen Heil from our local office of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Father Andrew Small, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies

At the dinner they honored TV and radio host Larry Kudlow, Cardinal McCarrick, and the noted author Mary Higgins Clark.

One of the special guests of the evening was Eduardo Verástegui, whom some of you may know from the “Bella”, and is starring in the new movie “For Greater Glory”. I was very pleased to be able to meet him.

They also had a reliquary there of the Mexican martyrs, which was a large silver cross.

Boston is one of the dioceses that has been most supportive of the missions. We have had that tradition since the days of Cardinal Cushing, who founded the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle and put us on a trajectory of being a very mission-minded Church.

In our own history, 200 years ago the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in France supported the then-mission territory of Boston. So, now it’s our turn to support the emerging churches in the Third World and other missions.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Thursday, there was a meeting of the Catholic chaplains of Ivy League universities hosted by Father Michael Drea at St. Paul’s Parish in Cambridge, the parish that serves Harvard University.

They came together at Harvard because they serve similar demographics and face many of the same kinds of challenges. Among the speakers of the day were myself and Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon. This was a very important initiative, and so I was very happy to be able to be a part of it.

They are doing such wonderful work at The Catholic Center at Harvard. Of course, in Boston, where we have literally hundreds of thousands of students, this is a very important ministry and we are very grateful to all those who are engaged in it.

And, on the topic of campus ministry, also this week we had the confirmations of young men and women from the various university campuses who came to be confirmed at the Cathedral.

Once again, it was the work of the ministers at those universities that prepared these candidates. There were over 50 candidates confirmed at the Cathedral.

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Friday, we held an all-day conference, the “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord Conference” at Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton. It is organized for lay ministers by our Theological Institute for the New Evangelization of St. John’s Seminary.

The theme of this year’s gathering was “Excellence in Pastoral Leadership”.

The day featured a keynote by Father Michael Keating of the University of St. Thomas, talks on the issues of pastoral planning and physician assisted suicide and a panel discussion.

Father Keating delivering his address

This conference has been an excellent opportunity for the ongoing education of our lay ministers in the parishes. We are very grateful to Aldona Lingertat and all those were involved in organizing the day.

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That evening, I celebrated Vespers and holy hour with the seminarians, and then … we went to the movies!

Alexis Walkenstein at the Maximus Group had arranged a private showing of the movie “For Greater Glory,” which is coming out in June.

The movie stars Andy Garcia and Peter O’Toole and tells the story of the Cristiada, the rebellion that arose against persecution of the Church in Mexico during the 1920s and 30s. This was a very tragic time in the history of the Church in Mexico. Thousands were killed during the persecutions and many places were left completely without priests.

Graham Greene, after his conversion to Catholicism, went to Mexico as a journalist and also, while he was there, wrote report for the Vatican on the persecution. When he returned, he wrote the book “The Power and the Glory” which, to me, is one of the greatest Catholic novels. It is the story of the last priest in the State of Tabasco, Mexico, because all the other priests have been driven away by the government. They were told they could only stay if they married and pledged allegiance to the government. So, he was the only priest who was left and, in the end, he is executed by firing squad.

Many Americans do not know very much about the persecution, but a lot of Catholics are acquainted with that book, the power and the glory by Graham Greene and also with the life of the Jesuit Miguel Kroll whose martyrdom is often spoken about the states. Though there were many people who suffered for the faith during this period of Mexican history. Blessed Pope John Paul II beatified about 25 people who were martyred in this period and I believe two have already become saints.

The Knights of Columbus are one of the groups that is promoting this movie and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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On Saturday, I attended the Centennial celebration of the Father Daniel Kennedy Council Knights of Columbus in Needham.

They renamed the Council for Father Dan Kennedy who, many of you may remember, tragically passed away in 2008, shortly after his ordination. His family was there, as well as a number of priests with past or present connections to the Council including Bishop Hennessey, Father David Michael, Father Guy Sciacca, Father Phil McGaugh, Father Patrick Armano and Father Paul Sullivan and friends of Father Kennedy — Father Matt Westcott and Father Joe Mazzone.

At the ceremony, I thanked them for renaming the Council in honor of Father Kennedy. I also thanked Father Dan’s family and his parents, Dan and Allison.

Father Kennedy’s parents

Father Kennedy was a wonderful young priest whose time with us was very short before God called him home, but he did so much good and was a great promoter of vocations. This council, in particular, has been very supportive of our seminarians I wanted to thank them for all of that work.

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From there we went to the Lombardo’s in Randolph for a celebration of honoring Chorbishop Joseph Lahoud for 50 years of service to the Lebanese community in the United States.

For many years, he was the pastor of Our Lady of Cedars, the oldest Maronite community in America. He is retired now, but he served the community here for 50 years and we are very grateful for the work he has done helping to build and strengthen the Maronite community in Boston.

With Chorbishop Joseph Lahoud and Rev. Georges El-Khalli

He was decorated with the National Order of the Cedar, one of the Lebanese government’s highest honors.

The Lebanese ambassador came from Washington to bestow it upon Msgr. Lahoud in the name of the president of Lebanon. I publicly thanked the president of Lebanon for honoring Msgr. Lahoud and praising his witness.

Lebanese ambassador Antoine Chedid presents
the medal to Chorbishop Lahoud

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Sunday afternoon was the Irish Hearts for Haiti third annual benefit. As the name implies, this effort is, in great part, the work of local Irish people, though of course all are welcome. Winnie Henry (the widow of a very famous Irish singer, Noel Henry) and Gerry McGrath were the co-chairs.

This organization has been supporting orphanages and other charitable works in Haiti. We were even able to meet some of the children they help at the dinner.

It may seem something of an odd combination —Irish and Haitians. But, as I told the people during my remarks at the dinner, as Irish people we are so conscious of our own history and the famine that claimed the lives of so many millions of Irish. So, it is only natural that the Irish people should identify with other people in times of great need and natural disaster. This organization is certainly an example of that and I thanked them for all of their hard work and generosity on behalf of the Haitian people.

And of course, as with any Irish gathering, there was a lot of music and entertainment.  I was happy to take a picture with these young step dancers who gave a wonderful performance.

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That evening, I was very happy to welcome Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana to the archdiocese. He was here for a few days and made a number of local appearances.

Sunday evening, there was a fundraising dinner for Friends of Caritas Cubana organized by Dr. Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of Steward Health.

Originally, the idea had been to have the dinner at Fenway Park because Cardinal Ortega, like most Cubans, is a baseball fanatic. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, so it had to be moved to another location. But, despite the change in venue, it was still a very enjoyable evening and I was so pleased that we were able to help support the charitable works of the Church in Cuba. Thanks in great part to the efforts of Consuelo Isaacson and Micho Spring, Friends of Caritas Cubana actually provides 20% the budget of Caritas Cubana every year. These funds enable important works of mercy — taking care of small children, the elderly, feeding families – just wonderful work that is being done.

Then, Cardinal Ortega made two appearances here in the Boston area.

Monday he was at Boston College where he celebrated Mass and met with the Spanish-speaking priests and Hispanic students. He gave a conference and afterwards had dinner with many of the Spanish-speaking faculty.

The following day, he went to Harvard where he met with students at the Harvard University Catholic Center in the afternoon.

Then, in the evening, he participated in a panel discussion at the Forum of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The panel consisted of Cardinal Ortega, myself and Jorge Dominguez, the Vice Provost for International Affairs at Harvard.

It was quite an interesting discussion. It went about an hour-and-a-half and was standing room only.

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Each year, we have a gathering for religious brothers who are celebrating their Jubilees. In the past, we celebrated it at the Cathedral, but in recent years we have been holding the Mass here at the pastoral center.

So, I was pleased to invite the jubilarian brothers to the Pastoral Center on Wednesday.

Seven jubilarians from three communities were with us at the celebration:

Brother Donald Birtles, CFX, was celebrating his 70th anniversary. Brothers Frederick Codair, CFX; John Doyle, CFX; John Kerr, CFX and Brother James Lucas, OMI were all celebrating their 60th anniversary. Brother James Eckert, CFX was celebrating his 50th anniversary and Brother Rahl Bunsa of the Brotherhood of Hope was celebrating his 25th anniversary.

At the Mass they renewed their vows

The vocation of brothers is not as well known in the Church as that of religious women, but they have had a great impact, particularly in the field of Catholic education, but also many other ministries.

At the Mass, the Gospel reading was about preaching the Gospel accompanied by signs. As I said in my homily, these brothers are signs of Christ’s presence among us in their consecration, fidelity to the Church and service to God’s people.

Congratulations to our Jubilarian brothers!

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

On Thursday, I was very pleased to meet with Father Wayne Paysse, a priest from the Archdiocese of New Orleans who is the new director of the Black and Indian Mission Fund at the U.S. Bishops’ Conference.

For many years the director was Msgr. Paul Lenz, who was very supportive of my ministry in the Virgin Islands. Msgr. Lenz was also very instrumental, I believe, in promoting the cause of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who will be canonized due in great part to his good offices that promoted the cause. He did an extraordinary job supporting the ministries of the Black and Native American communities and now has been replaced in this wonderful post by Father Wayne Paysse.

Father Paysse presented me with a copy of this book on the life of Blessed Kateri

This ministry, which does such important work for our Church, is supported by a yearly second collection in all our parishes. Many of the second collections we have in our churches are a way that we, as Catholics, participate in the universal Church and promote evangelization and works of mercy across our country and across the globe. It is not just that the basket is being passed once again; it is an opportunity for us to be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the faith in other parts of the globe. This is part of the catholicity of the church.

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Also that I was happy to meet the latest member of the Archdiocesan family, Isaac the newborn son of Rico Ciricola, who works as Executive Assistant to the Vicar General and his wife, Ashley. The proud parents were showing him off around the office.

It was wonderful to meet little Isaac. Congratulations Rico and Ashley!

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Also on Thursday I was visited by Paul Fanning and Connor Schapiro, members of the St. Boniface-Haiti Foundation that runs the Catholic hospital in Fond des Blanc in Haiti.

This is a local group that was founded in St. Boniface parish in Quincy. The foundation has done an extraordinary job providing healthcare for the Haitian people. They run one of the largest and best hospitals in the country.

Paul is on the board of the foundation and Connor has lived in Haiti for quite a long time and now splits his time living in both the US and Haiti. They came to give me an update on some their activities.

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On Friday, I participated in the annual meeting of our Planning Office of Urban Affairs.

The work done by the planning office is just amazing. They have created over 3,000 units of housing for elderly and low-income families. They have done an extraordinary job taking up the challenge of the bishops’ pastoral that the Church review its resources and properties and do as much as we possibly can to promote and provide housing for low-income families. The archdiocese has been engaged very actively this ministry and Lisa Alberghini has done an extraordinary job leading that office.

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At noon that day, I celebrated the Mass here at the Pastoral Center as a way of celebrating Easter week with employees at the Archdiocese.

It also was the day of the Red Sox home opener. So after the Mass we had a sort of "take me out to the ballgame" lunch for the staff with hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn and such. To top the day off, the Red Sox won, though they seem to have trouble doing so since.

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On Saturday morning, I came into the Pastoral Center for some meetings.

I was visited by Father Red Raux, one of our priests of the archdiocese who is serving in the military. He is currently serving at the Pentagon but is being reassigned to Germany and he came by for a courtesy visit.

We wish Father Raux well in his new assignment and thank him for his service to our country.

Then we had midday prayer and a session with the 47 candidates for the permanent diaconate who were meeting at the Pastoral Center for an all-day session classes and presentations.

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That afternoon we travelled to Lynnfield celebrate the 75th anniversary of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. Father Jack Farrell has been pastor there for a number of years and has done an extraordinary job. The parish is very vibrant; they have a youth choir that sang and a very good parish choir. There were also a number of high school-aged altar servers – there were just so many signs of vitality.

It was very good to be able to be together with the people of the parish as they marked this important milestone.

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That evening I celebrated the wedding of Tim Van Damm and Cecilia Zavala at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston. Tim, of course, was very active in our Boston Catholic Men’s Conferences and has remained active in the Young Adult Ministry in the Archdiocese.

As I told the couple, their vocation is a gift to the entire community of faith. It was a pleasure to preside at their wedding.

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Just as Metropolitan Methodius joined us for our annual Chrism Mass at the Cathedral during Holy Week, and brought us greeting from the Greek Orthodox community (as regular readers will remember), so I went to be present for their Easter vigil which this year was the Sunday after our Easter, according to the Julian calendar.

During the liturgy I was invited to proclaim the gospel an address the people.

It is always a great honor and pleasure to join our Orthodox brothers and sisters for this most holy night of the Christian year.

I came back directly from the Greek Orthodox vigil to attend the Easter celebrations of our Ge’eze Rite community that were still going on. These are the Ethiopian and Eritrean Eastern Rite Catholics whose community is based in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

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On Sunday I was very pleased to go to St. Malachy’s Parish in Burlington to celebrate confirmations. Father John Capuci is the pastor there.

It is always a great joy to help celebrate confirmations of our young people.

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On Monday, I attended the Knights of Columbus Lantern Awards ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham. The Lantern Award has been presented to an outstanding citizens by the Massachusetts State Council of the Knights of Columbus every year for over 50 years at their Patriot’s Day Dinner.

The recipient of this year’s award was Father Bill Devine, a priest of the Archdiocese who has been deployed many times in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He gave a very moving witness of what it was like to serve the troops in those war zones.

We see the role of the military chaplain as a very important service to the Church, and the Archdiocese of Boston has always tried to be very supportive of our priests who choose to serve. It is very important that the Church be present to this demographic of young people, particularly those who are in harm’s way because of military service.

In fact, we announced this week that our Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership, Father Tom Foley, will be leaving to become a military chaplain — just another example of the fine men who have chosen to serve their Church and their country in this way.

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Earlier I was describing the wonderful work of our Planning Office of Urban Affairs. Well, we had another example of that work on Tuesday morning when we gathered to dedicate their latest affordable senior housing complex in Billerica.

The Rose Hill Manor complex was developed by the Planning Office in conjunction with parishioners from St. Theresa of Lisieux Parish in Billerica. Together, they have created a wonderful housing complex for senior citizens on property that had been owned by the church. The name was chosen as an allusion to St. Therese of the Little flower, who is always represented by roses.

Father Gene Tully was very instrumental in bringing this about and he was presented with a table made out of the cherry wood from a tree that had been on the property.

This project is yet another example the benefits society gains through the partnership between the Church and local, state and federal governments.

As the controversy rages about the HHS mandate and erosion of religious freedom, people should realize what an extraordinary contribution the Catholic Church, and other nonprofits, make to the life of this country and, therefore, the importance of exemptions that allow these kinds of wonderful ministries to exist and to make such an extraordinary contribution to the life of the community.

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Twice a year we meet with the bishops of the Boston province, which is comprised of the dioceses of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. At this meeting we discussed a number of pastoral and local issues.

We also took the occasion of our lunch together to honor Bishop Robert Hennessey on his 60th birthday.

- – -

Finally, that evening Father Paul Aveni invited a number of his classmates and other priest friends for evening of dinner and socialization at St. Ann’s Parish in Wollaston.

I was very happy to join them and spend some time with my brother priests.

Before I end this post I would like to invite you to the Eucharistic Congress for College Students and Young Adults that will take place next weekend in the North End. You can read more here.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

On Easter week we remember in a very special way the resurrection of our Lord. In the Easter Vigil, as we proclaimed the Gloria, we marked that moment that changed the history of the world.

At the Cathedral this year we actually did the blessing of the fire outside, in the garden next to the Cathedral, so it was very impressive.

One of the seminarians, Emanuel from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, hand painted the Paschal candle, which is very beautiful.

Sunday morning, as I do every year, I celebrated Easter morning television Mass at WHDH Channel 7.

Then we had the 11:30 Mass at the Cathedral. It was a very impressive to see the Church filled.

(On Monday, we posted many photos of the Sacred Triduum celebrations that I am including at the end of today’s post, in case you missed them.)

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Then, in the afternoon we had lunch with my relatives, the Mulligans, who were in town from Florida visiting their son who is at Boston College law school.

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We were very pleased this year to host the over 10,000 people who came to Boston to attend the National Catholic Education Association Convention, which was held at the Hynes Convention Center April 11-13. Though the convention was actually held in Boston, the convention was sponsored and organized by all the dioceses of New England. It was a fantastic example of collaboration among the dioceses.

I was asked to celebrate the opening liturgy Wednesday morning. There were a number of bishops who joined us for the Mass, among them Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta who is the chairman of the NCEA Board of Directors.

One of the most impressive aspects of the opening ceremonies was the joint high school choir.

Students from nine different high schools throughout the archdiocese came together to perform for us.

My understanding is that they only practiced a few times together before the actual convention, but they were just marvelous. You would never guess that they had really just met each other.

I like to share with you the text of my homily from that day:

The formula for a bishop’s homily in the Middle Ages prescribed that some witticisms be included in the Easter sermons. This was to provoke laughter in the congregation because on Easter we are supposed to laugh at death. This custom was referred to as the “Risus Paschalis”. What better place to look for witticisms that mock death than in our cemeteries themselves particularly in some of the epitaphs that adorn the graves. Today I would like to share a few of my favorites.

One of the best is Benjamin Franklin’s which very poetically expresses his belief in the resurrection. On his gravestone is written: “the body of Benjamin Franklin the printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents worn-out, stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms. But the work shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant edition revised and corrected by the author.”

Examples of other memorable epitaphs which are more profane and irreverent are:

Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.

He stepped on the gas instead of the brake.

Another epitaph from Boot Hill, Arizona reads:

Here lies Lester Moore.

Four slugs from a 44, no Les no More.

One of my favorites is this one found on a tombstone in Massachusetts:

Under the sod and under the trees

Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.

He is not here, there’s only the pod.

Pease shelled out and went to God.

Another famous epitaph from England, a rather somber challenge to the passerby is as follows:

Remember man, as you walk by,

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now so shall you be

Remember this and follow me.

To which some smart Alec replied by scribbling on the tombstone:

To followed you I’ll not consent

Until I know which way you went.

During Easter we stand before a tomb that has no epitaph. It is a tomb that is empty and obsolete. A tomb that was borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room in the Inn. He tells us that although the birds of the air have their nests and the foxes have their dens, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Even in death Jesus does not have a tomb of his own. But today we rejoice because that borrowed tomb is empty and we can laugh at death.

The empty tomb and the shroud on the floor are but the first hints of the greatest event in human history. On Easter morning, Jesus Christ, who had been murdered, executed as a criminal, rose from the dead. At first the disciples find an empty tomb, but soon they encounter the Risen Lord. During the 40 days that followed Easter the Risen Lord appears over and over again. On Good Friday, the prophecy was fulfilled that said: “They will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.” That is precisely what happened when Jesus was arrested and crucified. The disciples scattered in sorrow and disappointment. To them everything was over. But on Easter, their sorrow and pain is turned into amazement and joy. The Shepherd has returned to gather the scattered. The Risen Lord comes back and appears to Magdalene in her grief and gathers her to himself. The Lord appears to Thomas in his doubts, and invites him to put his fingers into the place of the nails and to be not unbelieving but believing. The Lord appears to Peter who has denied him three times, and three times he asked Peter: “Peter do you love me?” and he gathers Peter to himself. The Risen Lord, the Good Shepherd, wants to gather us in our scattered lives, in our brokenness, in our insecurities; he wants to assure us of his love and friendship.

The Risen Lord makes himself present to us in his word, in the sacraments and in his community. He comes to gather us into a family. Being a disciple of the Risen Lord means being part of the church, part of the community of believers that accepts the mission Christ has entrusted to us to share the good news with the world. The good news is that God so loved the world that he sent is only begotten son to be our Savior and that Jesus has conquered sin and death for us.

On the Road to Emmaus the Good Shepherd is still gathering His scattered flock. Virtually everyone agrees that the familiar story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is a beautiful scene that contains many favorite Themes of St. Luke, such as encounters made by people on a journey, the question of faith, the offering of hospitality and recognition of Jesus in the Eucharist. This passage has captured the imagination of countless painters from Caravaggio to Velazquez and Rembrandt to name just a few.

The Gospel describes a journey that begins in despair and profound sorrow and ends, against all expectation, with the discovery of Faith, and Hope. There are no heroes here, not even an Apostle. Instead there are just two people like ourselves, bewildered, their faith faltering. This is a story about loss of direction and doubt turned to strong and joyful faith. This is not accomplished by a spectacular demonstration. The methods Jesus uses to evoke Faith in the story are the methods He uses now. The disciples on the road to Emmaus are like many Catholics today.

The two disciples are on a journey that takes them away from Jerusalem, away from the Holy City. They have turned their back on significant places, on meaning itself. Perhaps they were leaving the Church, on their way back to a life in which there was no great hope, no promise of a Messiah for the nation, or of meaning for themselves, but in which at least there would be no terrible disappointments, none of the desolation of Good Friday.

Cleopas and his companion encounter a stranger on their journey, but they do not recognize Jesus, their eyes are held from seeing Him, and they even get annoyed by the stranger’s stupid questions to them.

This is the turning point in the story, for Jesus begins to teach them, not with new revelations, but by opening up to them their own past. He walks them through the History of Salvation recorded in the Jewish Scriptures, to show how His life and suffering and death really do make sense, that what had taken place in Jerusalem was the fulfillment these two disciples and all God’s people had been waiting for. Though their eyes were blurred, the Lord’s words touched their hearts.

When they arrive at the village of Emmaus, something remarkable happens. Jesus makes as if He is going to continue on His journey. What if Cleopas and his buddy had said: “So long, nice chatting with you?” This Gospel would never have been written. Mother Teresa used to say “Give God permission!” Our God wants our permission to come into our hearts. God wants to be invited into our lives, into our hearts and even to our dinner table.

Lucky for us the disciples invited Jesus – “Stay with us it is getting late.” At the table Jesus took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. At the moment they see these Eucharistic gestures, their eyes are open. They recognize Jesus, but at that moment, the Risen Lord vanishes from their sight. The Lord disappears but the bread remains and the bread is the body of Christ. The tabernacle at St. Matthews Cathedral in Washington is flanked by mosaics of the two disciples, arms raised in amazement as they gaze at the Eucharist.

I am sure the two men never finished that meal. They ran back to Jerusalem to share their joy with the community. “We have seen the Lord and have recognized Him in the breaking of the bread”, they exclaim.

The task of our Catholic education is to accompany our young Catholics on a journey that allows them to experience the Risen Christ as the two disciples did: in the Word, in the Sacrament, and in the community of faith.

In this marvelous passage from Luke, the narrative is taking shape among Jesus’ first followers after Good Friday. The reports of the women about the empty tomb, the witness of the prophets, the recognition of Jesus in the breaking of the bread, and the report that Jesus had already appeared to Simon. The sharing of the narrative of diverse experiences begins to create a deeper community. The scattered disciples, whirled in different directions are being gathered in one place with one shared story which is “The Lord is Risen.”

This is the task of Catholic educators, to witness to the great truths of our faith and introduce a new generation of Catholics to the Risen Lord. We learn the faith, the way we learn a language by living in a community that speaks that language. We need to mentor people in the faith. It is not about information as it is about formation.

Our experience of the Eucharistic community leads us to embrace our mission. The disciples are moved by God’s word, amazed by the breaking of the bread and then set out on their mission to tell the Good News to the world.

The first re ading from Acts captures Peter and John in their ministry to announce the Good News and care for the sick and the marginalized. On their way to the temple they are accosted by a beggar at the gate, a clear contrast with Lazarus at the gates of the Rich Man. To that rich man, Lazarus starving and covered with sores, was invisible. The scriptures tell us Peter and John looked intently at the beggar. Their eyes of faith allowed them to see in that suffering beggar a brother, and potentially a disciple of Jesus. The words of Peter could be the motto for the Catholic schools of our country: “Gold and silver we have none, but what we do have, we give you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarean, rise and walk.”

Academic excellence is quite important, but we must be convinced that we have something more to give our students, we can help them to rise and walk in newness of life.

The beggar in the scriptures jumped up, leaping and jumping and praising God. He had been at the gate, the apostles lead him into the temple. Many of our Catholic students are at the gate, on the door stoop. We must lead them into the temple, into the heart of the Church. Pope Benedict in his Mass at St. Patrick’s commented on the stain glass windows. From the outside they seem dark and ugly. Once inside we can appreciate the color and light in all its splendor. So it is with the Church. It is from within that we can perceive her beauty and appreciate her mission.

We need to give our students the joy of knowing Jesus Christ and being part of His family. We want to help them see suffering humanity with compassionate eyes that see even those who are invisible to the worldly.

St. Luke says that after the beggar was cured he would not let go of Peter’s arm. What a great image that is. As Peter begins to teach in the temple the people drew near in amazement. Peter in his speech makes the connection between the beggar’s healing and the resurrection of Christ.

I am always a little disappointed when our Catholic schools and religious education programs have wonderful service projects to serve the poor and the underprivileged, and yet fail to make the connection with the Risen Christ and the Eucharist.

We must never be complacent about students who do not come to Sunday Eucharist and look for new ways to help them understand and appreciate the Eucharist as the center of our lives as Catholics and the source of the strength we need to carry on our mission, to announce the Good News and build a civilization of love.

As Pope Benedict put it so well:

“Today Eucharist means the Risen Lord is constantly present, Christ who continues to give Himself to us, calling us to participate in the Banquet of His Body and Blood. From the full communion with Him comes every other element of the life of the Church, in the first place the communion among the Faithful, the commitment to proclaim and give witness to the Gospel, the ardor of charity towards all, especially toward the poor and the smallest.”

With the joy and enthusiasm of Cleopas and his companion, we want to say to a new generation of Catholics that we can still laugh at death, for the Lord is truly risen and we have recognized Him in the breaking of the bread!”

Catholic education is the soul of evangelization. It is not just about communicating information, but forming people in the faith and leading them to Christ. A huge part of our effort is in the Catholic school system, which is a great treasure of our Church.

We are very proud of the wonderful work that is being done by our Catholic schools that exist because of the sacrifices of many of the faithful, particularly communities of religious women who helped to establish our schools. And now the lay teachers and administrators who have stepped up to the plate make it possible for this very important ministry to continue.

It is important for us to come together and celebrate these achievements and also encourage people who are involved in promoting Catholic identity in educational excellence in our Catholic schools.

- – -

Fittingly enough, during the NCEA convention there was also the annual Jesuit dinner, which this year honored the two Nativity schools that are in Massachusetts — one in Boston, and the other in Worcester.

These honored schools are doing excellent work in offering inner-city students free Catholic education and preparing them to be Catholic leaders of the future.

The gala was held at the Marriott Copley Place. Over 1,200 friends and Jesuits attended. The event raised over $1.1 million to support the formation and care of Jesuits and the apostolic works of the New England Province.

During the evening the provincial, Father Myles Sheehan, spoke. He gave a very good talk about Jesuit spirituality. He said the Jesuit order exists to serve Christ and to praise His name.

And then the two headmasters of the schools, who received the honors in the names of their schools, gave very significant addresses concerning the mission and Catholic identity of the schools.

Father John Wronski, president of Nativity Preparatory School  in Boston, Father Sheehan the Jesuit Provincial and Alex Zequeira, president of Nativity School in Worcester. Father Wronski and Mr. Zequeira accepted the award on behalf of the teachers and staff of the schools

The chairs of the Jesuit Gala: Peter and Cathy Smyth, Tom and Diane Reilly, Father Myles Sheehan, Norm and Helen Boucher, Patrick Hurley and Susan Lysart Hurley

- – -

As I said at the beginning I am re-posting here my Monday post on the Sacred Tridumm.

On Thursday evening, we gathered for the Mass of the Last Supper.

This celebration is full of meaning for Catholics, because it was on the night of his betrayal that Christ instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood.

Following the homily, we have the Washing of Feet. It commemorates that, during the last Supper, Jesus took the role of a servant – the lowest place — washing the feet of his disciples, telling them “Love one another as I have loved you.”

After the Washing of Feet, we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

We remember that on the night he was betrayed, Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, after the Mass, we do not have the usual blessing and dismissal. Instead the Blessed Sacrament is taken to a place of repose, where we remain with him.

- – -

On Good Friday we remember Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross.

One of the traditional observances of the Good Friday is the Way of the Cross. A number of groups hold processions throughout the archdiocese and some of them stop at the Cathedral.

One of the groups that comes each year is the one from Communion and Liberation. The hold a Way of the Cross that goes through Boston Common.

I was very pleased to meet a woman named Sarah who was one of the pilgrims. She is about 30 now, but when she was just a baby I understand she had seizures that left her with many disabilities.

It was wonderful to see that she made the Way of the Cross and also how lovingly she is cared for by her mother Carol and all those around her.

Then, at 3 o’clock we had the celebration of the Veneration of the Cross.

- – -

On Saturday night, we celebrated the Easter Vigil in the Cathedral.

The vigil begins with the Blessing of the Easter Fire

The Paschal candle, which represents Christ, is lit from a fire and we carve on it the sign of the cross as we say:

Christ yesterday and today
the Beginning and the end

And then we make other signs that also carry great symbolism, including the Alpha and Omega characters, in reference to the book of revelation in which Christ referred to as the "Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last."

At the Easter Vigil we bless the baptismal water before baptizing new converts .

During the blessing, the paschal candle is immersed in the water

Christ is Risen!

- Cardinal Seán

Before we get too far afield from Holy Week, I wanted to share with you some of my activities for the week.

On Thursday evening, we gathered for the Mass of the Last Supper.

This celebration is full of meaning for Catholics, because it was on the night of his betrayal that Christ instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood.

Following the homily, we have the Washing of Feet.  It commemorates that, during the last Supper, Jesus took the role of a servant – the lowest place –  washing the feet of his disciples, telling them “Love one another as I have loved you.”

After the Washing of Feet, we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

We remember that on the night he was betrayed, Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, after the Mass, we do not have the usual blessing and dismissal.  Instead the Blessed Sacrament is taken to a place of repose, where we remain with him.

- – -

On Good Friday we remember Christ’s suffering and death on the Cross.

One of the traditional observances of the Good Friday is the Way of the Cross.  A number of groups hold processions throughout the archdiocese and some of them stop at the Cathedral.

One of the groups that comes each year is the one from Communion and Liberation. The hold a Way of the Cross that goes through  Boston Common.

I was very pleased to meet a woman named Sarah who was one of the pilgrims.  She is about 30 now, but when she was just a baby I understand she had seizures that left her with many disabilities.

It was wonderful to see that she made the Way of the Cross and also how lovingly she is cared for by her mother Carol and all those around her.

Then, at 3 o’clock we had the celebration of the Veneration of the Cross.

- – -

On Saturday night, we celebrated the Easter Vigil in the Cathedral.

The vigil begins with the Blessing of the Easter Fire

The Paschal candle, which represents Christ, is lit from a fire and we carve on it the sign of the cross as we say:

Christ yesterday and today
the Beginning and the end

And then we make other signs that also carry great symbolism, including the Alpha and Omega characters, in reference to the book of revelation in which Christ referred to as the  "Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last."

At the Easter Vigil we bless the baptismal water before baptizing new converts .

During the blessing, the paschal candle is immersed in the water

Christ is Risen!

- Cardinal Seán

The scholarships were created four years ago to offer a possibility to Catholic school students to continue with their Catholic education through college.

They have been very successful and I am very grateful to Regis College for it.

This year twenty-two students from high schools all over the Archdiocese received the scholarship, including students from Fontbonne Academy, St. Clement High School, Pope John XXIII, Mount St. Joseph Academy, Sacred Heart High School, Elizabeth Seton Academy, Cardinal Spellman High School, Lowell Catholic, Notre Dame Academy, Boston College High School, Matignon, Arlington Catholic, Mount Alvernia, St. Mary Regional and Bishop Guertin.

Several other seniors at Catholic high schools outside the archdiocese received the scholarships as well.

- – -

The following day I celebrated Mass for the Sisters of St. Joseph as they gathered in chapter to elect their new leadership team.

It was an opportunity for me to congratulate the new team and to thank their new president, Sister Rosemary Brennan, as well as to thank the outgoing president, Sister Mary Murphy, for her dedication.

The new leadership team: Sisters Maureen Doherty, Gail Donahue, Patricia McCarthy, Roseann Amico, Margaret Sullivan, Marylou Cassidy, and Rosemary Brennan

During my homily I thanked the sisters for their work in the archdiocese — they have served in many different capacities since they arrived in Boston in 1873 — and to express to them the love and appreciation of lay Catholics and priests for their presence and work among us.

- – -

Palm Sunday, the initiation of Holy Week, this year was also the 800^th anniversary of the profession of St. Clare of Assisi. I would like to congratulate all of the Poor Clare Sisters, especially two convents that we have in the Archdiocese of Boston.

In the city of Assisi, Italy in the year 1212, the young noble woman Clare di Faverone di Offreduccio gave up her inheritance and all her worldly possessions to follow in the footsteps of Jesus through the example of St. Francis. The Poor Clares in the Archdiocese of Boston continue that tradition.

- – -

Every year I like to join a different parish for their celebration of Palm Sunday. This year’s celebration was held at St. Julia Parish in Weston, because they just finished the renovation of their sanctuary and I was there to dedicate the altar.

It is a very beautiful celebration that unfortunately very few Catholics are ever able to see because it is performed only when churches are opened, or when there is an occasional renovation.

The prayers are very Scriptural, very moving, and describe all of the theology:

Father,

we praise you and give you thanks,

for you have established the sacrament of true worship

by bringing to perfection in Christ

the mystery of the one true altar

prefigured in those many altars of old.

Noah,

the second father of the human race,

once the waters fell and the mountains peaked again,

built an altar in your name.

You, Lord, were appeased by his fragrant offering

and your rainbow bore witness

to a covenant refounded in love.

Abraham,

our father in faith,

wholeheartedly accepted your word

and constructed an altar on which to slay

Isaac, his only son.

But you, Lord, stayed his hand

and provided a ram for his offering.

Moses,

mediator of the old law,

built an altar

on which was cast the blood of a lamb:

so prefiguring the altar of the cross.

All this Christ has fulfilled in the paschal mystery:

as priest and victim he freely mounted the tree of the

cross

and gave himself to you, Father, as the one perfect

oblation.

In his sacrifice the new covenant is sealed,

in his blood sin is engulfed.

Lord, we therefore stand before you in prayer.

Bless this altar built in the house of the Church,

that it may ever be reserved for the sacrifice of Christ,

and stand for ever as the Lord’s table,

where your people will find nourishment and strength.

Make this altar a sign of Christ

from whose pierced side flowed blood and water,

which ushered in the sacraments of the Church.

Make it a table of joy,

where the friends of Christ may hasten

to cast upon you their burdens and cares

and take up their journey restored.

Make it a place of communion and peace,

so that those who share the body and blood of your Son

may be filled with his Spirit

and grow in your life of love.

Make it a source of unity and friendship,

where your people may gather as one

to share your spirit of mutual love.

Make it the center of our praise and thanksgiving

until we arrive at the eternal tabernacle,

where, together with Christ,

high priest and living altar,

we will offer you an everlasting sacrifice of praise.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen

Palm Sunday is certainly a very popular feast, made clear by the fact that we have huge crowds coming to receive the palms.

Lent itself begins on Ash Wednesday when we are signed with the ashes of the burnt palms from the year before, a reminder of how ephemeral many of the glories and the acclamation of this world are. Many of the same people who were shouting for Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, were the same ones who five days later would be shouting “Crucify Him! Give us Barabbas! We have no king but Caesar!” So the reading of the two Gospels are a very striking message about the meaning of Holy Week, and a preparation for the Sacred Triduum that comes later on in the week.

Father George P. Evans and his committee did an extraordinary job with the renovation. On the back wall of the sanctuary, they installed two stained glass windows that came from what originally had been an orphanage in North Cambridge run by the daughters of Charity. One window depicts St. Louise de Marillac and the other window depicts St. Agnes. They are very beautiful and bring a lot of light into the sanctuary. The altar, the ambo and the baptismal font are beautiful wood furnishings with the traditional Celtic Irish carvings on them.

The sanctuary was also extended so there can be more room, which was a welcome improvement. I have celebrated weddings there in the past and found the sanctuary small and very dark. Now that they have opened it up, there is more room. On the back wall they put the two windows. They are two beautiful windows.

The Palm Sunday Mass begins with the blessing of the palms outside and the procession inside. They had been having Mass at the parish hall, so everyone was very happy that they could return to their church for Holy Week. So, it was truly a triumphant entrance of the whole parish into their church.

- – -

Every Sunday we have vespers in the cathedral. The Palm Sunday vespers was very well attended, including a group of young people that came with Father Michael Nolan from The Parish of St. Mary in Waltham.

They brought me a crucifix made of palms.

I was rather impressed by the work

- – -

Tuesday was the Chrism Mass, one of the most important celebrations of the year. It really is a great celebration of the gift of the priesthood in the sacramental life of the Church. We gather bishops, priests, deacons, faithful and religious to bless the oils that are a sign of our unity. These oils are used throughout the year in all the baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, and anointings of the sick that take place within the archdiocese.

It is also the Mass where we priests renew our vows, a beautiful custom that was initiated by Pope Paul VI. We ask for the prayers of the people for their priests and their bishops.

Each year at the start of the Mass I invite Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Church, who always attends our Chrism Mass, to address the priests and the people. He always has a beautiful message of solidarity and encouragement.

A week from Saturday, I will go to the Greek Orthodox Easter Vigil and then to our own Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with the Ethiopian community.

I would like to share the video and text of my homily from the Mass with you:

Good morning everyone. Your eminence, Metropolitan Methodius, Brother Bishops and Priests, Deacons, Fellow Religious, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.

I first learned about the great tradition of Boston when John Wright became our bishop when I was a seminarian and he would regale us with many stories about Boston. But my favorite story of his was about Mayor Curley. Once when he was running for mayor, he was opposed by one of his lieutenants, a big, garrulous red-haired Irishman who I think was the police or the fire chief at the time. When his opponent had a political rally he decided to go. When he got there, he asked to speak. He said, “You know, every great man in history has had a betrayer. Caesar had his Brutus, Washington had Benedict Arnold, and our blessed savior had Judas. And you know? They were all redheads.

Once I was visited by a priest who was very discouraged. He thought he was a redhead… He said: “Bishop, I am the worst priest in the world.” I said to him, that is quite a distinction. I asked him about his ordination and first mass. I said, “Did you fight over who was going to be first in line at your ordination? Did you betray Christ for a handful of money? Did you chop off someone’s ears with a machete? Did you then run away and hide? I was of course comparing the worst priest in the world with the first priests of the world, the apostles.

The vocation of the apostles begins with the joyful discovery of Christ, and with the reckless abandoning of their boats, their nets and their families, to follow the Lord. It wasn’t too long however, when they were soon in competition with each other and worried about their retirement benefits, like who was going to have the thrones of the right and the left.

They spent most of the first Sacred Triduum locked in the Cenacle, while it was the women who followed Jesus through the Stations of the Cross and to Calvary.

To me one of the most poignant scenes in the Gospels is the apparition of the Risen Christ on Easter to the 11 remaining apostles. They’re hiding out in the Cenacle with the doors bolted. Suddenly, Christ is in their midst showing them his wounded hands as if to say: “See how much I love you.” The reaction of the apostles certainly must have been one of very conflicted emotions. First of all, they were overjoyed to see that Jesus was alive and in their midst. Secondly, they would have felt a profound shame and embarrassment because of their cowardly behavior. The apostles did not surface even to bury Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. Had it not been for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’ body would have been cast into a common ditch to be savaged by vultures and dogs. But Jesus’ love and forgiveness is so great, He does not even remind them of how badly they have behaved, but instead gives them the gift of the Spirit so that these sinners could become wounded healers.

I find immense consolation in the fact that the Gospels give us, not pious platitudes, but a gritty, realistic portrayal of our first priests, the apostles. They were ordinary men like ourselves, full of humanity and shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. They were entrusted however, to carry on the most important mission in the history of the world and despite all of their weaknesses, they did an extraordinary job.

I’m sure that all of us at one point have felt a certain envy of the apostles. We imagine how wonderful it would be to be there and hear Jesus’ voice, to see his miracles, to experience the closeness, the companionship and joy of being in his presence. It is ironic however, that the apostles’ worst behavior came about while Jesus was still with them. They came into their own after the Pentecost experience. It’s then that they go out boldly to proclaim the gospel and to share with the world what they have received.

Though we have not had the privilege of walking over the hills of Galilee in Jesus’ company, we have received the same Spirit that the apostles did on Holy Thursday, on Easter Sunday and on Pentecost. And now the mission must continue, despite our weaknesses and shortcomings and all obstacles. Christ is counting on us just as He counted on those simple fishermen to preach his gospel, calling people to conversion and discipleship, building a community of faith around the Eucharist. Like those first Christians in the Acts of the Apostles, we must be united in embracing the teachings of the apostles, fellowship and prayer, and the breaking of the bread.

Holy Thursday is a very special day for us priests; indeed this very Chrism Mass is an extension of Holy Thursday. On that first Holy Thursday, Jesus washed the feet of his apostles and commanded them to love one another in the way that He loves us. He also commanded them to celebrate the Eucharist, “Do this in memory of me.” And later on that same evening, Jesus tells his first priests: “Watch and pray.” Today, 2,000 years later, Jesus is telling us the same thing: we must love one another, we must celebrate His Eucharist, and we must watch and pray.

In Chapter 14 of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke reports how Paul and Barnabas gather the faithful at Antioch and they reported what God had done with them and how God had “opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” Pope Benedict has lifted that beautiful phrase, “the door of faith,” “Porta Fidei,” for the name and theme of his letter announcing the year of faith beginning in the fall. It will mark the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the second Vatican Council, convoked by Blessed Pope John XXIII, and which also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Blessed John Paul II. We are people of faith. Faith defines our identity and motivates our actions. Faith is our most precious gift. I am so grateful to have been born into a family of believers, the faith and example of my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles was so life giving to me as child. And I am ever grateful to my uncle, Father Jerry Riedy, who baptized me into the faith.

Preparing these reflections today, I decided to consult my concordance of the Bible. I found that the word faith appears four times in the Old Testament. However, in the New Testament, which is much shorter, the term faith appears over 250 times and the word believe also appears over 250 times. It is impossible to read the New Testament without appreciating how important faith is. Faith means not being an orphan, having a father who is our God and having many brothers and sisters. Faith is a home where we dwell and move and have our being, where we discover how much we are loved and who we are. Faith is a relationship with Christ, a loving and trusting and enduring friendship. Indeed the mission entrusted by Jesus to the apostles is not first of all to announce the gospel, but first of all to believe in him. As priests we are called to be men of faith, teachers of faith and witnesses of faith.

The epistle to the Hebrews tells us that faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. After a beautiful passage celebrating the faith of our ancestors throughout salvation history, the author of Hebrews exhorts us: “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the origin and crown of all faith.”

A few weeks ago I was invited to give the opening talk at a retreat for 75 young Jesuits here in Boston. A Jesuit Father who is a missionary in Siberia had organized the retreat and invited me. Afterwards, he presented me with a beautiful Russian icon of Our Lady. He told me that in Russia it is said: You do not choose the icon, the icon chooses you.” A very interesting perspective.

Well, faith is born of a glance. Not so much ours, but that of Christ. The account of the vocation of the Apostles begins by the assertion Jesus looking at them. Jesus saw Andrew and Peter. Jesus saw the sons of Zebedee. Jesus saw Matthew. And having seen them, having fixed his gaze upon them, Jesus calls them to a life of discipleship. We should ask ourselves: “when did we become aware that Jesus had set his eyes on us?” When did we recognize His voice, and His invitation – “Follow me.” Each of us has our own vocational story. For each of us, there is a precise moment for each of us where we became aware that Jesus was looking at us. Certainly, there were many other moments: moments of enthusiasm, moments of definitive choice, and moments of decision to renew ourselves in the face of trials and difficulties and trials in our ministry. Even moments of remorse and shame when we had to cast ourselves on the mystery of our Lord’s mercy, like Peter in the courtyard of the high priest, when the Lord turns and fixes his gaze on Peter, who goes out and weeps bitterly.

To be under the gaze of the love and mercy of Jesus and to put our eyes fixed on Him, this is faith and from that faith comes every call, every following and even our ministerial vocation which unites us to Jesus who with love, compassion and tenderness sees the crowd and is moved because they are like sheep without a shepherd. Seeing our people’s needs, Jesus sends us.

Indeed as priests, we must persevere in running this course with our gaze fixed on Jesus, the origin and crown of all faith. It is our own Boston Marathon with many a Heartbreak Hill. It is a long distance run, not the frenetic sprint of the person anxious to be everywhere, who feels indispensable, who never has time for smile, who is not capable of listening, and who does not have the capacity for a profound silence. We need to witness the faith not by adopting the rhythms and times of this world, but rather by responding to the urgency of the gospel.

“Faith comes through hearing” (Romans 10, 17) and it is as men of faith, that we must build our lives on the Word of God. There are so many demands on our time and attention, and our energy is not limitless. It requires discipline in the organization of our time to guarantee that each day we can be nourished by listening to the Word of God. Our celebration of the liturgy is also a crucial contact with the power that comes from God’s Word and from the Sacraments. Regardless of what one may feel about the new translation, the changes in the liturgy have been an opportunity for us to focus with greater attention to the words we are praying.

The Chrism Mass allows us to glimpse the grace of belonging to a presbyterate. It is this in this presbyterate, united to Christ and one another that the gifts that we received by the imposition of hands can be stirred up and enlivened.

Here all of our struggles and triumphs are melded into one. The hidden sacrifices heroically made by some of our brothers, the special graces, the pastoral genius, the tireless dedication come together to forge our presbyterate. We are a body that together regenerates itself. Together we share the responsibility to announce the Gospel and to build up the Christian community.

You often hear the expression: “keep the faith.” But what we really need to do is not keep the faith, but spread it around. Our faith grows stronger when we share it with others. All of us remember fondly the priests who mentored us in the faith. Now it is our turn to share these treasures. We are earthen vessels bearing treasures. The world is being overcome with darkness. To me one of the most chilling phrases on Jesus’ lips are the words: “When the Son of Man returns will he find any faith on the earth?” In great part it depends on us. We who are Christ’s priests have a huge responsibility to announce his Gospel in season and out of season.

I often tell the Jesuits that I’m a little envious of them, since they have 35 craters on the moon named after Jesuit fathers. We Capuchins only have a cup of coffee…. One of the best spots to drink a good cappuccino is the Piazza of San Eustachio in Rome. If you have ever indulged yourself at one of the cafés there, you may have noticed the lovely church which looks like many other Italianate churches, except for the fact that on top of the church where one usually expects to find the cross, there is a huge set of antlers. I am sure that there is some pious explanation for the antlers, perhaps some story about San Eustachio running over a deer and miraculously providing venison for 4000 orphans. However, if you ask the Romans why there are antlers on the top of the church you may hear the story that I was told. Apparently, a young Roman nobleman married a beautiful bride in that church, but soon after the marriage she absconded with the best man. Today the man would have gone on the Jerry Springer show. The husband was disconsolate, and in his grief and rage had the antlers placed on the roof of that church. In Italian, a man who has deceived by his wife is referred to as “cornuto” which means having horns. I am told that ever since the antlers went up, there are very few weddings in that church.

Accordingly, for many Romans, the antlers on the church betoken defeat and sadness. During this year of faith we need to climb up and pull the antlers down and lift high the cross, the triumphant, life giving cross.

Our people need us to be confident and joyful teachers of the faith. Cardinal Dolan spoke of going to a conference by Cardinal Wright on Evangelization, expecting a deep theological treatise. The message of the eloquent Bostonian was simply – smile! Pope Benedict constantly dwells on relationship of faith with joy. The word joy appears sixty (60) times in the New Testament. The very word Gospel means glad tidings. We are messengers of that joyful news.

The people need to glimpse our own faith. They need teachers who are witnesses. In our priestly support groups and circles of priests, we need to talk about Christ and our love for the mission that He has entrusted to us. It is because the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus are talking about Jesus, that the Risen Lord draws near and breaks open the Scriptures for them. That experience made their hearts burn within them. Cleopas and his buddy never finished that dinner – they got up from that table probably without even paying the check and ran back to Jerusalem with the waitress chasing them down the road. They were filled with joy, and wanted to share that joy and good news with their brothers – “we have seen the lord and we recognized him in the breaking of the bread.” Pope Benedict XVI, in Porta Fidei, writes “faith grows when it is lived as an experience of grace and joy.” He warns us not to grow lazy in the faith, and urges us to focus on Jesus Christ, because “in him all the anguish and longing of the human heart finds fulfillment.”

At the Chrism Mass, I like to make an appeal, a challenge to my priests and to myself. In the past, I have asked us all to work harder on our preaching. I have asked that every priest make a serious retreat each year – I had to go down to St. Petersburg last year to make sure Bishop Hennessey was not offering the enneagram and reiki. Actually we are very grateful for the wonderful work Bob Hennessey is doing on those retreats. I have asked that each priest develop a personal rule of life to assure the balance we need to pray hard, work hard and play hard. I have asked that each priest join a priest support group to be able to build a truly spiritual fraternity with a deep sense of shared mission.

This year I would ask that each priest, myself included, to recommit ourselves to our own ongoing formation. Each of us is ultimately responsible for his own ongoing formation, which needs to be spiritual, human, theological and pastoral so that we might be the teachers of the faith our people need.

Pope John Paul II wrote in Pastores dabo Vobis: “Ongoing formation aims at increasing the priest’s awareness of his share in the Church’s saving mission”. “The priest’s permanent formation appears not only as a necessary condition but also as an indispensable means for constantly refocusing on the meaning of his mission and for ensuring that he is carrying it out with fidelity and generosity. By this formation, the priest is helped to become aware of the seriousness and yet the splendid grace of an obligation which cannot let him rest, so that, like Paul, he must be able to say: “If I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel”(1 Cor. 9:16). At the same time, the priest also becomes aware of a demand, which insistently comes from all those whom God is unceasingly calling to salvation.

For the Church, the Year of the Faith is to be the year of the New Evangelization. Our personal ongoing formation will help us as a diocese in our task of imbuing our pastoral planning with the new evangelization which means taking the Gospel to those who have grown cold, to reach out with a new ardor and with new methods, turning our parishes into communities of evangelizers where every parishioner feels a call to share their faith, to be a part of the mission to make Christ’s Gospel loved, and to promote a civilization of justice and love.

I am very grateful to Bishop Arthur Kennedy for his willingness to help us to equip our people for the challenges of the New Evangelization and for promoting our ongoing formation. I know that it seems daunting but I am confident that this Year of Faith will be great grace for our Church if we priests take advantage of this time to renew ourselves in an ongoing conversion that is a response to Christ’s loving call. Spiritual writers speak of a second call, actually there are many moments when the Lord glances at us as He did to Peter, after Peter’s fall and what I call the “Last Breakfast” when the risen Lord, having examined Peter in his love, says “Follow me” again. As we renew our ordination promises may we recommit our lives to Christ, to our brothers and sisters, in the service of the Gospel whose Heralds we are.

May the Lord grant each of us a faith that bestows confidence and courage, generosity and joy, as together we work to build up Christ’s Kingdom. Together we want to take down the antlers of sadness and defeat and weathervane of doubt and uncertainly and lift high the cross. What St. Francis calls the book that contains the greatest love story in the history of the world – and we priests are all part of that story. God bless you.

- – -

Each year, after the Chrism Mass, we hold a luncheon for the priests and deacons to continue the sense of fraternity fostered by the Mass.  It is always a wonderful opportunity to be together.

During the luncheon we honor two of our brother priests for their service and commitment.

This year, we honored Father Jim Rafferty and Father Lou Palmieri.

We congratulate Father Jim and Father Lou and thank all our priests for their faith and ministry.

- – -

The instructions on the liturgy call for the Liturgy of the Hours to be celebrated in the cathedral.

As I mentioned we have the vespers every Sunday, but on Wednesday of Holy Week we also have Tenebrae, which is a service based on the Matins and Lauds anticipating Holy Thursday. It includes very beautiful responsories and lamentations that are sung.

During the recitation of the psalms and the lessons, candles are extinguished one-by-one until, finally, there is only the Christ candle left.

It ends with the strepitus, a deep roar made by the organ symbolizing the earthquake of Good Friday.

It was a good crowd of a couple of hundred people participating. This year, I invited Father Joe Baggetta of St. James the Greater in Boston to preach at the service. He he gave an excellent homily.

The service is such a fine way to anticipate the Triduum.

- – -

These are the Holiest days of the year, so we would like to encourage everyone to pray for our new Catholics being received into the Church on Holy Saturday.

I also urge as many Catholics as possible to participate in the Easter Vigil. It is not a short service, but it is the most important liturgy of the year!

A blessed Triduum to you all!

- Cardinal Seán

Until my next post

In Christ

Cardinal Seán

This past week was a very eventful one. As most of you I am sure know, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI made his apostolic visit to the countries of Mexico and Cuba from March 23-28.

I was very blessed to be able to travel to Cuba to be with the Holy Father on his visit there.

On Saturday, I traveled to Santo Domingo to be able to get to the city of Santiago, which was the first city that the Holy Father visited in Cuba. Santiago is a very difficult city to reach by plane, so I was invited to accompany Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo. It is only about an hour flight from Santo Domingo to Santiago, and one of the Catholics there put a small plane at his disposal.

On Sunday we had some time before departing for Cuba, so I took the opportunity to make some visits in Santo Domingo.

In the morning, I celebrated Mass at the university in Santo Domingo and then visited the Cathedral, which is the oldest Cathedral in the hemisphere.

The cathedral is famous for its vaulted ceilings

I also visited the Capuchin community, where we have young Dominican and Haitian friars in formation.

At Regina Angelorum Church

This is a picture of El Faro a Colón (Spanish for “The Lighthouse of Columbus”), which is the place where Christopher Columbus is buried. His tomb had been in the Cathedral, but it was moved to this spot where put up this huge lighthouse which projects a cross in the sky.

On the façade of El Faro is a letter by Pope John Paul II, who blessed the lighthouse.

The tomb of Columbus inside El Faro

I also took this picture of a huge statue of Father Antonio de Montesinos standing by the shore. Father Montesinos was the first person to call for the ending of the slavery of the indigenous people of the island.

- – -

Then, Sunday afternoon, we took a small plane and landed in Santiago, which is the Primatial See in Cuba. There we were met by Archbishop Dionisio Ibanez, the Archbishop of Santiago. It was very good to see him again.

- – -

In Santiago, I spent the morning with Father Emilio, a Capuchin priest I had ordained in Washington. He is Cuban-American and is working now in Manzanillo, Cuba. He spent almost 10 years in Papua New Guinea and now he has been almost 5 years in Cuba.

He and two Brazilian friars came with their parish for the Mass with the Holy Father and they left at two in the morning to get from Manzanillo to Santiago.

They had wonderful pastoral experiences there, so it was great to be with them.

- – -

The following day was the Holy Father’s Mass at Revolution Square in Santiago, the same venue where John Paul II celebrated his Mass in 1998.

In fact, there were even more people at this Mass than John Paul II’s Mass. The government had declared a holiday that day, so all the schools and businesses were closed so that people could attend the Mass.

The Holy Father’s visit was occasioned by the 400th anniversary of the finding of the statue of our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, which is the most important national and religious symbol that the Cuban people have. The shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre is located in Santiago.

During the quadricentennial year, they carried the statue in procession to each Catholic Church throughout the country and millions of Cubans came out to venerate the statue.

- – -

On Tuesday, we travelled from Santiago to Havana.

During the day, we visited La Iglesia de Jesus, the largest Church in Cuba, which is run by the Capuchins. It was a short walk from where we were staying in the Miramar section of Havana.

- – -

That evening I was very happy to have a Mass at a cloistered Carmelite convent with some of the Boston pilgrims who were in Havana for the Mass with the Holy Father, as well as to visit some of the programs supported by Friends of Caritas Cubana.

Friends of Caritas Cubana is a wonderful group based in Boston that does so much to support the Church’s charitable work in Cuba.

Greeting John and Ginny Kaneb and Tiziana Dearing before the Mass

Since it was a cloistered convent, the sisters participated in the Mass from behind a grate

With some of the Boston group after the Mass: Maruchi Schumacher, John Hickey, Micho Spring, Tiziana Dearing, Ginny and John Kaneb, and Donis Tracy

After the Mass, the Boston group went to a palador, which is one of the new privately-owned restaurants that have recently been allowed to open in Cuba. These are one example of the experiment in a new economy here, allowing some level of private enterprise.

We had a very enjoyable meal and then returned to our hotels in some of the classic cars for which Cuba is so famous — much to the delight of the group.

And if that wasn’t eventful enough, on the way to the hotel we passed the entourage of Hugo Chavez, who was in Cuba for chemotherapy.

- – -

Wednesday, of course, was the Holy Father’s Mass in Revolution Square in Havana. In my opinion, it was a resounding success.

In the execution of the liturgy there was such great reverence. The Holy Father has introduced periods of silence in the Mass, which I think are very helpful, and he discouraged some of the outbursts of enthusiasm that often happen at these large Masses.

It was truly a very prayerful and reverent experience.

Waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father

The choir which was originally formed for the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II when he visited Cuba 14 years ago performed for us. It’s an extraordinary choir made up of about 250 people, and they were just remarkable.

The Holy Father’s homily was, I think, very well received. He certainly made a very strong plea for religious freedom and greater participation of the Church in the life of Cuba and the space to be able to carry out our mission. I’m sure he was referring to such areas as education and social services. Although the Church is doing a great many things now, it is always with great restraints and in a very limited way.

Overall, I think the Holy Father’s visit was a very important event, because it brought the attention of the world to the situation in Cuba, which is struggling for greater religious freedom and civil rights. The visit of Pope John Paul II 14 years ago initiated a very drastic change in the relationship between church and state in Cuba, and much greater freedom for Catholics. It is too early to say if this visit by the Holy Father will bear similar fruits, but we continue to pray for the people and the Church in Cuba.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Last Thursday afternoon, I was visited by Christopher Gosselin, who was a youth minister in the archdiocese and is now a campus minister at Salve Regina University in Newport. He brought a group of students to do service projects here in the archdiocese, particularly the homeless and others. He brought them to meet with me at the Cathedral and have them talk a little bit about their experience and their faith.

We had a nice conversation with them and they gave me a beautiful paperweight with the Salve Regina prayer in Latin.

After our meeting, they had a chance to take a tour of the cathedral.

- – -

Thursday evening, I visited Immaculate Conception in Revere to preside at a celebration for those participating in the catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way in that parish. It was a wonderful group of nearly 100 people.

During the celebration, each person is presented with a bible by the bishop, as a sign of receiving the Word of God from the Church. Many of these ceremonies in the Neocatechumenal Way parallel the RCIA ceremonies, because it is a deepening of one’s baptismal commitment.

In my visit to the parish, I was deeply impressed by how the Hispanic community has grown exponentially with Father George Szal and Father Carlos Flor there. We are very grateful for that. There was wonderful enthusiasm among the people and their dedication to the parish was very heartening.

I also took a picture of the altar which came from the original church, which had a fire several years ago, but they were able to preserve the altar in the new building.

I thought it was just magnificent.

- – -

On Friday morning, I had one of my regular meetings with the auxiliary bishops. During those meetings they typically give me an update on what is going on in the regions. In this particular meeting they gave me updates about ways the bishops can help promote vocations as they visit parishes for confirmations. They had some very good suggestions and we will be discussing them with the Presbyteral Council.

- – -

That evening I met with the seminarians at St. John’s Seminary for evening prayer, a holy hour and dinner.

Then, after dinner, I had a time of dialogue with them. I also used the opportunity to speak to them about the HHS regulations and the issue of physician assisted suicide.

Then, since it was a Friday night, I led them in the Stations of the Cross.

- – -

Saturday, of course, was St. Patrick’s Day, the patronal feast for the archdiocese.

St. Patrick is a wonderful patron: A great missionary who turned his enemies into his brothers and sisters in the Lord and who forgave his captors and oppressors and loved them enough to bring the light of Christ and the gospel to the Irish people.

His great genius as a missionary was to turn the Irish people into being a missionary church. Historically, the Irish had an extraordinary influence on the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. And, with the Irish emigration because of the famine and religious persecution in Ireland, Irish Catholics went on build up the Church all over the world.

I always reflect on the fact that one of the oldest churches in Puerto Rico, built for the slaves, is San Patricio. And when I was at World Youth Day in Australia and was involved in catechesis in four churches, three of them were named for St. Patrick. And then, on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, which is where many Irish indentured servants intermarried with African slaves, the patron of the island and the Church there is St. Patrick. So, wherever you go in the world you are going to find the spiritual children of St. Patrick in the Church.

The celebration at the Cathedral was glorious. We had a full Cathedral. There were two choirs from Dublin, bagpipers, step dancers and festive celebrations featuring Irish soda bread.

All of the people were able to receive the shamrocks that were blessed during the Mass to take home.

- – -

That evening, I was invited to give the invocation at the banquet held at the Fairmont Copley Hotel to mark 275th anniversary of the Charitable Irish Society — one of the oldest Irish organizations in the United States.

It was founded in Colonial Boston, in 1737, and remains an active organization promoting immigrants’ rights and helping immigrants. During the time of the famine they were very involved in sending aid to Ireland. Most people do not realize that, in the colonial times, many of the people who came from Ireland were actually Presbyterian Scotch-Irish; they were “Orangemen”, as we call them.

They were the founders of this organization, which was founded by King George and, during colonial times, there were members who were both patriots and loyalists to the crown.

After the Revolution, they admitted Catholics. (60 years before the Irish got the vote in Boston they were allowed to join the Irish Charitable Society.) So, they have interesting history of bringing together people who ordinarily would have been “on the other side of the aisle”, so to speak. However, I observed that the Orangemen probably made a mistake in letting the Catholics in because we seem to have taken over!

During the evening, a number of people received the organizations’ Lifetime Achievement Award including: Sister Janet Eisner, the president of Emmanuel College, poet and playwright Dick Flavin; the founder of Friends of the Public Garden, Henry Lee; and the former Boston Police commissioner Kathleen O’Toole, who is now Chief Inspector of the Garda Siochana, the Irish national police force.

The evening was also an opportunity for several very nice conversations. Richard Culhane, the Deputy Mayor of Drogheda, was there and gave me a book about poet John Boyle O’Reilly, who was the editor of our archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot. I was very pleased to be able to talk with the Irish Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald and her husband, who were at our table, as well as Irish Consul General, Michael Lonergan.

- – -

On Sunday we are very pleased to have a mass to mark the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. Catholic scouting has been an important feature in the life of our archdiocese, so I was very happy to celebrate this milestone with them.

- – -

Then that evening I traveled to Washington to attend the spring meeting of the Board of Directors of Catholic University of America, which is the U.S. bishops’ university.

In the evening I was asked to address a men’s discernment group for those are considering the priesthood. I was happy that there were a couple of Boston lads in the group.

With Stephen Imparato, one of the students from Boston

We had Vespers and dinner and then I gave a presentation on my own vocation. Afterwards, we had a dialogue on priestly vocation discernment. This was just another encouraging example of the ways Catholic University is really trying to promote its Catholic identity, encouraging both the young men and women to be conscious of their personal vocations and their Catholic faith.

- – -

On Wednesday I met with Hugh Dempsey of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. He works with the Patriarch of Jerusalem particularly to help the schools that are run by the Franciscans and patriarchate in the holy land.

We had a very good conversation about the work the foundation is doing.

He also brought a very nice Stations of the Cross made by Christians in the Holy Land.

- – -

Finally, Wednesday evening we had our meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council is akin to a parish council, but at the diocesan level. It is an opportunity to receive input different segments of the population, especially the lay and religious of the archdiocese.

As part of our meeting, Father Paul Soper made a presentation on pastoral planning and we had a very animated discussion on the subject.

We also had a session in which members of the pastoral Council are able to bring their concerns and messages to the Archbishop and the archdiocese.

It was a very fruitful meeting and, as always, we are very grateful to the APC members for their contributions and dedication.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Also during our gathering we had a presentation by Father Bryan Hehir, our Cabinet Secretary for Social Services, regarding developments with the Department of Health and Human Services contraception mandate and also from our Cabinet Secretary for Faith Formation, Janet Benestad, on the issue of physician assisted suicide. We wanted our priests to be informed about these two very important and pressing issues so that they could, in turn, inform their people.

- – -

On Friday, I visited MCI Cedar Junction, the state’s maximum security prison.

As I often do, before meeting with the inmates, I met with the staff.

They spoke about the sort of work they do. For example, for a few years they have been doing placements, which means they receive all new male prisoners and then evaluate them for which facility best could house them.

The superintendent, James Saba, was very gracious during our visit. He is the cousin of Father John Murray, who is a classmate of one of my priest secretaries, Father Bob Kickham. So it was nice to make that connection.

We also received a tour of the facility. They even showed us the factory where the men make license plates.

We were commenting on the Chapel, which unfortunately we could not take a picture of (for understandable reasons), that was built in the 50s, with a permanent altar beautiful tabernacle and a full sacristy and altar rail. It is not the sort of Chapel you see in every prison.

Then we met with the prisoners, and I was also very pleased to be able to go visit the men in isolation. And then we celebrated Mass with the men.

The chaplain there, Ruth Raichle, is doing a wonderful job and has many helpful and devoted volunteers.

- – -

That evening, I visited Redemptorist Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Brookline.

I was very happy to be able to join them for Vespers and dinner and to spend some time with the seminarians.

After dinner, we spent the evening together watching a Russian film called "The Island." It tells the story of a man named Anatoly, who was a soldier during World War II who later becomes a Russian Orthodox monk and spends his life seeking God’s forgiveness for his actions during the war.

It is a very enjoyable and inspiring film, and very appropriate for Lent.

- – -

On Saturday we went to Tyngsborough for the dedication of the new altar and church of St. Mary Magdalen. Father Ron St. Pierre is the pastor there and oversaw the building of the new church. The original parish church, just a couple of miles away over the town line in Dracut, was built over 50 years ago as a chapel for summer visitors, so this new building provides them with much more room.

Those who know the parish, know they have a beautiful parish center with classrooms and meeting rooms in the first floor, which is ground level. But, as Father St. Pierre said, a parishioner very wisely suggested that when they constructed it they build the foundation in such a manner that a church could be placed on top.

So the new church, which is now on the second floor, is just full of light and looks very grand with lots of wood.

They used wood from the pews of the old church when they built the new baptismal font, altar and ambo.

I was also very pleased to see that they used a number of item from closed churches including the beautiful pews from St. Catherine’s Church in Charlestown and the stations of the cross from Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain.

- – -

Saturday morning I joined the deacons of our archdiocese for Mass and lunch during their annual convocation, which was held here at the Pastoral Center.

The deacons have an extraordinary choir and music program, as I always say, good enough that he would want to record it and make a CD. But perhaps the highlight of the Mass was the moment when all the deacons renewed their vows of the diaconate.

I used to run a diaconate program myself in Washington and, in every diocese I have been in, I have seen the extraordinary work that deacons do in our parishes. The ministry of the deacon is so important in the archdiocese that we have recently expanded the program so that there is a new class of deacons ordained each year.

As with the priests, the deacons received an update on the HHS regulations delivered by Janet Benestad and our Chief Healthcare Ethicist, Peter Cataldo.

- – -

On Sunday I joined the Catholic student community at MIT for mass. It is a wonderful campus ministry and the FOCUS ministers are doing such wonderful work there assisting the campus chaplain, Father Richard Clancy.

The Chapel is a beautiful structure architecturally. The students always have extraordinary music program, with violins and cellos, some of them are even music majors.

Afterwards we gathered with students for coffee and conversation. It is always wonderful to have this opportunity to be together with these young Catholics who are the future of our church.

- – -

And then, on Sunday afternoon, I attended the Anti-Defamation League’s "A Nation of Immigrants Community Seder" held at UMass Boston.

My understanding is that this annual tradition has its roots in the Seder meal started many years ago by Lenny Zakim with the Black community. And later on he also organized a Catholic – Jewish Seder.

This Seder grows out of that tradition, and is focused on building connections with all those who have experienced the journey from bondage into freedom, from oppression to dignity.

Rabbi Elaine Zecher and Cantor Roy Einhorn from Temple Israel in Boston lead us through the program explaining the steps of the Seder meal. There were also performances of a Chinese Lion Dance by the Gund Kwok Dance Troupe, and secular and religious songs from the Boston Children’s Chorus.

Throughout the Seder, guest speakers, community leaders and guests talked about their experiences in this nation of immigrants.

I spoke about my own experience of the first time I attended a Seder meal. It was organized by Rabbi Leon Klenicki, and Argentine Rabbi who was a very good friend of mine.

I also said how particularly important it is for Catholics to understand how the Eucharist is inserted in salvation history, its connection to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and Jesus’s celebration of the Last Supper.

- – -

That evening I headed down to Washington for several days of USCCB administrative meetings. We had meetings with the committees of clergy, consecrated life, vocations and pro-life as well as the administrative session.

Since Cardinal DiNardo, who is the chairman of the Pro-Life Committee, is presently making his ad limina visit, as incoming chairman of that committee I was asked to lead that meeting. At the end of the meeting, we had an interesting presentation by the working group on the dignity of the human person. It featured interviews with priests focusing around the Church’s pro-life and social gospel teachings and how they are received (and sometimes misperceived) and the ways we can best communicate them.

Obviously, the new HHS regulations were very central to many of the discussions and conversations among the bishops. At the close of our meeting, the Administrative Committee also issued a very informative document on the issue of the HHS mandate.

I am also pleased that Bishop Lori’s Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty will soon issue a document on the issue the broader issue of religious liberty.

- – -

I returned to Boston on Wednesday and was very happy to be visited that day by Father Malcolm Dyer, the provincial of the Don Orione Fathers, who was visiting from Rome. He was accompanied by Father Miroslaw Kowalczyk, the pastor at St. Joseph – St. Lazarus Church in East Boston.

Since Father Malcolm happened to be in Boston they thought they would come and give an update on some the work of the Don Orione Fathers here in the archdiocese and elsewhere. It was a pleasure to see him.

- – -

Then yesterday, just as we met with superiors of the women’s religious communities last week, I also met with the superiors of the men’s communities.

Once again, Sister Marian Batho did such a wonderful job coordinating and organizing the gathering.

I joined them for prayer and lunch, followed by a presentation by Father David Couturier on the very important issue of pastoral planning.

The day also gave me a chance to express to them how very grateful we are for their orders’ presence here in our archdiocese.

Their various spiritualties and charisms enrich us all and are such a valuable contribution to the work of the Church here.

- – -

And, of course we couldn’t finish this week’s post without a mention of St. Patrick’s Day!

While in Washington this week, I visited the shrine of Mary Queen of Ireland Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

There are two inscriptions in the chapel that I thought would be very appropriate as we prepare to celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day.

The first is a quote from St. Columban: "For all we Irish living on the world’s rim are disciples of Saints Peter and Paul"

Likewise the following medieval Irish prayer to our Lady is on the wall:

Holy Mary, if thou wilt, hear thy suppliant;

I put myself under the shelter of thy shield.

When falling in the slippery path,

thou art my smooth supporting hand staff.

There is no hound in fleetness or in chase,

north wind or rapid river,

as quick as the Mother of Christ to the bed of death,

to those who are entitled to her kindly protection.

Amen.

I wish you all a happy and blessed St. Patrick’s Day,

Cardinal Seán

I celebrated Masses at two parishes to personally launch the Appeal: Saturday at Holy Family in Amesbury and Sunday at Sacred Heart in Middleborough. In most of the parishes I was present through my video homily, but here they got the live archbishop!

After both Masses, I had an opportunity to meet the parishioners at both parishes.

I’d like to share with you some photos of the Mass in Amesbury:

And also some from the Mass in Middleborough:

At Sacred Heart, they have a very active St. Vincent de Paul Society, which does wonderful work helping those in need.

It was very encouraging to see the vitality and enthusiasm of the parish life at both parishes. It is just this type of vitality that your gift to the Appeal helps foster.

I urge all of you to do your part in supporting the Appeal and help us continue the saving mission of the Church!

- – -

Saturday evening, The New England Philharmonic with the Chorus pro Musica, the Providence Singers, the Boston Children’s Chorus presented the War Requiem at the Cathedral.

We had a full house of almost 2000 people there. This was a wonderful follow up to the concert that was presented at the cathedral last month by Ronan Tynan.

These cultural events afford the opportunity to invite people into the Cathedral.

I was asked to make some welcoming remarks, so I took the opportunity to speak a little bit about what Holy Cross Cathedral is for us and also some of the activities that are carried on there: the two schools; the Cathedral Cares program, which provides health screenings and other care; the food pantry; the various ministries to the Hispanic and Ethiopian community; and St. Helena House. I also spoke about the creation of the Rollins Square housing development which was developed through the Archdiocese’s Planning Office for Urban Affairs. The Rollins Square development has provided affordable housing for many moderate and low income families. All of this is just part of the life of the Cathedral, but the main reason we are there is to give witness to our faith in God and to work to build a civilization of love.

I also spoke a little about the War Requiem itself, which is based on the Catholic Requiem Mass and poetry by Wilfred Owen, a young British soldier who died in World War I, just a week before the armistice. The requiem was composed by Benjamin Britten for the re-consecration of Covington Cathedral in England which was destroyed in the bombings of the World War II. It is a cry for peace, and I said it was much like Pope Paul VI’s dramatic appeal at the United Nations “War never again!”

- – -

Sunday night I was very pleased to have dinner with Msgr. William Helmick to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination.

I had been in Papua New Guinea on the date of his actual anniversary, and I did call him from there, but I wanted to have the opportunity to celebrate with him in person.

- – -

On Monday I was visited by the president of St. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Dr. William Fahey.

St. Thomas Moore is a small Catholic college in Merrimack, New Hampshire, where the traditions of the Church and spiritual formation are upper-most in their curriculum.

They are planning to expand into the archdiocese and Dr. Fahey came to share some of their plans with me. We are very happy with the prospect of their coming to the archdiocese.

This is just one of the ways that the college is expanding.

St. Thomas More College has aquired  Sophia Press, which provides a great service to the Catholic community by publishing many of our spiritual classics, as well as Crisis Magazine. I was very pleased that the college has taken on these ministries.

- – -

Monday I was visited by Dr. Peter Kelly and Deb O’Hara-Rusckowski, who came to speak to me about the desire of the Archbishop of Cap Haitien to begin a Catholic nursing school. We had a very good meeting and Dr. Kelly also wanted to give me an update on what is happening with Sacré Coeur, the hospital that is run by the Order of Malta. The hospital had to expand following the Haitian earthquake in January 2010 to accommodate the victims and a number of staff members of St. Elizabeth’s and other hospitals continue to travel there to assist them in their work.

- – -

Tuesday I met with the Major Superiors of Women Religious in the archdiocese.  We periodically hold these meetings with he leaders of both men’s and women’s religious communities to have an opportunity to be together with them and update them on some of the happenings in the archdiocese. 

We are very grateful to Sister Marian Batho who organized the gathering and does such work as our Delegate for Religious.

During the day together, we were very pleased to have a report from Marjean Perhot, the director of Refugee and Immigration Services at Catholic Charities.  She spoke about issues affecting newcomers to our country and ways we can enhance our ministry to them.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

It is an extraordinary sign of the Church’s growth and the ministry of evangelization.

It is also a wonderful opportunity for these new Catholics to feel part of the larger Church and stress to them that they are not just joining a parish community, but are becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church throughout their diocese and throughout the world. It is always a very joy filled occasion for the new Catholics who participate.

We also see this as a great reminder to all the parishes of the need to be a welcoming and invitational community, inviting people to a life of discipleship in our Catholic parishes.

- – -

That evening, I had dinner with John Garvey, who was in Boston to give a talk to students at Harvard University’s Catholic Center. He was accompanied by his vice president for institutional advancement, Ken DeDominicis.

John Garvey is the president of the pontifical Catholic University of America and many will remember that he was formerly the Dean of Boston College Law School. He is an outstanding Catholic layman. During the dinner we had a chance to discuss with him the HHS contraceptive mandate and other situations in our country.

President Garvey, Ambassador Mary Anne Glendon and other scholars have written this very thoughtful letter on the issue which I would like to share with you:

Today the Obama administration has offered what it has styled as an “accommodation” for religious institutions in the dispute over the HHS mandate for coverage (without cost sharing) of abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. The administration will now require that all insurance plans cover (“cost free”) these same products and services.  Once a religiously-affiliated (or believing individual) employer purchases insurance (as it must, by law), the insurance company will then contact the insured employees to advise them that the terms of the policy include coverage for these objectionable things.

This so-called “accommodation” changes nothing of moral substance and fails to remove the assault on religious liberty and the rights of conscience which gave rise to the controversy.  It is certainly no compromise.  The reason for the original bipartisan uproar was the administration’s insistence that religious employers, be they institutions or individuals, provide insurance that covered services they regard as gravely immoral and unjust.  Under the new rule, the government still coerces religious institutions and individuals to purchase insurance policies that include the very same services.
It is no answer to respond that the religious employers are not “paying” for this aspect of the insurance coverage.  For one thing, it is unrealistic to suggest that insurance companies will not pass the costs of these additional services on to the purchasers.  More importantly, abortion-drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives are a necessary feature of the policy purchased by the religious institution or believing individual.  They will only be made available to those who are insured under such policy, by virtue of the terms of the policy.
It is morally obtuse for the administration to suggest (as it does) that this is a meaningful accommodation of religious liberty because the insurance company will be the one to inform the employee that she is entitled to the embryo-destroying “five day after pill” pursuant to the insurance contract purchased by the religious employer.  It does not matter who explains the terms of the policy purchased by the religiously affiliated or observant employer.  What matters is what services the policy covers.
The simple fact is that the Obama administration is compelling religious people and institutions who are employers to purchase a health insurance contract that provides abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization.  This is a grave violation of religious freedom and cannot stand.  It is an insult to the intelligence of Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience to imagine that they will accept as assault on their religious liberty if only it is covered up by a cheap accounting trick.
Finally, it bears noting that by sustaining the original narrow exemptions for churches, auxiliaries, and religious orders, the administration has effectively admitted that the new policy (like the old one) amounts to a grave infringement on religious liberty.  The administration still fails to understand that institutions that employ and serve others of different or no faith are still engaged in a religious mission and, as such, enjoy the protections of the First Amendment.

- – -

On Monday, I went to visit Bay State Correctional Center, a medium security facility in Norfolk.

With us was Deacon Jim Greer, who heads our prison and hospital ministries; Father Tomas, a young Polish Jesuit who was helping out there; Sister Ruth, a lay Dominican sister who is the chaplain there; and Deacon Dave from St. Jude’s parish who also helps out at the prison.

We had an opportunity to have lunch with some of the staff and volunteers. Afterwards, we celebrated Mass with the inmates.

- – -

That evening, I went for Vespers and dinner with the Redemptorist Community at Mission Church.

Two of the priests there were pastors in my first diocese, Father Collins and Father Furey.

They also have a wonderful group of seminarians who were there. Many are from the West Indies and Vietnam. Some are from New York, and some are part of the community here and are studying at St. John’s Seminary.

- – -

On Tuesday, I had a visit from Chai Ling, a former student leader of the Tiananmen Square movement who is now a local business woman.

She came to speak to me about her non-profit group, All Girls Allowed, which aims to educate people on the effects of China’s One Child Policy on women — both born and unborn.

Of course, most of us are aware of the One Child Policy, but the statistics she presented were startling.

For example, the materials say that there are 35,000 forced abortions in China every day and that 80 percent of the women there have had abortions. And the situation is not limited just to abortion, beyond that there is the problem of infanticide, child abandonment, and forced sterilization and the number of people who have died because of these procedures.

Beyond education, they have many programs designed to help combat the situation including providing financial support to families that choose to keep baby girls and educate orphaned or abandoned girls.

It is fascinating to see what she has accomplished and that this has been brought about because of her Evangelical Christian faith. She gave a very moving testimony, telling us “For us Chinese, when we learned what we had done and how terrible this is, the Gospel is not just good news but great news — that God will forgive us.”

She also presented me with a copy of her book “A Heart for Freedom”, in which she tells her story of leading the movement in Tiananmen Square, her eventual escape to the United States and building a life here as well as her faith and the attempt to find meaning to all that she had gone through.

The story is very compelling and I urge you to find out more about this organization.

- – -

That day, I also had a visit by Rev. Laura Everett, president of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.

She was accompanied by Father David Michael and Vito Nicastro of our Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Of course, last week we saw the passing of Father Ed O’Flaherty who, for many years, was head of that office. Rev. Everett came to see me to express her condolences and to discuss how we will move forward with our relationship with the Council of Churches.

- – -

That evening, Bishop Fleming, from the Diocese of Killala and representing the Irish Bishops Conference, was in Boston for a fundraiser supporting the International Eucharistic Congress that will be held in Dublin in June.

Also with us was Father Kevin Doran, the Secretary General for the Eucharistic Congress.

Kevin and Rita Gill,  Jack Shaughnessy and Bishop John Fleming

It was held at the BC club and a number of people attended to learn more about the event.

This is the 50th Eucharistic Congress. Every three years, a Eucharistic Congress is held at a different site in the world, the last one being held in Québec.

This is the second time that a Eucharistic Congresses will be held in Ireland. The first was in the 1930s, and was one of the biggest international events up to that point in the history of the new Irish Free State, which had just been set up after the Easter Revolution. That was an extraordinary event in the history of Ireland.

In light of the many recent difficulties and crisis that the Church in Ireland is experiencing, it is hoped that this Eucharistic Congress will help further healing and bring people together around the central mysteries of our faith.

- – -

Thursday, we had a farewell Mass and reception to thank Jim McDonough for his service as Chancellor of the archdiocese.

He came to us in a time when the diocese was in economic free fall and, thanks to his diligence and very careful work, the archdiocese is now a much better place and moving forward.

We are very grateful to him. It was a labor of love. He is a man of faith who loves the Church and wanted to be a part of this process of recovery. We wish him good health and happiness as he moves on to the next stage of his life.

- – -

Finally, as many of you may be aware, this weekend we launch our annual Catholic Appeal with the theme “The Good Samaritan is You”.

I will be celebrating Mass in Amesbury and Middleborough this weekend as part of our launch event and the Vicar general will be celebrating masses and three parishes in the western part of the diocese, as well.

Almost every aspect of what we do as a Church is supported in one aspect or another through your gift to the appeal.

I urge you to be generous in supporting this effort which enables us to carry on the work of the archdiocese.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

I hope you have all had a good start to this season of Lent. For us as Catholics, Lent is a very special time, a time for us to renew our baptismal commitment, our life of prayer, of service, of a sense of mission and vocation. It is a baptismal retreat for us.

I felt very privileged to begin Lent this year with the Holy Father in Rome.

He had a very beautiful message for us to begin this very important season I want to share with you an excerpt of his message here:

Concern for others entails desiring what is good for them from every point of view: physical, moral and spiritual. Contemporary culture seems to have lost the sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to reaffirm that good does exist and will prevail, because God is "generous and acts generously" (Ps 119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood and communion. Responsibility towards others thus means desiring and working for the good of others, in the hope that they too will become receptive to goodness and its demands. Concern for others means being aware of their needs. Sacred Scripture warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort of "spiritual anesthesia" which numbs us to the suffering of others. The Evangelist Luke relates two of Jesus’ parables by way of example. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite "pass by", indifferent to the presence of the man stripped and beaten by the robbers (cf. Lk 10:30-32). In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of the poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his very door (cf. Lk 16:19). Both parables show examples of the opposite of "being concerned", of looking upon others with love and compassion. What hinders this humane and loving gaze towards our brothers and sisters? Often it is the possession of material riches and a sense of sufficiency, but it can also be the tendency to put our own interests and problems above all else. We should never be incapable of "showing mercy" towards those who suffer. Our hearts should never be so wrapped up in our affairs and problems that they fail to hear the cry of the poor. Humbleness of heart and the personal experience of suffering can awaken within us a sense of compassion and empathy. "The upright understands the cause of the weak, the wicked has not the wit to understand it" (Prov 29:7). We can then understand the beatitude of "those who mourn" (Mt 5:5), those who in effect are capable of looking beyond themselves and feeling compassion for the suffering of others. Reaching out to others and opening our hearts to their needs can become an opportunity for salvation and blessedness.

"Being concerned for each other" also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten:fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation. Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This was not the case in the early Church or in those communities that are truly mature in faith, those which are concerned not only for the physical health of their brothers and sisters, but also for their spiritual health and ultimate destiny. The Scriptures tell us: "Rebuke the wise and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more" (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal correction – elenchein – is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11). The Church’s tradition has included "admonishing sinners" among the spiritual works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other. As the Apostle Paul says: "If one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of gentleness; and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the same way" (Gal 6:1). In a world pervaded by individualism, it is essential to rediscover the importance of fraternal correction, so that together we may journey towards holiness. Scripture tells us that even "the upright falls seven times" (Prov 24:16); all of us are weak and imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service, then, to help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord’s ways. There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and admonishes, which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives (cf. Lk 22:61), as God has done and continues to do with each of us.

(You can read the full message at the Vatican website.)

- – -

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent much of this week in Rome for meetings with the Holy Father and the consistory for the creation of new cardinals.

On Friday, the day before the consistory, he called the cardinals together to reflect on the theme of the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith. Talks were given by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who is the new president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. It was an opportunity for dialogue with the cardinals and we prayed Midday Prayer and Vespers together with the Holy Father. At the end the Holy Father shared with us some of his reflections.

It was a very moving experience to be together with the Holy Father and the other cardinals. Cardinal Dolan gave a very good intervention, talking about the new evangelization, and Archbishop Fisichella spoke about the plans of the pontifical council for the Year of Faith and going forward.

- – -

On Saturday, we celebrated the consistory in the morning using the new rites, which involved giving in one ceremony the biretta, ring and titular church that the new cardinals receive.  Of course among them were Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, who up until now has been Archbishop of Baltimore, and is now heading the Order of the Holy Sepulcher and now will reside in Rome; and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is the Archbishop of New York and currently the president of the U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops.

At the end of the ceremony we were very happy to hear the announcement of new canonizations, including Blesseds Kateri Tekakwitha and Mother Marianne Cope.

- – -

That afternoon, there was a reception at the North American College to honor our two new American cardinals.

With all the American cardinals that attended the reception at the North American College

In the evening, there was the traditional blessings and greetings by the new Cardinals.

- – -

The following day was the Mass of Thanksgiving with the Holy Father. The Holy Father transferred the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter to Sunday because otherwise it would have fallen on Ash Wednesday. So, it was a very beautiful way to mark the consistory of the new cardinals.

One of the photos I want to share with you is one I took of the statue of St. Peter in the Basilica, in which St. Peter is vested in a papal tiara and a cope for the celebration.

Also, in this photo, you can see numerous candles placed on the Chair of St. Peter itself and around the altar of the chair, highlighting the feast day of the Chair of St. Peter.

- – -

On Ash Wednesday I celebrated Mass in my titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria.

I was very happy to have Deacon Eric Bennett and seminarian Thomas McDonnell accompany me, along with Msgr. Steve Avila.

- – -

During my stay, we were also able to meet for dinner with two priests of the archdiocese or currently in Rome studying, Father Richard Mehm and Father Kevin Toomey, who are here for the semester. They are studying at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education run by the North American College. In addition, the consistory coincided with the visit of Father Bill Dunn to Rome, who joined us for dinner there.

- – -

I would like to finish my post today asking you all to pray for the candidates and catechumens who are preparing to enter into full communion with the Church this Easter.

We will be gathering with them on Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, where we celebrate the Rite of the Election and Call to Continuing Conversion.

In a time when our Church can seem marginalized, and even despised by some, it is always inspiring to see so many people anxious to share our Catholic faith.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Obviously, the Catholic Church is very concerned about the issue of religious liberty and the interior life of the Church. We hope this crisis will give us the opportunity, through dialogue, to clarify what the rights of religious people are in United States so that we will be able to strengthen religious freedom, which is the bedrock of our democracy.

This country is founded on the principle of religious freedom and it is very heartening to see that so many people from a broad spectrum of political thought have come to see this as a very significant moment, one that demands the attention of the American people.

- – -

This week, I attended many different meetings, but the crucial activities of the week revolved around our annual vocation retreats.

We had 60 men this year between the retreats at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary and St. John’s Seminary. Many of these were college students and recent college graduates who have an interest in discerning a priestly vocation.

I always give the retreat conferences and then we have a discussion in which the retreatants can speak with seminarians and hear their experiences.

Realizing that young people do not often receive a lot of encouragement when considering a vocation to the priesthood, in my talk I tried to assure them that many people the community are praying for them and that their interior life their participation in the community of faith and fidelity spiritual direction and prayer are all important elements in the process of discernment.

I encouraged those who are so inclined, to visit the seminary, which has an excellent menu for deepening one’s relationship to the Lord and discovering what God’s will is in our life. This, of course, needs to be the focus of any vocational discernment. We must discern not what we want to do, but what God is asking us to do.

I also always try to encourage the men, in their interior life, to discover God’s love for us. That love is what gives us the courage to do difficult things and make difficult decisions — knowing that, despite our limitations, our weaknesses and our human frailty, God is there for us. I tell them that this should be a source of strength and motivation in making a vocational decision.

On the last day of the retreat for St. John’s Seminary, we take the participants the closing Mass at the seminary and they receive a tour.

This has always been important source of vocations in the archdiocese and we are very grateful to all the pastors and others who sent men on the retreat, as well as to all those are praying for an increase of vocations in the archdiocese.

- – -

Yesterday I arrived in Rome, for a meeting of cardinals with the Holy Father that took place earlier today, in which we discussed the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith.

Also, as many of you know, tomorrow will be the consistory for the creation of new cardinals, followed by the Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday.

There are two Americans, of course, in the group: Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan and Cardinal-elect Edwin O’Brien.

Cardinal-elect Dolan arriving for the meeting…

… and Cardinal-elect O’Brien

They are each well-known both here in United States and internationally, and they will certainly strengthen the College of Cardinals. We congratulate them and I look forward to relating the details of my trip to you upon my return.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

In fact, I think the first three priests that I ordained have become bishops – Bishop Elliott Thomas, Bishop Adalberto Martinez and now Bishop Lippert.

With Bishop Elect  Lippert at Mount Hagen airport in Papua New Guinea

Bishop Don worked with me as a seminarian at the Centro Catolico in Washington D.C., during the time he was a deacon. In fact, at my episcopal ordination he was one of the deacons who held the book over my head. After I was ordained a Bishop, he was the first man I ordained to the priesthood.

Bishop Don worked for a long time with the immigrants at the Centro Catolico. He then generously went to Papua New Guinea when they needed a philosophy teacher at their seminary, because the philosophy teacher, Father William Fey, had been elected provincial. So, he went to fill that position for three years, but Father Fey was then made the Bishop of the Diocese of Kimbe, also in Papua New Guinea. Don stayed on and has become Bishop of Mendi, which was the original mission entrusted to the St. Augustine Fathers of the Capuchin Friars.

When our men arrived there was nothing, not even a church. But today there are about 150,000 Catholics. There are 55 capuchins there, half of them native-born.

We arrived at the city of Mount Hagen by plane and travelled to Mendi by car, a five hour trip over dirt roads.

We were greeted by Father Cushing, an Irish missionary who  is  a distant relative to Cardinal Cushing

During the drive, as we would come to the villages, the natives would come out of their houses to greet us and sing.

Everywhere we went they would give us flowers and headbands.

In Papua New Guinea there are also native orders of religious women like the Franciscan sisters that were founded by the first Bishop with the help of the Ogdensburg Franciscans from Indiana who acted as mentors for the sisters.

There are about 35 sisters total, though not all of them are in the picture, obviously.

The Cathedral, which you can see in some of the pictures, is a large green building. It was built by a lay missionary from Ireland, who used to make sewing machines.

He built them a beautiful Cathedral. They incorporated a lot of the native features into it.

In the interior picture of the Cathedral you can see the woven mats on the walls in the kina shells around the crucifix. (The kina shell was originally the currency of the local people.)

The tabernacle was inserted into model of a hut of the sort that the native people used to live in.

The statue is Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd, who was the patroness of the Cathedral

Friday, I spent most of the day studying pidgin because I had to celebrate the ordination in pidgin.

There are about 600 languages on the island, so the development of a lingua franca called pidgin was very important for communications. The different tribes have different customs, dress and languages.

One of the Friars commented that just a few years ago it would have been impossible to bring these different tribes together because there would have been mutual fear and hostility. Their entrance into the church has brought about reconciliation and enabled them to live together in peace with each other, in the solidarity of their new family, the Church.

I celebrated in pidgin when I was there after World Youth Day in Sydney  to give a retreat. So, this is my second trip to Papua New Guinea and my second time celebrating in pidgin but now I can say I’ve celebrated ordinations in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English and now pidgin!

Saturday was the Mass of ordination. The Mass took place outside the cathedral because there were thousands of people in attendance.

The book of the Gospels was carried in procession. It is covered with  fern leaves to signify it is of great value.

Father Don’s relatives were unable to come from the Pittsburgh area but we were joined by some very dear friends from Portugal, Joao and his daughter Matilda from Lisbon.

Joao and Matilda presenting the gifts at the ordination

There was a Vespers service the night before, in which Father Don made his oath of fidelity and the profession of faith and also blessed the instruments.

That was presided over by the local Metropolitan, Bishop Douglass Young,  Bishop of Mount Hagen, who is a Divine Word missionary.

He was very gracious in offering us hospitality as we passed through the city, both as we were arriving and leaving. The Divine Word Missionaries have been working in Papua New Guinea, particularly in the coastal areas of the country, for about 100 years. Like the Capuchins, there was something of a German connection, because it had been a German territory for a time. But after World War II it was given over to the care of the United Nations and made a protectorate of Australia. It is now independent.

A map of Papua New Guinea

On Sunday Bishop Don celebrated his first Mass. I was very pleased to be there for that and then I departed for home the following day.

The week before I arrived, there was a terrible mudslide earthquake in the parish area. They also had a coup and a ferry boat sank coming from Kimbe  and a relative of one of our Friars went missing. So it was a very eventful week, but among the tragedies was the great joy of the ordination of the new bishop.

Until my next post.

In Christ

Cardinal Seán

This week, I am visiting Papua New Guinea for the ordination of the new bishop of the Diocese of Mendi, Bishop Donald Lippert. Don is one of my oldest and dearest Capuchin friends. I’ve known him many years and, in fact, he was the first priest I ordained after becoming a bishop. As I say, you know you are getting long in the tooth when a man you ordained a priest becomes a bishop!

As you read this we will still be in the midst of the ordination events, so I’ve decided to save the details and the rest of my photos of my trip for next week.

Instead, I want to share with you some information on some items that I think all Catholics should be made aware of.

I want to begin with a message to all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Boston that I released earlier this week:

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Allow me this opportunity to share with you important information concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies. The Church has had to struggle against regulations like those now proposed by HHS in several states. This HHS ruling would expand and intensify a situation which is already very harmful.

In its ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled and must be prepared either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

We cannot simply accept this unjust law now proposed at the federal level. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

In order that we make every effort to respond to this proposed restriction on religious liberty I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I recommend that you visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website, www.usccb.org/conscience , to learn more about this assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration’s decision.

With the assurance of my prayers for you and all your loved ones, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Cardinal Seán O’Malley , OFM Cap.
Archbishop of Boston

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I have also asked our Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization, Janet Benestad, to share her reflections on a homily I have prepared for the upcoming World Day of the Sick focusing on the effort to legalize physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Janet is working very closely with us on our efforts to educate people on this very important issue and we are very grateful for all she is doing.

Doctor-prescribed Suicide: Bad Medicine for Massachusetts

Janet Benestad

Secretary for Faith Formation & Evangelization

On Saturday and Sunday, February 11 and 12, Catholics around the world will celebrate World Day of Sick, inaugurated by Pope John Paul II twenty years ago to pray for the sick and dying, and their caregivers. Catholics who attend Masses in the Archdiocese of Boston will hear a specially prepared homily by Cardinal Seán O’Malley on doctor-prescribed suicide. The Cardinal is speaking to all Catholics about a newly proposed law that would decriminalize assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Should the law pass, Massachusetts will become only the third state in the United States to allow doctors to write lethal prescriptions for the terminally ill at the patient’s request, the other states being Oregon and Washington.

“We are called to comfort the sick,” says Cardinal Seán, “not to help them take their own lives. As the Catholic Bishops of the United States said in their recent statement on assisted suicide: ‘True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead.’”

What is this new, so-called “Death with Dignity Act,” and why is the Archbishop of Boston speaking about it? If passed, the Act will allow Massachusetts residents diagnosed with a terminal disease — likely to cause death in six months — to request lethal drugs from their doctor in order to end their lives.

Right now the initiative is before the Massachusetts legislature. If the legislature does not act before May 2012, the “Death with Dignity Act” will appear on the ballot next November as a referendum. If passed, the meaning of healthcare in Massachusetts will change — from a system that treats illness, and comforts those beyond treatment, to one that accepts the possibility that some people, namely those diagnosed as terminally ill, might be better off dead!

Proponents of the law want citizens of Massachusetts to believe that this is a compassionate response to the plight of terminally ill patients. People who support the law say that fear of the dying process, abandonment, and loss of control warrant a mechanism to allow people who are dying anyway to choose the time and manner of their death. These are powerful arguments. But, says the Cardinal, none of them justifies suicide.

First, he says, compassion by its very nature does not seek the elimination of the person who is suffering. Suicide, even done in the name of compassion, eliminates the person and results in great suffering for those left behind. Saying that we should entertain a request for suicide goes against the strongest instincts of good people to care for the sick and dying and to safeguard their need for dignity, support, privacy and love. Second, suicide does not promote true human autonomy and control. In fact, it is a choice to end all choices. And, this proposed law will create a legal standard in Massachusetts that views certain persons — those who are terminally ill — as less valuable than others. It will become legal to facilitate their deaths, rather than to seek to prevent them.

A further complication of the proposed law is that it is fraught with incidental dangers. While it requires two doctors to say that a patient is mentally capable of requesting lethal drugs, it does not require a psychiatric evaluation. While it requires two witnesses to say the patient is capable of making decisions, the witnesses may be total strangers to the patient and at least one may be the patient’s heir. In fact, an heir and a total stranger may testify to a patient’s mental capacity. Depressed individuals may be cleared to receive the lethal medications, which may be taken at the time they are prescribed or kept indefinitely with no controls over their use or disposal. It is recommended, but not required, that patients requesting lethal drugs notify relatives. A young adult may be diagnosed as terminal, and receive lethal medication—all without notification of his or her parents. The prescribing doctor may not be present at the death; in fact, no one need be present at all. And, the death certificate cannot list lethal drugs as the cause of death but, instead, must list the underlying disease.

Make no mistake. Even if safeguards against these dangers where in place, suicide is still a tragedy and something that should be opposed by responsible citizens. Nevertheless, the law as it stands will almost certainly create pressure on the terminally and incurably ill to see their lives as burdens. Given the stress on the economic and medical systems in our nation, it is possible that care at the end of life, under this law, will deteriorate quickly for those with terminal diagnoses into the cheaper, easier course of taking legal drugs. A woman in Oregon, where assisted suicide was passed in 1994, received a letter from Oregon State Health Insurance saying that her insurance would pay for lethal drugs, but would not cover her chemotherapy, even though she had never requested assistance with suicide.

As Catholics, we have a more excellent way to prepare for death. We believe that death is the doorway to eternal life and that a life well-lived is the best preparation for what the ancient prayers call a “happy death.” For Catholics, hope is not limited to this world alone. We see our role as caregivers to the dying — we walk the journey with the sick and incurably ill, comfort them, relieve their pain, respect their dignity and surround them with profound love. We see caregivers as keepers of a sacred trust — to guard and keep the sick and the dying each day as well as possible until the moment when they die.

Still, there are practical reasons why doctor-prescribed suicide has so much support these days. People fear overtreatment and its debilitating and burdensome effects. They fear pain, dementia, and other conditions that accompany the dying process. Catholics often misunderstand their own responsibilities when faced with a terminal disease. They think that they must refuse pain-killing drugs. In this they are mistaken. Catholic directives clearly state that a sick person may have as much medication as needed to alleviate pain, even if the drugs hasten death. Also, a person may refuse any treatment that is deemed burdensome or likely to have no benefit. For example, an elderly person diagnosed with cancer may forego chemotherapy. Even food and water, which are considered ordinary treatments and may not be withdrawn in order to bring about death, may be removed if they are burdensome or without benefit. For example, a gastrointestinal tube that causes repeated infections may be withdrawn.

Cardinal Seán is eager to educate Catholics in Massachusetts against the false arguments and pretenses of those who promote legalized suicide. The bill itself does not even use the word “suicide.” Proponents of the bill talk about “aid in dying” or A-I-D! Massachusetts residents who signed the petition before it could go before the legislature were told that they were supporting “compassion for the terminally ill.” In fact, the major organization behind this effort recently changed its name from the Hemlock Society to the euphemistic “Compassion and Choices.”

Cardinal Seán is calling Catholics to be “leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives . . .” He is asking them “. . . to join with other concerned citizens, including disability rights advocates and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their hardships.” He is calling upon the members of the healing professions to resist the temptation to resort to a “quick fix of an overdose of drugs” in favor of the ancient oath of the true healing professional: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone, nor will I advise such a plan.”

When you attend Mass on February 11 or 12, please listen carefully to Cardinal Seán’s World Day of the Sick homily and read the materials that will be distributed in your parish. A specially prepared in-pew card will help you to follow along as the Cardinal lays out the reasons why suicide is always a tragedy, even when it is done to relieve pain and suffering.

Visit our website www.suicideisalwaysatragedy.org to preview Cardinal Seán’s homily and to get more information on this grotesque threat to the elderly and the sick. Finally, pray for the sick and dying and for their caregivers. Visit the sick, which is one of the corporal works of mercy. Pray that people in the medical and legal professions, and that all citizens of Massachusetts, will resist this new threat to the dignity of all persons. As Cardinal Seán says, “A vote for doctor-prescribed suicide is a vote for suicide!”

The proposed new law is little more than an illusion born of a false sense of human autonomy. As modern medicine became more and more effective, we were tempted to put off death by using every therapy available to delay it and, sometimes, in so doing, to cause misery to patients from which any reasonable person naturally recoils. To remedy that situation, we now are tempted to hasten death, or to determine for ourselves, and by ourselves, when to die in order to avoid the uncertainty and dependence of created beings. But created beings we are! There is no escaping our dependency on God ultimately, and on others to care for us in our most vulnerable state.

Know that our society will be judged by the way in which we care for, or fail to care for, the sick, the terminally ill and dying. As Blessed John Paul II said, “True compassion leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear” (The Gospel of Life, no. 66). On this World Day of the Sick, let us join with those among us who are ill and particularly those who are near the end of life to share their burden, to relieve their suffering, to comfort them and to build a civilization of love—a love that overcomes even death!

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Finally, as you know, this week was Catholic Schools Week and all the schools in our archdiocese celebrated with numerous events and commemorations that highlight the important contributions of Catholic schools to the students, their families, and to all of society.

I am pleased the Scot Landry, Secretary for Catholic Media; Mary Grassa O’Neill, Secretary for Education; and their teams were able to collaborate on a series of four radio broadcasts on The Good Catholic Life show, highlighting some of our Catholic schools.

On Monday, Scot was joined by Father Paul O’Brien, Pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence, and Sister Lucy Veilleux, Principal of Lawrence Catholic Academy, which is only two years old, but builds on more than 100 years of Catholic education in Lawrence. They discussed the challenges they face in the poorest city in Massachusetts, where 75 percent of children come from single-parent homes and the crime rate is skyrocketing. While the public school system has been placed in receivership by the state, Lawrence Catholic Academy has a 100 percent graduation rate. They reveal the secrets to their success, as well as the excellent work they’ve done in bringing together two parochial schools with long traditions of their own into one school in a very short period of time.

Father Paul O’Brien, Sister Lucy Veilleux and Scot Landry from Lawrence Catholic Academy

On Tuesday, Scot and Father Chris O’Connor interviewed Father Michael Drea, Pastor of St. Paul Parish in Cambridge, and William McIvor and John Robinson, headmaster and music director, respectively, of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School. While boys’ choir schools are a very old tradition in the Church dating back hundreds of years, our archdiocesan choir school is the only one of its kind left in the United States. This unique school not only provides the boys in grades 5 through 8 with a college-level music theory education and musical skills including singing, piano, and handbells, they also ensure the students receive a superior academic education as well. The boys sing at Masses at St. Paul’s every Tuesday through Sunday, and if you’re ever in Cambridge, you owe it to yourself to attend one of these Masses.

Father Michael Drea, John Robinson and Bill McIvor from the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School

Wednesday Scot and Father Matt Williams then interviewed Dr. John McEwan and Cathy Demers, President and Head of the Religion Department, respectively, at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton. When one in six students are members of the school’s liturgical choir and when students call the all-school Masses the “cool” event of the week, it’s obvious there is something special going on at this school. Many priests speak of how wonderful it is to celebrate Mass at Cardinal Spellman and I hear there is even a waiting list for celebrants! The spiritual fervor is matched by academic excellence and Cardinal Spellman High School is on the cutting edge of technology. They have announced a new Apple iPad initiative that will put one of these amazing devices in the hands of every teacher and student, opening up the possibility of replacing bulky, expensive, and quickly outdated textbooks with ebooks, apps, and more innovations that haven’t even been imagined yet. They are the first Catholic school to take this step and second only to Burlington High School in Massachusetts.

Dr. John MacEwan and Cathy Demers from Cardinal Spellman join Scot Landry

On Friday, Scot, Mary, and Jim Walsh, Associate Superintendent for Administration and Finance, wrapped up Catholic Schools Week as they talked about how the Catholic Schools Office is working with all the schools to strengthen Catholic identity, heighten academic excellence, and improve financial vitality to ensure a vigorous future for Catholic education in our archdiocese.

Mary Grassa O’Neill, Superintendent of Schools, joins Father Mark O’Connell and Scot Landry

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

I celebrated the Mass and preached. It was an honor to be able to do that for such a great religious, a real apostle to the people.

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That evening, I was back in Boston for the annual meeting of the St. James Society.

Father Kevin Hayes made his last report to us as director of the society.

Father Hayes

We are very grateful to him for the excellent work he did as director and we look forward to the arrival of the new director in the spring, Father David Costello from the Diocese of Limerick.

During the meeting, we were happy to hear reports of the wonderful work that is taking place through the St. James Society and the extraordinary support the Catholics in the archdiocese are giving to that ministry.

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Then, on Saturday morning, we had the ordination of seven transitional deacons, "men of good repute" and “full of the Holy Spirit,” like the original seven deacons of the Gospel.

As I said in my homily, the Apostles were called “the Twelve” and the deacons were called “the Seven.” And we had our own “Magnificent Seven” to be ordained Saturday morning at the Cathedral.

Deacons Michael Sheehan FPO, Adrian A. Milik, John Luong, John Healy, Matthew Guidi, Felipe Gonzales and Eric Cadin

It was a very beautiful celebration and we pray that the Lord bless these men and help them to grow in their vocations as they draw closer to their ordination to the priesthood.

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The following day, we traveled back to Washington for the March for Life, what we call in Boston “The Pilgrimage for Life”.

That evening, I concelebrated the Mass to begin the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

As always, the basilica was packed wall-to-wall with people. Many thousands of people were present, and many thousands of others were able to watch on television.

The procession of seminarians, priests and bishops took over half an hour to enter the church.

Cardinal DiNardo presided at the Mass and delivered a beautiful homily.

This is always a very important event, the beginning of a night of prayer. Seminarians and others have different hours assigned to them for prayer and adoration in the crypt of the Basilica throughout the night leading up to the March.

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The next day, Monday, I had Mass for about 500 pilgrims from Boston, who accompanied us on the pilgrimage.

This Mass was at Sacred Heart on 16th St., the parish where I celebrated the Haitian and Spanish Mass for many years while I was in Washington.

The pastor, Father Moises, and the people of the parish were very accommodating, making sure there was food for the pilgrims before going on to the March for Life.

Father Moises

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From there we went on to the March itself, which was attended by over 400,000 people.

The weather was a cold, light rain but it was not anything too terrible, and I think it only added to the witness: that people are going to come out, regardless of the weather, to affirm our commitment to life.

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On Tuesday morning, we had closing Mass of the Pilgrimage for Life at St. Patrick’s, the oldest church in Washington, built in 1794. My understanding is that it was built by the same Irish laborers who built the White House.

It is a lovely old church where, for many years, the Pan-American Mass was celebrated. In the sanctuary, they have a number of paintings — almost like icons — of saints from all of the Americas, such as Juan Diego, Mother Seton and Mother Cabrini.

We are very grateful to Father Matt Williams, the staff of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults, and all those who accompanied the young people — the priests, the youth ministers and the parents. The music for the liturgies during the pilgrimage was provided by John Niven, who is always excellent.

This is the largest group of youth we have ever had attend the March for life. Ever since coming to Boston, it has been my desire to have substantial participation in the March. I have gone to each one since the beginning and it is a great consolation to see not only how it has grown — and grown more ecumenical — but also grown younger. The massive presence of so many young people bodes very well for the future, that this is not an issue that is going to go away, that young Americans are committed to the Gospel of Life, and will continue to work for an end to Roe vs. Wade.

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Before leaving Washington, I was able to visit the new Blessed Pope John Paul II Seminary with Father Dan Hennessey, our vocations director, who was with us attending the March for Life.

Father Dan had expressed a desire to visit the new seminary and to greet Msgr. Robert Panke, who had been vocations director in Washington, but is now the rector of the seminary. I was also hoping to see a seminarian Bobby Kilner, who is a CUA graduate and whose grandparents were on my Teams of Our Lady.

As a young friar, I had a wonderful group of couples who were all distinguished by their very large families —they all had nine children or more. There were a number of vocations that came out of that group, and now the grandson of one of those couples (who was also one of nine children) is in the seminary, and we are so pleased.

So we got to visit the seminary which was dedicated last year in honor of Blessed Pope John Paul II. They have a relic there similar to the one we have here in Boston of the late Pope.

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On Wednesday, I was visited by Father Campos who worked as a layman in our tribunal. He went to South America and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. He came to talk about the seminary there and several projects he is involved in and as well as visiting old friends in Boston.

We were delighted to see him again, particularly now as a priest. He said he was very happy, and I know he is doing great work.

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Finally, yesterday, I visited Our Lady of Providence Seminary, where there are almost 30 seminarians. Father Christopher Mahar is the rector there and Bishop Robert Evans and a number of priests accompanied us.

There are five young men studying for Boston there. It is our college seminary. Usually they take their classes at Providence College and everything else takes place at the seminary.

- Cardinal Seán

Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke out very strongly today against this move.  I join Cardinal–elect Dolan in expressing deep disappointment at this unprecedented infringement on religious liberty in our country.

As Cardinal-elect Dolan said, "To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.  Is as much an attack on access to health care is on religious freedom.  Historically, this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."

I want to share with you the full text of the US Bishops statement on the issue, as well as a video statement released by Cardinal-elect Dolan:

U.S. BISHOPS VOW TO FIGHT HHS EDICT

WASHINGTON—The Catholic bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients  and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today’s announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.  It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty."

The HHS rule requires that sterilization and contraception – including controversial abortifacients – be included among “preventive services” coverage in almost every healthcare plan available to Americans. “The government should not force Americans to act as if pregnancy is a disease to be prevented at all costs,” added Cardinal-designate Dolan.

At issue, the U.S. bishops and other religious leaders insist, is the survival of a cornerstone constitutionally protected freedom that ensures respect for the conscience of Catholics and all other Americans.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, chairperson of the board at Franciscan Alliance, Inc., a system of 13 Catholic hospitals. “I have hundreds of employees who will be upset and confused by this edict. I cannot understand it at all.”

Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, voiced disappointment with the decision. Catholic hospitals serve one out of six people who seek hospital care annually.

“This was a missed opportunity to be clear on appropriate conscience protection,” Sister Keehan said.

Cardinal-designate Dolan urged that the HHS mandate be overturned.

“The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand,” he said. “The Catholic bishops are committed to working with our fellow Americans to reform the law and change this unjust regulation. We will continue to study all the implications of this troubling decision.”

Here is the link to the video message: http://bcove.me/ob5itz9v

I urge all of you to contact your elected officials and urge them to protect our right to religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment.  It is important that Catholics not be deceived into thinking that this issue is simply another battle in the "culture wars."  Rather, it is an attack on the right of all people of faith to live their faith in freedom.

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As many Catholics are already aware, Pope Benedict has declared a Year of Faith to coincide the Synod on the New Evangelization, the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In the archdiocese, in order to be able to take advantage of this call to the New Evangelization, I have asked Bishop Arthur Kennedy to assume the role of Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization in the archdiocese as of July 1. The creation of this new position parallels the Holy Father’s initiative in Rome, where the new Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization has just been established.

Bishop Kennedy

We envision this to ministry to entail promoting Catholic identity in our schools and institutions; being involved in the ongoing formation of clergy and catechists; and helping to promote all aspects of outreach and evangelization in the archdiocese. For example, we have already had an initial meeting with many of the diocesan staff involved in evangelization to discuss the implementation of the Pastoral Letter on the Sunday Eucharist.

Bishop Kennedy brings a great deal of experience with the sort of work he did at St. Thomas University in Catholic Studies and his wonderful service to St. John’s Seminary. Bishop Kennedy has a great ability to see the connection between faith, culture and the consequence of faith in people’s lives and we know that he will bring that gift to this new ministry.

We are very grateful for Bishop Kennedy’s generosity in taking on this new assignment and indebted to him for the outstanding job that he did as rector of St. John’s Seminary. The seminary is flourishing, and we are very proud of the fine priestly formation that is imparted there.

At the same time, we are grateful to Bishop McManus and the Diocese of Worcester for allowing Msgr. James Moroney to assume the role of rector.

Msgr. Moroney

Msgr. Moroney is well known to the priests of the archdiocese because of his roles as retreat master, teacher and leader of the priest convocation. He is also a nationally known authority on Sacred Liturgy and has given workshops in most of the dioceses of United States. In his marvelous way of teaching the liturgy, Msgr. Moroney always connects the spirituality of priestly life with the instructions on ritual, language and history.

I am sure that the bishops will have great confidence in entrusting their seminarians to our seminary under his direction.

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Last Friday, I was visited by Father Kevin Deeley, who is returning after a number of years of service in the Navy.

Our chaplains, when they return from the service, bring with them a wealth of experience that enriches our own diocesan life. I am sure Father Deeley will be no exception. He will be helping out in St. Raphael Parish in Medford as Father Kevin Toomey is on sabbatical.

We welcome him back to the archdiocese!

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Saturday morning, I attended a board meeting of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. We discussed a number of important issues, including the initiative to legalize physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts.

All the bishops are committed to working on an educational program to help Catholics understand what the Church’s teachings are on end of life issues and the sacredness of human life. Also, we have committed to work with other groups, such as Massachusetts Citizens for Life and various disabilities organizations, which are likewise opposed to physician assisted suicide. We are very happy that the Massachusetts Medical Society spoke out so strongly against endorsing physician assisted suicide.

Another topic we discussed was a new Health Care Proxy, which we recently approved. A health care proxy allows a person to designate someone to make medical decisions on their behalf if they are unable. This is important because it gives people the option not to prolong their life through extraordinary means. There is often a misperception that the Church teaches that life must be prolonged by any means. Sometimes, when people are gravely ill and their time has come, natural death is the desired outcome ––far superior to using drugs to end their life.

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That afternoon, I was able to visit Father Ed O’Flaherty who has recently resigned as the head of our Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

We wanted to thank him and assure him of our prayers during this time convalescence.

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This year the National Catholic Office for the Deaf held their Pastoral Week Conference in Boston, from Jan. 13 through Jan. 17.

As part of that conference, I celebrated Mass for them at Sacred Heart Church in Newton on Saturday evening.

It was a full church. There were people there from all over the country, including many priests involved in deaf ministry. It is always very inspiring to be with the deaf Catholic community, where there is a great spirit of camaraderie.

It was also wonderful to see some of the young people at the Mass, the servers and others, who had been with us in Madrid for World Youth Day.

We are very blessed to have Father Sean Carey, who is himself hearing-impaired, working in this ministry.

With Father Carey and Father John Connelly, the pastor at Sacred Heart

We are so grateful for all that Father Michael Medas and Father Jeremy St. Martin have done to advance that ministry. Father Jeremy has recently become pastor in Townsend and is giving up directorship of the office. We thank him for his service and wish him well on his new assignment.

They presented me with the gift of a painting called "The Blood of the Lamb," which shows the sign for the blood of the lamb in American Sign Language.

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This year marks the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Poor Clares by St. Clare of Assisi. So, on Sunday, I visited with the community of Poor Clares in Jamaica Plain. We had Mass with the sisters and number of other people attending.

Afterward, I met with the sisters. We are very blessed to have two communities of Poor Clares here in the archdiocese.

It is always a joy to be with them. I have always been close to the Poor Clares and, as I often say, I celebrated my first Mass with a Poor Clare community.

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On Monday, Father Kevin O’Leary and I paid a visit to Schoenhof’s Bookstore, a wonderful foreign-language bookstore in Harvard Square. I had received a number of gift certificates as presents, so I wanted to be sure to redeem them.

It was quite a fruitful trip. I was able to pick up a number of books including some of those by Pope Benedict in Italian.

I lament the fact that bookstores are disappearing right and left, but I hope that this bookstore, which has a very special niche providing books in every language imaginable, will remain for a long time to come.

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Tuesday, we had over 100 men attend the St. Andrews Dinner that we hosted at St. John’s Seminary —one of the largest we have hosted to date.

As I pointed out to the people, last Sunday’s Gospel was the one which gave rise to the whole notion of the St. Andrews dinner. It was the one in which John the Baptist points out Jesus to his disciples, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God." One of those disciples was Andrew, who not only followed Jesus, but went and got his brother, Peter, saying "You have to come and meet the Messiah!" Peter went and, of course, he was also called.

The idea is that our vocations are mediated by people inviting us to consider if the Lord is calling us to a life of ministry. These dinners are to invite young men who are living the Catholic faith to see the seminary a little closer, listen to the vocation stories of the seminarians and perhaps consider, in their own life, what the Lord is asking them to do and how best to live the call to holiness and to serve the Catholic Church.

There were a number of young men from various parish schools, and a number of priests and parents accompanied them. The young men were able to be part of the Holy Hour and Vespers with the seminarians, and the young men ate with them. Afterward, there was a session in which the seminarians gave witness talks and told their vocation stories.

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Wednesday, we had one of our meetings of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. The members of the Council are always very articulate and engaged in conversations and topics that most affect our archdiocese. This is an important opportunity to hear from people in the parishes and in the different regions.

During this meeting, we had a very lively discussion around three issues: the Improved Financial Relationship Model, physician assisted suicide and the Pastoral Letter on the Sunday Eucharist.

We also had some new members who were there for the first time, so we welcome them and thank them for their service to the Church. We also want to thank Sister Marian Batho for all she does coordinating the APC.

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This week I received the sad news that a good friend, Sister Manuela Vencelá, had passed away. A Carmelite Sister of Charity, she was called home to God in death.

Those of us who knew sister are so grateful to God for her life and her vocation. She was my assistant director at the Centro Católico in Washington. For many years, she ran our employment agency and was like a pastoral associate in the parish.

She was a sister who was extremely generous, hard-working and devoted to service of God’s poor — especially the refugees and immigrants who found their way to the Centro Católico and the Capilla Latina.

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Finally, I want to end this week looking forward to a couple of important events taking place this weekend.

On Saturday, we will have the joy of ordaining seven men to the diaconate at our Cathedral: Eric Cadin, Felipe Gonzalez, Matthew Guidi, John Healy, Brother John Luong, Adrian Milik and Brother Michael Sheehan, FPO.

These men will be transitional deacons who, in a few months, will be ordained to the priesthood. I invite all of you to pray for them as they take this significant step towards the priesthood.

Then, on Sunday, I will be one of the of hundreds of pilgrims from Boston — including almost 500 young people — traveling to Washington, D.C. to attend the March for Life. I have attended the March each year, and I encourage everyone to be a part of this very important annual event to witness to the dignity of human life.

Yet, we realize that not everyone is able to attend the March. For this reason, four years ago, we established the Holy Hour for Life, in which the people of the archdiocese come together to pray in solidarity with the pilgrims in Washington, D.C.

This effort has now grown to include more than 200 parishes in the archdiocese, most of them holding the Holy Hour Sunday at either 3 or 7 p.m. I encourage you to check the list of participating parishes and join us praying that all human life will be respected from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death.

Cardinal Seán

In the Cathedral we are blessed to have a community of Ge’ez Catholics and it was a joy to be with them for their celebration of the Epiphany last Friday.

The Ge’ez Rite is something like the Catholic counterpart of the Coptic Church and the parishioners who comprise that community are Ethiopians and Eritreans. That in itself is, I think, a great witness to the faith: that despite the tensions that exist between those two nations, Catholics can come together to worship in communion.

The celebration is very long and elaborate and there are a number of aspects that might seem unfamiliar to a Latin Rite Catholic.

For example, the Mass was almost four hours, starting around 8:30 at night and continuing until after midnight.

When they distribute Communion, it takes a whole team of people to do it, because one person is ringing a bell, another is holding an umbrella, another is holding a candle, another has the paten, and yet another person the chalice.

The women and men also sit separately in the chapel.

The local Ge’ez community recently started their choir here in Boston. The numbers have grown over the past year, which I feel very happy to see.

After the Mass, they sang Christmas Carols, danced and played drums.

We are so pleased that this community is part of the Cathedral parish family and their presence enriches the Church in Boston.

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In the United States, we transfer the celebration of the Epiphany to the Sunday. So, the Epiphany in our Latin Rite parishes fell on Sunday, January 8, rather than January 6, as in the Ge’ez Rite.

I was very happy to join with St. Mary Parish in Waltham for their celebration of the Epiphany. I went to the English Mass to greet them, give a brief talk, and to congratulate them on the 175^th anniversary of their parish, which they recently celebrated.

Afterward, I celebrated the Mass in Spanish. After the Spanish Mass, the parishioners presented a play about the three kings. It was wonderful to see the church was packed for that.

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On Sunday evening I gathered with the Jesuits of the Faber Community at Boston College as they began a three day retreat before the start of the second semester at the B.C. School of Theology and Ministry.  The community is made up of 72 Jesuits from 30 provinces throughout the world, all gathered in Boston for religious formation and graduate studies. 

The retreat was organized by Father Brad Schaeffer, S.J., Rector of the Faber community, and Father Tony Corcoran, S.J., who is in the midst of an assignment in Moscow and took time to come and help with the retreat.   Father Tony had no problem enjoying our recent mild weather during his visit!

After leading evening prayer for the Jesuits, we gathered for conversation and dinner.  I was impressed with the depth and breadth of their experiences and their commitment to the work of the Church.  I shared with them that in the Archdiocese we are blessed by the presence and assistance of so many Jesuit priests and scholastics. 

It was a wonderful evening that provided great encouragement for the future.  At dinner, Father Tony presented me an icon he had brought from Moscow, a beautiful rendering of our Blessed Mother.  It will be given a place of special dignity at the cathedral.

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On Monday, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, I celebrated Mass with our local Capuchin community. Brother Jim Peterson is the guardian there.

I try to visit each year around the holidays, and it is always a very enjoyable time.

The brothers always take turns cooking. So, we have a culinary adventure along with our visit!

- – -

On Thursday, I met with Cathy Brenti, who was visiting her son, Vincent, who is here studying in Boston. Cathy and her husband are leaders in the Community of the Beatitudes.

Cathy was very instrumental in helping arrange to bring the relic of the Cure d’Ars, the patron saint of priests, to Boston.

She was also very instrumental in organizing the retreat to Ars during the Year for Priests, which was attended by a number of priests from Boston. I had never been to Ars, so it was a wonderful experience.

With Cathy on the Ars pilgrimage

There were about 1,400 priests there from all over the world at that retreat. Now wherever I go, I meet priests who come up to me and say, “Oh, I remember you from the priest retreat.” To me, this was one of the high points of the Year for Priests.

- – -

Also during Christmas, I always try to visit with Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios.

I was very pleased to join him for dinner, along with Father Ted Barabas, their chancellor. During the evening we had a wonderful conversation. I always look forward to my visits with the Metropolitan and the opportunity to continue to build the relationship between our two great Churches.

- – -

Finally, I want end this week by noting that Thursday was the second anniversary of the terrible and tragic earthquake in Haiti. In today’s fast-moving society it is often easy to let tragedies like this pass from our thoughts. Yet, in many ways the suffering continues and there are still so many things which need to be done to remedy the situation after the disaster. We are glad for the support efforts that so many of our parishes, hospitals, schools and other Catholic institutions are still pursuing in Haiti.

Please remember to pray for the Haitian people in this time.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Ten years ago today, the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston. This has been a very painful chapter in the history of our Church, but at the same time, an opportunity for us to focus on a very serious human problem and direct our efforts and resources at trying to make our Church the very safest place possible for young people.

Not that we celebrate something as sad as the sexual abuse crisis, but in order to express our contrition and sorrow for what happened and to assure people of our commitment going forward, I thought it would be appropriate on this anniversary to thank the countless priests and lay Catholics who have helped us face this problem, and sought solutions for our Church.

For this reason, I issued the following letter earlier in the week. It is reprinted in this week’s Pilot, and I want to share it with you here as well:

My dear friends in Christ,

Ten years ago, in the early days of 2002, a problem with a history far deeper than any of us had imagined, that had been wreaking havoc along its course, exploded in the Church. We never can and never will forget our shock and revulsion at the revelations that for decades, children had been subjected to sexual abuse, devastating their lives and those of their families and loved ones. The magnitude of these horrendous crimes was made even greater by the abuse having been perpetrated by Catholic priests, who shattered the bond of trust placed in them by the people they had promised to serve.

As a Church we must continue to express the depth of our sorrow and contrition for how badly we failed those entrusted to our care. I reflect on this in my prayer every day. As leaders in the Church we must accept our responsibility for those failings and clearly acknowledge that Church leadership could have and should have responded more quickly and more forcefully. We cannot change the tragic implications of past failures, but we must, we can and we will do everything in our power to ensure that these crimes, these sins, never occur in the community of the Church again.

We are deeply indebted to the scores of people who during the past ten years have taken leadership in planning and implementing child safety protection programs for our parishes, schools and social service agencies. These dedicated personnel and volunteers have given countless hours to training adults across the archdiocese in order that the protection programs are “always and everywhere” in the life of the Church. In particular, these efforts have been greatly aided by the men and women of our community who responded with fortitude, determination and unfailing resolve. They rightfully made clear in the earliest days of the crisis that nothing short of complete and total protection for children would be acceptable if we were to go forward together.

We are also indebted to the priests of the archdiocese who have been and continue to be good and faithful servants to the people of God. Our priests have remained true to their mission and their calling while carrying many burdens because of the crimes of some of their colleagues. They are to be commended for their service in the midst of great turmoil that also deeply impacted them.

Our commitment to uphold the moral standard of the Church and the civil statutes in all matters concerning child safety is absolute. There is no place for compromise or equivocation concerning the welfare of children and young people. We have learned much during the course of the past ten years and made sweeping and significant changes to all dimensions of the life of the Church, but we cannot be lulled into a sense of achievement that would risk complacency. It is my solemn pledge that at all times and in all places we will be vigilant in the protection of children, our responsibility to God and the community demands nothing less.

Today we have published a document entitled, “Ten Years Later — Reflections on the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Archdiocese of Boston”, providing a summary of the actions taken in response to the crisis. The document also addresses the survivors of sexual abuse and their loved ones, those whose lives were most deeply impacted, and people in the Church and the wider community who played important roles in bringing the crisis to light and providing us helpful guidance.

We offer the reflections for your review and consideration. They are not and are not intended to be a final word or the closing of a chapter. There will never be a time to presume that the crisis is over or behind us. The reflections are presented as a marker on a path that will be travelled every day of our lives and the lives of those who will follow us, a path of healing, rebuilding trust, and renewing ourselves in the presence of the Lord.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap.

Archbishop of Boston

I also celebrated Mass today in our Pastoral Center for all those harmed by clergy sexual abuse.

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As I shared with you last week, after the Christmas events here in the archdiocese, spent some time in Florida visiting my family. On New Year’s Eve I returned to Boston to celebrate Mass at St. Leonard’s Church in the North End.

Each year I have a custom of ending the old year and beginning the New Year in prayer with the Mass. In Boston, those Masses have been associated with the pro-life movement and the promotion of the Gospel of Life in our midst.

This year, we had the holy hour directed by Father Matt Williams, with rosary and benediction, followed by confessions, and then followed by the Eucharist. The Boston fireworks were going off as I finished my homily; it was a dramatic way to finish a homily — with fireworks!

We had a large number of people. Afterwards, we served sandwiches and coffee in the parish hall. It was a beautiful way to begin the New Year, asking God’s blessing upon us, and encouraging people to become involved in the Church’s promotion of life. This is particularly important as we begin this year in which we will be facing the issue of physician-assisted suicide, that we ask people’s prayers to help them once again to respond to the demands of the Gospel of Life.

- – -

On New Year’s Day, I celebrated Mass at the cathedral for the Haitian community. When I arrived in Boston one of the Masses that I initiated was for Haitian Independence Day, which is also the feast of Mary Mother of God.

It is always a magnificent celebration of faith. Haitians come from all over the diocese and fill the Cathedral. This year the choir from St. Ann’s in Somerville did a stunning job. The vice-consul from Haiti was also present and addressed the Haitian community at the end of Mass. As always, we closed with the national anthem of Haiti.

A part of that celebration is always chanting the Te Deum in Latin, which is a customary European hymn of thanksgiving. It is very beautiful prayer of the Church, and is recited as part of the Liturgy of the Hours, but is seldom chanted in public here in the U.S. In fact, the first time I heard a public Te Deum was in Ireland, when President Kennedy was in the country and they were celebrating the arrival of the president and the coronation of Pope Paul VI. In Haiti, of course, they have the French influence, but I find in the United States many people do not know what the Te Deum is. I was very pleased, since this is one of the few times we get to hear the Te Deum chanted in our cathedral.

- – -

Monday, I went to Newton to the convent of the new community, the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth. There, I blessed the altar and the Chapel.

We are amazed at how the house has really been transformed and come out to be a beautiful venue to begin this new order.

- – -

Each year around Christmas we have a special Mass for the priests and the residents of Regina Cleri and other visitors who join us.

I’m always impressed by the Christmas decorations prepared by the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. They always decorate the Chapel and the residence in such a beautiful way. I’m always impressed by their wonderful work.

I always look forward to this opportunity to be with our retired priests.

- – -

Among the twenty-two Cardinal-designates named today by Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan and Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien will provide the Holy Father valuable guidance and assistance through their long-standing dedication to the work of the Church.

Cardinal-designate Dolan

In his leadership as Archbishop of New York and at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he serves as President, Cardinal-designate Dolan has always held the good of the Church and her people as the highest priority.  He has been an important advocate for the Church with regard to religious freedom, the protection of life at all stages, and promoting human dignity for all people, especially those in great need.

Cardinal-designate O’Brien

For many years Cardinal-designate O’Brien led the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, providing for the pastoral and spiritual care of the men and women who serve our country in the Armed Forces.  Following his tenure as Archbishop of Baltimore, in 2011 the Holy Father appointed Archbishop O’Brien the Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, recognizing the Archbishop’s international experience and his commitment to peace, social justice and the mission of the Church in the Holy Land.

We join the Catholic community throughout the United States in congratulating Cardinal-designate Dolan and Cardinal-designate O’Brien and assure them of our prayers and best wishes as they prepare for the upcoming consistory.

- Cardinal Seán

This time of the year many families reunite to celebrate together the birth of Christ. I was very happy to have some of my relatives be with me in Boston at Christmas and also to visit others in Florida later in the week. It is always a great gift to be able to be together to celebrate the gift of the Savior to the world.

Yet, at Christmastime we are very aware of the fact that in many parts of the world for people to practice their faith requires great courage. These situations, especially in Iraq, Egypt, and now with the bombings in Nigeria, are a reminder of how difficult it is for many people to practice their faith. So, we pray that in the New Year there will be greater freedom for the Church and safety for people who are trying to live their faith.

- – -

On Christmas Eve, I visited the Pine Street Inn in South Boston. I always feel happy to go and to be able to draw attention to this crucial ministry in Boston to care for the homeless.

With Pine Street director Lyndia Downie

We were also accompanied by Msgr. Robert Deeley, Albert Heeley, Terry Donilon and Lisa Alberghini from our Planning Office of Urban Affairs, which has just finished a wonderful project with the Pine Street Inn.

Msgr. Deeley helps out

Touring the facility with Lisa Alberghini

I helped to serve lunch to the residents and visited with them.

It is always very encouraging to see the large number of volunteers who come each year. Many people even bring their children to help be a part of the efforts at Pine Street Inn. We are so grateful to them and to all who made an effort to help those less fortunate during this season. But I also like to remind people that the needs at places like the Pine Street Inn are not just at Christmastime, but all year round.

- – -

A tradition in many families is attending Midnight Mass for the Solemnity of Christmas. So I was very happy be joined by so many for Midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. A number of priests also came to celebrate the Mass with me.

The Cathedral was spectacularly decorated with a manger, wreaths, and beautiful lighting.

Before the Mass the Chorus led a session of carols for the people who arrived before the start of Mass.

My nephew Tom, his wife Melissa and their baby — also named Seán O’Malley — brought up the gifts.

With Melissa, Tom and little Seán after the Mass

It was a wonderful celebration of faith.

- – -

WHDH Channel 7 broadcasted the Christmas morning Mass, as they do every year.

- – -

On Christmas Day, I visited St. Francis House in downtown Boston. There, I had a prayer service, visited with the residents, and sang carols with the residents and staff.

St. Francis House offers a number of services to homeless people. For example, during the day, they feed about 800 people.  St. Francis House director Karen LaFrazia introduced me to some of the people working to prepare the meals.

Father Jonathan Gaspar helped lead the singing for the prayer service.

- – -

After our Christmas celebrations here in the archdiocese, I departed for Florida to visit with some of my relatives.

Wednesday, I had lunch with Claire O’Malley and a few of my aunts and cousins.

I was blessed with the company of these nine women.

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As I have said, Christmastime is a season of traditions and, ever since I was ordained, I have celebrated New Years Eve Mass around midnight to begin the New Year in prayer.

Here in Boston our custom has been to dedicate this vigil and Mass to the Gospel of Life. We would like to invite people who would like to join us at 10 p.m. for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with witness talk at St. Leonard’s Church in the North End followed by a Mass at 11:30 p.m. If you haven’t come before, why not make this a new holiday tradition? I hope to see you there!

- Cardinal Seán

Last Friday, I went to Philadelphia to the funeral of Cardinal John Foley, who had been the Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and, for many years, head of the Vatican office in charge of media.

He had been with us in 2008 for the annual gathering of the New England chapter of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre that took place in Providence that year. At the time he was already having health problems.

He was a beloved figure, and for many was the face and voice of the Church, because of his work in communications at the Vatican. Many will remember him for his commentary during the Holy Father’s Christmas and Easter celebrations.

Many years ago he was the editor of the Standard and Times, the newspaper of the Archdiocese Philadelphia. That got me into trouble once because when I was named the Bishop of Fall River and I was still in the Virgin Islands, I got a call from a reporter who said she was from the Standard-Times (the New Bedford newspaper), and I said, “Oh you mean below the standard and behind the times.” She was furious with me!

But we used to joke that way with the folks at the Catholic paper of Philadelphia. It was, of course a very fine newspaper, but it was just one of those smart Alec remarks that people make.

Cardinal Foley was a very warm, outgoing and beloved figure — in Philadelphia especially — where many priests, bishops, and cardinals gathered for his funeral.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, the present Pro-Master of the Order, was the principal celebrant and Archbishop Timothy Dolan was the homilist. Both of them had been in Rome for many years, so as expatriates from America, they had a very close friendship with Bishop Foley.

Archbishop Dolan delivering his homily

The interment was done by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. He was buried in the crypt underneath the high altar. We pray for the repose of Cardinal Foley’s soul.

- – -

On my visit to Philadelphia, I had dinner with my classmate Father Paul Kuppe and Father Tom Betz and I was able to visit with some of the postulants for our Capuchin province.

- – -

As we do each Advent, on Saturday we had a Mass organized by our Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. It is always a moving experience.

With June Chin, Deacon Paul Kline and Barbara Thorp of our Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach

I feel gratified by the response of the people. We know that for many people Christmas can be a very challenging time, particularly under the weight of emotional strain. Hopefully this Mass does help promote healing and give people an opportunity to connect with the Church.

I am so grateful to Barbara Thorp, and all those working in her office, who made the arrangements for the Mass and the reception.

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I spent the Fourth Sunday of Advent at St. John’s Seminary, where the seminary community organized a joyful celebration to mark the 45^th anniversary of the ordination of their rector, Bishop Arthur Kennedy.

Many members of Bishop Kennedy’s family were there, along with friends and colleagues who had worked with him at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minneapolis.

We began with a Mass, which featured a very beautiful music program. After the Mass, the seminarians played the violin and the flute for us.

Before the luncheon there was also a very fine set of talks by Bishop Kennedy’s brothers and Msgr. Bill Fay, who had worked with Bishop Kennedy at the U.S. Bishops’ Conference for many years.

- – -

Usually around Christmastime I always try to celebrate Mass at a prison in the archdiocese. So, on Monday, I visited Framingham State Women’s Prison.

Sister Maureen Clark has done an outstanding job ministering to the women there and she has a fine team of volunteers who help her. I was also accompanied on my visit by Deacon Jim Greer, who heads our prison and health care ministries, and my priest secretary, Father Jonathan Gaspar.

It is a very old prison, and they have an old chapel with stained glass windows where the Mass is celebrated. We had a very large attendance. It was just packed with a couple of hundred women there. During the Mass, I had the joy of receiving a woman into the Church. She received the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. At the end of the Mass Sister Maureen asked Father Jonathan to sing. He sang the Christmas carol “What Child is This?” a cappella, to their great delight.

- – -

The priests of Regina Cleri always have me over around the holidays, so this year we decided to reciprocate by having them come for our Tuesday noon Mass here at the Pastoral Center and stay for lunch.

A good group came over, and it was a lovely Advent moment of prayer and fellowship with our senior priests.

- – -

That afternoon I attended a service at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge for all of those who died within the last year. The rector or our Cathedral, Father Kevin O’Leary, has had the service in years past and he invited me be with them this year.

Mt. Auburn is a very emblematic venue that contains so much of our history going back to the pre-Civil War period. Leaders of the abolitionist movement, Black officers who died in the Civil War, great political and civic leaders of Boston — whose names are very familiar to us because of the streets and monuments named for them — are buried in this very historic cemetery.

We had the candlelight service in one chapel and a reception in another chapel at the cemetery.

- – -

Wednesday evening, we had dinner with the Sisters Disciples of the Divine Master to thank them for the wonderful service they provide here at the Pastoral Center, the Cathedral and Regina Cleri, as well as their great support for the priests of the archdiocese. It is so much appreciated.

We were so happy to have 11 of them over for dinner. The 11 women present were from nine different countries. So, it is a very international group.

They are loved and revered by the Catholics of the archdiocese and particularly our clergy.

- – -

Finally, I would like to leave you this week with my Christmas message, which I recorded for Vatican Radio and would also like to share with you:

At Christmas our God comes to us as a humble pilgrim in search of hospitality. Nourished by the bread of life that comes to us from the manger, let us open our hearts to welcome to this Divine Pilgrim, the Lord Jesus. By reaching out with compassion and loving care we can give Him hospitality as he comes to us disguised in the hungry, the homeless, the mentally ill, the imprisoned, the stranger, the immigrant. Jesus came to reveal the merciful face of the father: the poor, the sick, the marginalized are the protagonists of His Gospel. It is our task to be the merciful face of Christ. “As the Father sent me, so I send you,” Jesus tells us.

He does not send us alone but with our brothers and sisters whose faith and solidarity sustains us. And He gives us the spiritual food of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. At Christmas we come to the manger to see the Baby Pictures and rejoice as we look at our Family Album. This is our history, our story. Our faith tells us that Christ born of Bethlehem 2000 years ago is still Emmanuel, God with us. He comes to offer us His friendship and love and invite us to a life of discipleship in His Church.

At Bethlehem the Shepherds were filled with joy and wonder and were anxious to share that joy with others. Knowing the Lord, carries with it an obligation to make Him known and loved.

Christmas is the feast of the Child, the Christ child, our God who made Himself small to be close to us. Jesus says in the Gospel, “Unless you become like a little child you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” God came to show us, in the humility and simplicity of a little baby, show us his love. God’s love in the face of a child is a love that is always new, always fresh, that never tires of loving us, never tires of forgiving us, never tires of giving us another chance. We can go to Him only in humility and the simplicity of a child. Children have such a sense of trust in their parents – God wants us to have that trust in Him. At Christmas, we are able to catch a glimpse of the face of God and his love, and when we discover His love, we discover who we are, why we are here, and what we have to do with our lives.

Merry Christmas to all of you, to your families and loved ones. May this be the Christmas when, once again, we discover how deeply our Lord loves us, and find the strength to live according to that love.

Merry Christmas!

- Cardinal Sean

Last Friday I went to the Campion Center in Weston to participate in a day of recollection for priests of the West Region organized by Bishop Walter Edyvean.

I always encourage priests to spend time together, and I am always very happy to be a part of those gatherings as much as possible.

This was their advent gathering and they had a talk by Father Thomas Stegman, a Jesuit priest who teaches New Testament at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

- – -

From there, I went to the Cathedral where we had a Mass to give an official blessing to a new religious community, The Daughters of Mary of Nazareth.

Sister Olga Yaqob, who has been with us in the archdiocese for many years, accepted my invitation to discern the creation of this new order and we were happy to see that four candidates are already willing to join the community.

They received the miraculous medal as a sign of their love for the Blessed Mother and their commitment to bring her to the world. This new community will follow the spirituality of Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

It was a wonderful celebration, and I told the people afterwards how edified I was and encouraged by the enthusiasm that I see in our Catholic people for religious life.

- – -

After the Mass I had one of the gatherings with seminarians that we schedule throughout the year.

This time, we met a rather large group, around 30 seminarians. Our number of seminarians is growing, and these meetings give us an opportunity to know them better and discuss topics of interest to them. This time, having had our recent gathering of priests, we talked about pastoral planning. I was impressed with their commitment to the Church and their desire to serve the people of God.

- – -

That evening I also attended the Greater Boston Catholic Charities Christmas Dinner. This year they honored Jim Brett for his support of Catholic Charities and his longtime advocacy to the poor and particularly to individuals with mental disabilities.

With Catholic Charities’ president Debbie Rambo and Jim Brett

He was given the Richard D. Armstrong, Jr. Service Award, which honors those who live the Catholic Charities mission through service and an ongoing commitment to caring for those in need. Two of Richard Armstrong sisters were able to attend the event.

Vivian Soper, the head of Greater Boston Catholic Charities, organized a beautiful event and we are very happy for all the work they do for the poor.

- – -

Saturday morning I went to St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Charlestown to dedicate the new altar for their renovated chapel.

We were all shocked by the new chapel, which had such a beautiful feel and look about it. It was stunning.

Even the ceiling panels were beautiful

It’s in the lower level of the church, where there is also the Good Shepherd School. This chapel hosts about 100 in the pews for celebrations.

- – -

Later I was visited by Bishop Mar Jacob Angadiath, who is the Syro-Malabar bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas, who came from the dedication at their new parish in St. Jeremiah in Framingham. He came for lunch, accompanied by the current pastor, Father Varghese, and the former pastor, Father Vadana.

They presented me with a beautiful image of St. Alphonsa, first Indian-born saint. St. Alphonsa was a Franciscan Clarist Sister who died in 1946 and was canonized in 2008.

- – -

On Saturday, I celebrated Mass at the WQOM Catholic Conference at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. 

The conference was held to celebrate one year of Catholic radio in the Archdiocese of Boston. 

It was great to greet many of the attendees and hear the impact that Catholic Radio is having on them and the community.  I thank Jim and Joanne Wright and all those at WQOM for bringing Catholic radio and this Conference to the Archdiocese of Boston. 

The Mass was beautiful with music led by the Boy’s Choir School at St. Paul’s Parish in Harvard Square and the participation of many priests and deacons.

The speakers earlier in the day were EWTN show hosts Brian Patrick, Father Mitch Pacwa and Dr. Ray Guarendi as well as Sister Olga from our Archdiocese. 

Brian Patrick

Ray Guarendi

Father Pacwa

Sister Olga

Videos of those talks are available on the website of The Good Catholic Life program here.

Here is a video of my homily at the Conference for Gaudete Sunday (3^rd Sunday of Advent).

- – -

Sunday, I celebrated Mass at St. Bridget in Framingham marking the canonization of Bishop Guido Maria Conforti, the founder of the Xaverians. Bishop Guido Maria Conforti was an Italian bishop who, inspired by St. Francis Xavier, longed for the missions in China. He could not go himself so, instead, he founded a society that began with the missions in China and later spread to the rest of the world. He was canonized in October, along with St. Luigi Guanella.

We have had Xaverian Missionaries here in the Archdiocese for over 50 years. Perhaps one of their best-known and important ministries in the archdiocese is the Fatima Shrine in Holliston. Thousands of people visit the shrine each year.

They also have sisters in the diocese of Worcester, so I was accompanied in the Mass by Bishop Robert McManus, several members of the Xaverian Missionaries, as well as diocesan priests. Of course Msgr. Frank Strahan and Father Mark DeAngelis, the two priests of the parish, hosted us.

The Brazilian choir from St. Tarcisius sang, and there were faithful and flags representing the countries where the Xaverion Missionaries are working.

- – -

Tuesday night I went to the Anti-Defamation League’s Interfaith Relations Award Dinner.

During the evening, Larry Rasky was presented with the 2011 Abraham Joshua Heschel Interfaith Relations Award. I was also asked to address the group.

ADL Regional Director Derek Shulman gave me a book on John Paul II and the Jewish people, which was published by the ADL.

It was compiled by Eugene Fisher and Rabbi Leon Klenicki. Leon Klenicki is the Argentine Rabbi who was a good friend of mine, who I asked the Holy Father to decorate as a Knight of St. Gregory.

This is an extraordinary reminder to us on how focused John Paul II was on transforming Catholic-Jewish relations. These are his complete texts on Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel from 1979 to his death in 2005. The cover shows Pope John Paul II praying at the Western Wall.

- – -

Wednesday morning we hosted a breakfast here at the Pastoral Center for the latest group of the Inner City Scholarship Fund’s Peter S. Lynch Scholars. It was a very large group, more than 50 students in all.

The Lynch scholars are picked from each of the elementary schools served by the Inner City Scholarship Fund. I was very happy to be joined for the occasion by Peter Lynch himself; along with Mike Reardon, the executive director of the Catholic Schools Foundation; and Jack Regan, president of the CSF board of trustees. Our own Superintended of School, Mary Grassa O’Neill was with us as well.

We also recognized students who had won the Catholic Schools Foundation annual Christmas card art contest.

These students are just another example of the wonderful things taking place in our Catholic schools. We are so grateful to the Catholic Schools Foundation for all they do in helping to make that possible.

- – -

Later that day I celebrated the funeral for Father James McCune.

He was a very beloved figure, priest secretary to Cardinal Medeiros and pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Canton, where his funeral Mass took place. Of course in his later years he served as the chaplain at Regina Cleri, our retirement home for priests.

Over 100 priests came to pay tribute to Father McCune. He was a kind and zealous pastor, he was a man who loved being a priest and loved priests. He was a great tribute to his ministry. He will be very sorely missed.

Also, as we think of those who have passed away, I want to mention that this week we lost a member of our staff, Richard Ely. Please pray for his eternal repose.

- – -

And, finally, yesterday we held our annual Advent Gathering for our staff here at the Pastoral Center.  Every year, we come together for Mass, followed by a light reception afterward.

At this time of year when so many family and friends come together it is always a wonderful opportunity to be with our Pastoral center family and thank them for all they do day-in and day-out in the service of the Church.

- Cardinal Seán

On Sunday the Parish of St. Margaret of Scotland, in Lowell, founded by Cardinal William Henry O’Connell, the fifth bishop of Boston, who was himself from Lowell over 100 years ago, celebrated their centenary.

They had a number of activities throughout the course of the year, culminating with the Mass.

Father Raymond Benoit has done so much for the parish and school there. They have renovated the whole church. It looks very beautiful, particularly its many icons.

The parishioners were all very enthusiastic to celebrate the 100th birthday of the parish, and I was pleased to be able to join them for this auspicious occasion.

- – -

That evening, we had the Advent gathering of the Cardinal’s Leadership Circle, which was a Mass and a reception at the Pastoral Center in Braintree.

We hold this event each year to express our thanks, and to talk to the Leadership Circle about activities and events in the life of the archdiocese.

With the Gallaghers and the Bacics

With the Corcoran family. Lillian was our altar server at the Mass

With the Daley and Grey families

Msgr. Robert Deeley addressed the group afterward at the reception.

We are grateful for all this group does in leading and supporting our archdiocese.

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On Monday, I gathered with the priests of the archdiocese in a convocation to begin a conversation on the future of pastoral planning here in the archdiocese.

Since January, the Archdiocese Pastoral Planning Committee, co-chaired by Msgr. William Fay and Deacon Chuck Clough, has been working very hard with the Planning Office under Father David Couturier. They were there with us this first large consultation on the results of the many months of intense work by the commission.

The convocation was very well attended; we had around 400 priests at the Lantana in Randolph.

I addressed the group at the beginning of our meeting because I was very anxious to stress that any sort of pastoral planning done is at the service of evangelization and of spreading the Gospel, using our resources for the mission of the Church in the very best way possible.

I also wanted to stress upon the priests the importance of their ministry, their leadership, and spiritual fatherhood that a priest must have for God’s people.

Throughout the afternoon there were a number of opportunities for discussions and consultation. The process was greatly aided by the new automatic polling system we employed. As they entered the meeting hall, each priest was handed a small device that looks something like a television remote control.

Msgr. Fay, demonstrating the polling remote for the priests

At different points in the day, the priests were asked multiple choice questions on their feelings on various aspects of the proposal and they could register their responses with the remote. Graphs showing the results of each question were then projected on large screens on either side of the room.

This was our first experience of using such a system, and it was very interesting because it allowed us to have instant feedback, and allowed us also to see where there was consensus and where there was not consensus. It allowed us to hear from virtually every priest at the convocation. In the absence of that kind of equipment, very often you are just forming impressions based on the few people that avail themselves the opportunity to speak. We were anxious to get a broader read of the feeling of the presbyterate.

I again want to stress that we are in a process of consultation which began with the priests. Now we are going to present this proposed plan to all the constituencies of the archdiocese, including our deacons, religious and lay people in the coming months. We need to have this conversation about the best way to move from the pastoral work of the past, which often focused on maintenance, to pastoral work of the present, which will implement the New Evangelization in our archdiocese. This conversation is essential, and all the input we receive will help me make a decision on how to better prepare the archdiocese for the future.

I would like to share with you the text of my address to the priests. If you would like to learn more about the planning process or see videos of my talk or other talks delivered at the convocation, I encourage you to visit our new web site set up for this purpose: www.planning2012.com.

Children often ask me if I am Santa Claus.  Of course I am not Santa Claus, but once I was.  In 1966 on this very day I was chosen to be Santa Claus.  I out on a miter for the first time in my life and my classmates painted my beard white – in those days my beard was red.  You see, I was Santa Claus, Heilger Klaus, for our St. Nicholas day celebration which consisted of a play in German about the fourth century bishop.  We sang carols and it was the day we gave the Christmas presents to the German nuns and one hundred Christmas tress went up in every nook and cranny of St. Fidelis of Simaringen Seminary.  I must confess I never imagined that one day I would have to wear a miter again or that I would live long enough to have a white beard as I do.  After the celebration the Guardian of the seminary said “We have never had an Irish St. Nicholas before.”  I did not know whether that was a compliment, an indictment or simply a statement of historical interest.

Pope Benedict, a Bavarian, like my seminary professors, has written much about St. Nicholas.  One of the most interesting things about this saint is that he is the first saint to be so designated who was not a martyr.  The first generations of Christians venerated only Biblical figures or those who died as martyrs to witness to the faith. 

St. Nicholas the Bishop participated in the Council of Nicea and contributed to the writing of the Profession of Faith we pray each Sunday.  Even though Nicholas did not shed his blood for the faith, he lived his faith in the Incarnation of Christ intensely and that allowed him to serve God’s people with such priestly pastoral charity that everyone intuitively knew that he was a saint just like the martyrs.

We are still the Church of the martyrs.  In addition to my friend Archbishop Romero I think of a Guatemalan bishop who told me that in one diocese the catechists went to the bishop and said, “We come to you for protection, our lives are in danger.”  The bishop told them, “The only thing I can do for you is accept your resignation.  Then they will leave you alone, you will be safe.”   Not one catechist resigned, but over a hundred of them were murdered.  The bishop who told me that was murdered a couple of months later.  We had stayed together at the Bishops Conference in Guatemala City.  He was Bishop Gerardi.  He was brutally murdered that day after presenting a human rights report to the government. 

Yes, we are still the Church of the martyrs.  We will probably never suffer the same violence as our brothers and sisters in the faith in Central America but we are called to bear the cross.  Discipleship and ministry are never pain free.

Our modern culture has a huge aversion to pain and gives us the assurance that we are all entitled to a pain free existence.  The Gospel of suffering teaches something different.  In doing difficult things out of love we come to reflect the pastoral love of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock.

I want to thank you for coming to this gathering in such great numbers.  Your presence here today is important – and a grace – for at least two reasons.  First, today begins a months-long consultation on a proposal to strengthen our parishes for generations to come.  I need to hear what you, our priests and pastors, have to say about this proposal.  Second, our presence together in dialogue and in service to the Archdiocese is a beautiful manifestation of the sacramental bond we share in the sacred ministry of priesthood through Holy Orders.  I pray that our work together today will strengthen that bond between us.

I am grateful for the presence of our seminarians at this convocation.  I invited you here, because you will minister as priests in an Archdiocese that is very much formed by the things we discuss here today.  It is only appropriate that you be witnesses to our conversation.  As I look out at you, I must confess that it is very nice to see how your presence among us brings down our average age.  We very much look forward to the day when the Lord and the Church will call you to partake of the ministerial priesthood.  May God bless your seminary days richly.

On the day of our ordination to the diaconate, the bishop handed each of us the Book of the Gospels and said very simply, “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach.”  With that mandate, the Evangelium – the “Good News” of Jesus Christ – became the center and the work of our lives.  As the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests of the Second Vatican Council puts it:

Since no one can be saved who has not first believed, priests, as co-workers with their bishops, have as their primary duty the proclamation of the gospel of God to all.  In this way they fulfill the Lord’s command: “Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).  Thus they establish and build up the people of God. (PO 4)

Each of us knows someone, perhaps even a good number of people, whose lives are empty of meaning, because of a tragic failure in a human relationship or a deep sense of abandonment by God or the Church.  Their outward appearance may look healthy and normal, but they are broken and alone.  They don’t feel Christ in their lives.  A large group of folks do have jobs and their lives show a growing measure of success after success.  But because the happiness they are seeking is rooted exclusively in the gifts of this world and not in Christ, in the end the satisfaction they experience is ephemeral and disappointing.  It is only in Christ that one can truly know life and live it abundantly.

We need a New Evangelization and it must be focused on Christ.  As Pope Paul VI told us almost a half-century ago in Evangelii Nuntiandi, “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed” (EN 22).  We need to bring the life-giving truth and person of Jesus Christ to the men and woman of our own day, especially those who have known Christ and his Church but have grown cool in their relationship with him and with her. 

Our evangelization efforts in the Archdiocese of Boston will be rooted in and accomplished through five “mission initiatives” to which I commit the Archdiocese and myself today.  The first initiative is becoming a Church that more readily and actively welcomes every man, woman and child to conversion of life in Christ Jesus.   Everyone is welcome in the Church, because the Lord offers his gift of salvation to all.  Let us each accept and help others to accept the radical and transformative call to conversion of life that is offered to us by Jesus Christ.

The second mission initiative is strengthening our parishes as primary communities of faith, communities that have the worthy celebration of the Eucharist as the “source and summit” of parochial life. 

The third mission initiative is growing the Church through this work of evangelization.  Currently less than 20% of our baptized Catholics are attending Mass each Sunday.  We need to change this in a dramatic way and we need to begin doing it now.

The fourth mission initiative is developing excellence in faith formation for Catholics of all ages.  Our people thirst for greater catechesis in the faith.  We need to marshal, strengthen and make more available the great resources we have to satisfy that thirst.

The fifth mission initiative is re-energizing pastoral leadership.  I am deeply aware of how challenging these past ten years have been for you, my brother priests, and how thin you have been stretched.  I hope that our work together today indicates clearly to you that I am very much aware of the burden that you carry, committed to discovering ways to lessen the load, and very desirous of supporting and strengthening your love of the priesthood.

Where do we begin in our work of evangelization?  I think the answer to that is clear.  As I said at Pentecost in my Pastoral Letter on Evangelization (NP 6,7):

If the Church exists to evangelize, the parish is the chief venue where that activity must take place.  Our parishes must be true centers of evangelization…

Many parishes are truly mission-based today and they have fervor for this outreach.  Others are maintenance-oriented because their parishioners often have a consumer culture mentality.  They come to Church to get something, and they expect the leadership to provide it.  All the energy and resources of the parish are oriented to serving the people who are present, rather than reaching out to those who are absent.

We must work to help our parishioners to move beyond being consumers to being disciples who share actively in the mission and the ministry of Jesus.  We are called to evangelize out of love for Jesus Christ and of the people who will be graced by what His Kingdom of love, peace and justice will bring to their lives.

In placing before you this vision for a New Evangelization, I am keenly aware of the challenges facing our parishes today.  In fact, it is for that reason that we have gathered here this afternoon.  In a little while, Bill Fay and Jack Ahern will lay out for you a proposal from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission to strengthen our parishes as primary communities of faith and mission.  Without getting into the detail of the proposal, I want to say four things about it and your ministry as parish priests.

First, the proposal does not present a plan for the global closure or merging of parishes.  This is not 2004.  I am very happy about that.  The closing of a parish, however necessary, always involves heartbreak.  In the proposal before us, any discussion about the closure or merging of parishes will be initiated at the local level, in the pastoral collaborative.  Moreover, by stepping away from closure and merging, the proposal puts the brakes on the large-scale downsizing of the Archdiocese that we have been engaged in since the early nineties – and well it should.

A Church that is committed to a New Evangelization and to re-energizing its clergy, lay faithful and parishes is looking at life and not death, growth and not decline.

Second, the success of this proposal turns on the success of the PST, the Parish Service Team.  While every PST will have a pastor who is ultimately responsible for the spiritual and material good of a pastoral collaborative, the success of the ministry that takes place within a collaborative will be effected and measured by the respectful and enthusiastic collaboration of every member of the PST.  I encourage you as clergy to call forth the religious and the lay faithful of the Archdiocese to the highest level of collaboration in your ministry that the Church recommends.

Third, with the possible introduction of approximately 125 pastoral collaboratives in this proposal, we face a new reality.  Priests who have been living alone in a single-parish ministry would have the opportunity to live together.  I want to encourage that.  I say this not because I am a religious and consider community life normative.  I say it, because my twenty-seven years as a diocesan bishop has taught me that the life of the parish priest can be a very lonely thing.  You know that better than I do.  By sacred ordination, you belong to “an intimate sacramental brotherhood” (PO 8).  I exhort you to use the new opportunities provided by this proposal to choose ways to strengthen and reinvigorate the holy brotherhood that is yours in Christ.

Fourth, the biggest question I have heard raised about this proposal is:  “There’s a lot involved in this.  What kind of support can we expect from the Archbishop and the Pastoral Center?”  I want to go on record today as saying to you that I and the staff of the Archdiocese will do whatever it takes to make this work.  No doubt, there will be anticipated and unanticipated challenges.  We will meet them, one by one, as they arise and try to do this in an organic way, taking the time needed to do this well.  Implementation must be slow, deliberate and mission driven.

What you are being presented with is a proposal, a plan that has been developed to respond to the needs of our faith community.  Central to all of this is our vocation to be pastors, to be spiritual fathers to God’s people.  The great crisis of modern life is the diminishment of fatherhood and the dire consequences on the modern family.  Some men put their work, their finances, their hobbies, their vices, drink, gambling, sexual pleasure, ahead of their obligations to their wives and children.  We too are called to be spiritual fathers and we must be willing to put the needs of our family ahead of our convenience, comfort, plans and ambitions.  We must never reduce what we do to techniques, organizational process of personal charisma.  It is about vocation, identity, relationship with Christ, with the bishop, with our fellow priests and especially with the people we serve.  Jesus said, “I have come to serve, not to be served.”

The temptation is to do things that are self serving, that make our life easier and more comfortable, that make us more popular.  But being a father is always about making sacrifices for the sake of our family, it is our own kenosis.

A Protestant minister told me recently that he loved the concept of the Catholic parish, that the priest was the pastor of every person living within the parish boundaries whether they were Catholic or not.  Ironically we Catholics often forget that concept of Pastor and seem to absolve ourselves of any responsibility for those who are not using the envelopes.  As I like to say, we stand guard over the one faithful sheep and let the ninety nine drift away.  Our ministry begins with our own personal ongoing conversion. 

That will prepare us to be prophets to our own people and challenge them to an ever deeper commitment to the faith and to make more sacrifices to advance the mission that Christ has entrusted us, to make disciples of all nations.  Our task is to make Jesus known and loved.  Our task is to evangelize.  All of our planning is to do just that and to allow our priests to be spiritual fathers to our people.

Our pastoral love for our people and our devotion to Christ must be very strong incentives to work for vocations, especially vocations to the priesthood.  The present proposal of having a pastoral team serving a number of parishes is very flexible.  If we continue to grow our seminary we will be able to have more collaborative, each made up of fewer parishes. 

It is my stated intention that every parish in the Archdiocese will have a priest as pastor.  This is the ideal presented by the Church and we enthusiastically embrace it.  Other diocese with greater distances and fewer clergy might opt for something different, but in Boston we will have a priest as pastor in all parishes by having pastoral teams serving more than one parish when necessary. 

Allow me to reiterate that pastoral love for our people should impel us to work and pray for priestly vocations.  As Archbishop Fulton Sheen used to say, “We must not be a barren fig tree.”  The vocations we encourage will allow our Catholic people to have the benefits of the Sacraments and pastoral care in the future.  If we drink the Kool Aid of cynicism and negativity, we will poison ourselves and the negativity will infect our Catholic people.  To do the task of evangelization we need a regimen of vitamins, the vitamins of prayer and priestly fraternity. 

We must not look upon ministry as being separate from our interior life.  The best service we can give is that of striving to be holy.  As Mother Theresa said, we are not called to be successful but to be faithful.  And if we are faithful, then we are being successful.

The pastoral needs of the Archdiocese can only be met by a united presbyterate, an intentional presbyterate as Fr. Ron Knott speaks of.  Our ongoing formation and priestly support groups, spiritual direction, fidelity to prayer, fraternal correction, time for retreats, days of recollection and priestly friendships are all part of the course in moving forward to meet the challenge of evangelizing.  The spiritual vitamins of prayer and priestly fraternity will give us the energy we need to bring the Gospel to God’s people. 

Thank you for your presence here today.  Know that you are loved by the Catholic people.  As your Bishop, I thank you for your faithful response to follow Christ as his priest.  Thank you for being a spiritual father to God’s faithful and for being brothers to each other.

Please reflect carefully on what you hear today and prayerfully consider the proposals.  Remember that business as usual is not an option.  It is not enough to keep trying to do everything as we have in the past.  The Church is calling us to a new evangelization.  St. Paul in his powerful letter to Timothy on ministry provides a stunning exhortation which the Church today could easily direct to all of us who have been ordained to serve God’s people through the Sacrament of Holy Orders:

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self control.  So do not be ashamed of your testimony to the Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake, but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God. (2 Tim. 1:6-7)

I firmly believe that if we stir into flame the grace of our ordination, especially through fidelity to prayer and priestly fraternity, God will give us the strength to bear our share of hardship for the Gospel.  Today we come together like the apostles of old to repair nets, to plan for the future, so that moved by the love of Christ and His people we might cast out into the deep, confident that the Divine Shepherd will bless our efforts.

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On Tuesday we had our regular meeting with the group of recently ordained priests. We started with a Holy Hour and Vespers and were followed by a discussion, which was a very fruitful way to be able to continue the conversation begun at the convocation.

Talking about our ministry as priests going forward, is always a wonderful exchange, one that I found personally very enlightening. I know that the young priests enjoy the opportunity to get together.

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Periodically the directors of the Pro-Life Offices of New England gather for prayer, planning, and sharing, as we did on Wednesday. This time, two of the primary topics we discussed were the post-abortion healing ministry Project Rachel and the attempt to legalize physician assisted suicide.

We were all particularly interested in hearing the experience of the people in Vermont, who have been successful at staving off attempts to legalize what they call “Physician Prescribed Death.” Deacon Peter Gummere from Vermont showed us some television spots prepared for Vermont, for this project.

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The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a feast of such joy and advent hope, was a wonderful time to inaugurate the pastoral ministry of the new bishop of the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., Bishop Peter Libasci, who was formerly the auxiliary bishop of Rockville Center.

Bishop Libasci

The new Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, was there to read the Holy Father’s Letter of Appointment.

Archbishop Viganò

In my remarks after Communion, I called on all the Catholics of New England to join our brothers and sisters of Manchester in praying for the blessing of their diocese, and the ministry of their new bishop.

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Tuesday, I was visited by Father Jack Wall, the president of the Catholic Church Extension Society, an organization that supports home mission dioceses.

When I was Bishop of the Virgin Islands, where my initial budget for the entire diocese was $30,000 a year, I was very grateful for the support that I received from the Extension Society. Many rural dioceses in the United States, particularly those in the southwest with growing Hispanic populations, become the beneficiaries of the generosity of the people who support the Extension Society.

One of the ways they raise awareness of their ministry is through the Catholic Extension Calendar, which helps them promote their work.

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Finally this week, I want to mark the passing of one of our best known priests, Father Jim McCune, at Regina Cleri on Wednesday.

Many of you probably knew him because he served as both secretary and master of ceremonies for Cardinal Medeiros. He was also the pastor at St. John the Evangelist parish in Canton. Our priests, especially the senior priests, came to know him in a new position, Director of the Office for Senior Priests. During his years in that office he lived at Regina Cleri and gave outstanding personal attention to the priests there; as well as visiting the senior priest who lived in parishes or their own homes.

I was always grateful that he was so diligent in this important responsibility. He kept me and all of those responsible for the life and ministry of our priests very well informed about those priests in his care.

Please keep Father McCune, and all our deceased priests, in your prayers.

Until my next post,

Cardinal Seán

I hope you all had a pleasant and relaxing Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always a special time for families to come together around the table and give thanks to the Lord for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us during the year. I myself, was able to be together with two of my cousins, and their families for Thanksgiving. I am very grateful for that.

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Of course this past weekend we marked the start of Advent, and English speaking Catholics in the United States began to celebrate the Mass according to a new translation of the Roman Missal.

Clergy and lay people throughout the Archdiocese have been coming together to prepare for this implementation over the past two years, and I’m glad to hear that all the preparation and catechesis really has paid off! I’ve been hearing very encouraging reports from pastors, and my own experience of celebrating Mass according to the new translation this past week has been very positive. The new words are rich in meaning and I find that there’s a real elegance to the new style of our prayers. I am particularly struck by how many of the new prayers come to us right out of the Sacred Scriptures.

I know that this change has been difficult for some people, and for all of us it will take some time to adjust to the new responses at Mass. As a priest, it’s as though I’m celebrating Mass for the first time — really having to pay attention to the words that are printed in the Missal. I’m sure that with time we will all be much more comfortable with these beautiful prayers, and we won’t rely so heavily on the printed text in front of us. But for now, I find myself looking down and reading from the book most of the time!

I really do hope and pray that these new prayers will help us to pray better, and to discover again the meaning of what we do when we gather around the altar to celebrate the great gift that the Lord has left for us.

I am so grateful to the priests and lay people who devoted so much energy over the past few years to help prepare us all for the Missal, and I am most grateful to the pastors and parish staffs who did a great job preparing their congregations for these changes. Keep up the good work!

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As some of you may know, one of my responsibilities to the Universal Church as a cardinal is to serve at various dicasteries in the Holy See. I am currently on three commissions, and this week I have been in Rome for meetings with The Pontifical Council for the Family. This year we are celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio that was published in 1981 by Blessed John Paul II, the same year he created the Council for the Family.

A number of cardinals serve with me on the council — including Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City, and Cardinal Edward Eagan, the former Archbishop of New York — as well as a number of bishops and archbishops. The president is the Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, who was the Archbishop of Florence.

However, unlike most dicasteries, the Council has a large number of lay members — including 19 married couples from all over the world. Among them are Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and his wife Dorian; Michael Waldstein of Ave Maria University and his wife Susan; and John Grabowski of The Catholic University of America and his wife Claire.  Timothy O’Donnell, the president of Christendom College, is also a consultor to the Council. Of course, there also were people from Germany, Spain, the Philippines, and different countries in Africa, South America, and Central America.

In this year’s program we heard reports on the situation of marriage and family throughout the world. There were some excellent presentations and discussions on the situation of family life, and the ministry and the challenges of the Church trying to promote family life as part of the Church’s mission.

The Rome Reports TV news agency had a very nice report on our meeting.  It features some nice remarks by Dr. O’Donnell.

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I was happy to be the principal celebrant of one of the Masses for the plenary session. I celebrated the Mass on the Feast of St. Andrew. I would like to share that homily with you:

Last February, it was my privilege to celebrate Mass at a Chapel built over the house where the apostles Peter and Andrew lived. It is very near the ruins of the ancient synagogue in Capharnaum where Jesus gives us the powerful Eucharistic discourse on the Bread of Life. Today we celebrate the feast of Andrew, the brother of Peter and apostle of our Lord. The New Testament does not provide us with many details of his biography. We know that he was born in Bethsaida near the Sea of Galilee. He was a disciple of John the Baptist and was present when the Baptist proclaimed: “behold the Lamb of God”.

The tradition is that Andrew, the apostle, founded the See of Byzantium that was later to be called Constantinople. Blessed John Paul II, who was endowed with such a genius for symbolism, instituted a very beautiful practice on today’s feast day. Because St. Peter is the special patron of Rome and his brother Andrew is the patron of Constantinople, John Paul II made use of their feast days for a very touching ecumenical exchange with the Patriarch of Constantinople. Accordingly, the pope sends a representative to a special celebration of the feast of St. Andrew at the Phanar, the headquarters of the patriarch, and likewise, always receives a representative of the patriarch for the celebration of St. Peter on June 29 in Rome. It is a practice that we have tried to observe in Boston. In fact, if I were not with you this morning here in Rome, I would have gone to the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Boston. Likewise, Metropolitan Methodius always comes to the Catholic Church for the celebration of the feast of St. Peter. We pray for the day when our two churches will be reunited as they were for the first thousand years of Christianity. May the intercession of the brothers, Peter and Andrew, speed us on the path of unity.

Today’s gospel reminds us that Andrew and his brother Peter were fishermen. They were lousy fishermen. It seemed they never caught anything unless Jesus was there telling them throw the net here, do it now. Jesus invites them: “follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. Andrew and Peter left their boats and nets and family, they left everything and followed Jesus. Their vocations helped change the course of history. In the same Gospels we just heard, Jesus calls two other brothers, James and John the sons of Zebedee. They too leave everything to follow Jesus.

Jesus is still calling brothers and whole families to lead lives of discipleship and to participate in His mission. We are in Rome this week to mark the 30th anniversary of Familiaris Consortio and the creation of the Pontifical Council for the Family. In Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II writes: “the family finds in the plan of God the Creator and Redeemer, not only its identity, what it is, but also its mission, what it can and should do. The role that God calls the family to perform in history derives from what the family is. Each family finds within itself a summons that cannot be ignored, and that specifies both its dignity and responsibility; family, become what you are.”

Our task is to be evangelizers like the great apostle Andrew. When Andrew discovers the Messiah, thanks to the witness of John the Baptist who declares, “behold the Lamb of God”, Andrew immediately goes to share that good news with his brother Peter. When we come to discover, through the many witnesses who surround us, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our brother, like Andrew, we must share that good news with others. Jesus wants us to be fishers of men, and too often we are content to be keepers of the aquarium. In today’s first lesson we listen to the stirring words of Paul: “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Ours must be the beautiful feet that tirelessly carry the joyful news of the gospel to the families of today who are burdened by so many obstacles and challenges. The mission that Christ has entrusted to us is crucial for the future of our Church, and indeed for the future of human society. In many poor countries, families often lack the means necessary for survival such as food, work, decent housing, and medical care. Ironically enough, in the wealthier countries of the West, excessive prosperity and the consumer mentality sometimes deprive married couples of the generosity and courage needed for raising up new life. Consequently life is often perceived, not as a blessing, but as a danger from which to defend oneself.

The liberating message of Christ that Andrew carried to Byzantium, Georgia and Russia is the message that we must carry to our contemporaries. Some are not anxious to hear what we have to say. But Andrew did not always find an enthusiastic audience. We are told that he was crucified on a cross shaped like a huge letter X. The world needs witnesses, martyrs, whose suffering invite people to believe.

In our contemporary world the autonomous self, the highly individualistic and alienated modern man, is often disconnected from God and from community. The autonomous self is part of the lonely crowd that contrasts with real community. We see this in a symbolic way in many of the gospel stories when the crowd is pushing people away from Christ as in the case of Zacchaeus the tax collector, who is “vertically challenged” and obliged to climb the sycamore tree to glimpse Jesus. The crowd pushes him away as it pushed away Bartimeus, the blind beggar. The crowd of individuals keeps people away from Christ, whereas the community is always reaching out, drawing people closer to the Lord. Our Church must not be a crowd of individuals but rather a family, a community that draws people ever closer to the loving presence of Christ. We live out our own mission as Christ’s family only by inviting others to be a part of that mission and by helping families “become what they are.”

In God’s plan families are missionary. They pass on the faith to new generations and share the treasures and legacies that they have received with their new members. Marriage, in God’s plan, is a sanctuary of life and the family, a community of love. That is a very important part of the gospel message, of the good news that we must live and proclaim. As Pope Paul VI said: “the family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the gospel is transmitted and from which the gospel radiates. In a family which is conscious of this mission, all the members evangelize and are evangelized. The parents not only communicate the gospel to their children, but from their children, they can themselves receive the same gospel as deeply lived by them. And such a family becomes an evangelizer of many other families.”

We are all privileged to have known such families as described by Pope Paul VI. One such family that made a profound impression upon me as a young seminarian was the Gauchat family. Bill and Dorothy were dear friends of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker Movement. The Gauchats had six children of their own but they took in dozens of severely handicapped children whose parents were unable or unwilling to care for them on their farm in Avon, Ohio. Bill and Dorothy taught their own children how to love and care for these needy children who became their brothers and sisters. It was truly a labor of love. I will never forget the impact it made on me the first time I visited their home and saw those terribly deformed children receiving so much love in that family.

Being a family in God’s family is to be a community of love where people learn to make a gift of themselves to God and to others. Those beautiful families change the course of history. They open the door that allows God’s light to enter our world. May Andrew and Peter and James and John and all the holy families that have gone before us in the Church, help us to inspire new generations of Catholic families in the spirit of Nazareth: communities of love and prayer, of joy and loving service, imbued with the mission of building a civilization of love and announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

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On Thursday, we had an audience with the Holy Father in the Sala Clementina, and he made an address to us.

I would have liked to share with you the full text of his remarks in English (the Holy Father addressed us in Italian), but a translation is not yet available on the Vatican web site. However, as it usually does, the Vatican Information Service had a nice summary of the pope’s remarks:

VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2011 (VIS) – The Holy Father today received participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family led by their president, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli. This year’s plenary coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation "Familiaris consortio" and his creation of the pontifical council itself.

In his remarks, the Pope noted that "in our time, as in the past, the eclipse of God, the spread of an anti-family ideology and the abasement of sexual morality appear interconnected". This is why "the new evangelization is inseparable from the Christian family. The family is the Church’s ‘path’, because it is a ‘human place’ in which we encounter Christ. … The family founded on the Sacrament of Marriage is an individual microcosm of the Church, a community which is saved and saves, which is evangelised and evangelises. Like the Church, the family is called to live, irradiate and express to the world the love and presence of Christ".

Accepting and transmitting divine love, Benedict XVI explained, "comes about in the spouses’ dedication to one another, in generous and responsible procreation, in raising and educating children, in work and social relations, in care for the needy, participation in Church activity and commitment to civil society". The Christian family "reflects the splendour of Christ and the beauty of the divine Trinity in the world" in the extent to which it manages to experience love "as communion and service, as reciprocal gift and openness to everyone".

The Pope then recalled his recent visit to Ancona to close the Italian National Eucharistic Congress where he had met priests and married couples together. "Both these states of life", he said, "have the same roots in Christ’s love whereby He gave Himself for the salvation of humanity; they are called to a shared mission of bearing witness to this love, and causing it to be present through service to the community for the edification of the people of God. Such a perspective enables us to overcome a reductive vision in which the family is seen as the mere recipient of pastoral activity. … The family is the best place to impart human and Christian education, and thus remains the greatest ally of priestly ministry".

The Pope then identified a number of areas in which the cooperation of priests and Christian families is vital: educating children, adolescents and young people in love, seen as communion and the gift of self; preparing engaged couples for marriage; forming spouses; participating in charitable, educational and civil activities, and in pastoral care by families for families.

Finally, referring to the forthcoming seventh World Meeting of Families, due to be held in Milan, Italy, in June 2012, the Pope said: "It will be a great joy for me and for us all to come together, pray and rejoice with families from all over the world".

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

First of all I want to I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. This week I am posting my blog a little earlier because of the holiday.

What an important and beautiful feast day this is, which has not been commercialized like so many other annual celebrations. The religious themes of gratitude to God, love and unity of families, and the call to share the blessings of those less fortunate are all central to what Thanksgiving is about for Americans.

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Friday evening I was happy to attend a vigil at the Springfield Cathedral with the northeastern lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. At the vigil we prayed for the deceased members of the Order.

Bishop Timothy McDonnell welcomed us in his cathedral which is marking its 150^th anniversary. Bishop Bob McManus from Worcester was also with us for the celebration.

I was happy to greet the current lieutenant, Jack Monahan as well as past lieutenants George Ryan and Dennis Looney, who are part of the Grand Magisterium of the Order.

The next day Archbishop O’Brien, who has recently been appointed Grand Master, celebrated Mass and invested 24 new knights and 24 new ladies as members of the Order.

The Order has 28,000 members worldwide and is entrusted with providing support to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Catholics in the Holy Land.

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Saturday we were visited by three Swiss Guards, who brought me a book commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the papal guard.

They also gave me this wonderful medal

So we gave the three young Swiss Guards a tour of the Cathedral. I had a picture taken with our “Pieta” downstairs.

I told them, I said, “I understand there’s a copy of this somewhere in Rome?” They said, “No, no sir… in Rome is the original!”

This is, of course, the “original” one at St. Peter’s Basilica

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Saturday night was the 19^th Annual Bishop James Augustine Healy Award Dinner. Fredron Dekarlos Blackmon, OBL, S.B., who is the Supreme Knight of Saint Peter Claver gave a beautiful talk.

They give out two awards, the Healy and the Ruffin awards.

Bishop James Healy, being a priest of Boston, became the first black bishop in the United States.

Robert Leo Ruffin was a layman in the 1800’s who went to the first Black Catholic Congress. He was a great promoter of Catholic education.

This year the awards were given to Judge Antoinette E. McLean Leoney and Father Gerald Osterman. They both gave very moving speeches.

Meyer J. Chambers was there with the Archdiocese of Boston Black Catholic Choir, who sang.

Judge Leoney’s niece Lauren C. McLean-Britt also sang a beautiful solo. There was a very large crowd this year, and it is always a great celebration of the contribution of the Black Catholic community to the body of the Church. It’s always a very joyful and moving celebration.

We were saddened this year by the news that the head of our Office for Black Catholics Lorna DesRoses’ father passed away, and she was unable to be present.

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Sunday was the feast of Christ the King, and we had a Mass at the seminary chapel. Members of Cardinal O’Connell’s family were present at the Mass. They sang songs written by Cardinal O’Connell who was a gifted composer.

Afterwards we went into the courtyard and blessed the grave and tombstones. During the summer Cardinal O’Connell’s remains were moved to the current location in St. John’s courtyard.

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I presided over evening prayer at the cathedral for the Cheverus Awards ceremony, which we hold on Christ the King Sunday.

It’s fitting that it’s a few days before Thanksgiving because, of course, our sentiments at the Cheverus Awards are always of gratitude to God for our good and faithful Catholics, and very special gratitude for these people who we recognize because of their generous and faithful service that allows the parishes and the agencies in the diocese to run.

We had a full cathedral, so it was a very uplifting gathering in which we could recognize people working in their parish at CCD, pro-life, prison ministry, hospital ministry, and parish administration, just a whole variety of works of mercy, and evangelization, and service.

We began these award ceremonies in our bicentennial year. I thought it was important for us to have some vehicle to thank and recognize the loving service of so many people, who give years of their lives to serve the Church.

One of the persons who received the medal came up with her pastor. She was 99 years old. Just think how many years she has been at the service of her community. It’s a joy to be able to do something to recognize that.

Scot Landry interviewed some of the award recipients for his radio show, The Good Catholic Life

You can see more photos of the event here.

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Nov. 21 was the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple. I went to the Presentation of Mary Academy to visit the sisters and the students, including a number of retired sisters there. One of the sisters, Sister Mary gave the students a history of the foundation of the order by Blessed Ann-Marie Rivier, who founded the order on the Feast of the Presentation.

In her remarks she held up a rosary and said, “This was the iPad that Mother Rivier used to download God’s wisdom.”

Sister Susan has just been elected to their central government and will be going to Rome. We want to thank her and congratulate her.

She gave me a tour of some of the estate. The sisters acquired that land about fifty years ago. It’s like a medieval village. There’s a huge stone wall around it. It has all these archways, and interior courtyards, and chapels. There are twenty buildings, I think, on the land, and bell towers. It’s just an extraordinary facility that the school is on.

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Tuesday I met with the new Commander of the Salvation Army of Massachusetts, Major David Kelly and his wife Naomi, who are new to the area.

He’s just been assigned to head the Salvation Army in Massachusetts. We were very happy to discuss ways we might work together. I thanked him for his work among the poor and for his outreach coming to see us.

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Every year during the month of November, which is the month we pray for the holy souls, we offer a Mass for the departed deacons and their loved ones, particularly those who died during the past year, but all of those who served the Archdiocese. This gives us an opportunity to bring the diaconate community together.

Enjoy your thanksgiving celebrations.

Until my next post

In Christ.

Cardinal Seán.

Last week I returned from the ad limina visit to the Holy Father in Rome. As you can read in my post last week, it was a very significant visit and I was very happy to meet the Holy Father together with the other bishops from New England and to celebrate the Eucharist at the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul.

This week I published a Pastoral Letter on the importance of Sunday Mass, “Jesus’ Eager Desire: Our Participation in the Sunday Mass.” It is a continuation of our efforts in evangelization that began recently with the “Catholics Come Home” initiative during Lent being followed by the Pastoral Letter on Evangelization that I published on the Solemnity of Pentecost.

The centerpiece of Evangelization is, of course, to invite people to a renewed fidelity to the Sunday Eucharist. In light of the new Roman Missal, it’s a time to reintroduce people to the liturgy and the centrality of the Sunday Eucharist. Christ has given us this great gift and He has commanded us to do this in memory of Him, in commemoration of Him, and to make holy the Lord’s Day by being part of a worshiping community. And so, I hope the letter will create an opportunity for our priests and parish leadership to reflect on our mission to evangelize and to build up our Sunday Eucharist as the center of our lives. You can read the letter at the end of this post.

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On my return to Boston, I was visited by Bishop Launay Saturne of the Diocese of Jacmel, Haiti. He was accompanied by Father Jean Pierre Aubin and Father Michael Nolan.

Bishop Saturne was visiting the Parish of Saint Mary in Waltham which is helping rebuild Saint Peter’s Church in the Jacmel Diocese. 

Saint Peter’s Church

Jacmel was one of the hardest hit parts of Haiti. Bishop Launay was made bishop after the earthquake to guide the spiritual and physical reconstruction efforts of that diocese.

Father Jean Pierre is a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who was born in Haiti and was baptized at Saint Peter’s.

He currently serves as parochial vicar at Saint Bridget’s in Maynard and ministers to the Haitian community in Waltham. Saint Mary’s is trying to help this parish in their rebuilding efforts in gratitude for providing Boston with a priest. Bishop Launay visited with many of the faithful including representatives of the Propagation of the Faith Office while here. He expressed his gratitude to me that as we approach the two year anniversary of the earthquake, the people of Boston have not forgotten the church and people of Haiti.

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Friday, we went to Philadelphia for a fundraiser for the Catholic Leadership Institute. I was one of the honorees.

At the gala dinner they also honored Thomas Monaghan, Founder of Legatus and Ave Maria University;  Theresa Polakovic,  Co-founder, Executive Director and Chief Editor of Endow; and Sister Polly McShain, SHCJ, Educator, Counselor and Sister of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.

I was very happy to be a part of their evening, and to support the extraordinary work to promote pastoral leadership formation among our leaders in the Church, both among our priests and the laity.

Their “Good Leaders, Good Shepherds” program for clergy and “Tending the Talents” program for lay leaders have been very successful in our archdiocese.

At the event there were a number of my friends from Palm Beach, including Father Brian Flannigan. He was the pastor of St. Patrick’s in Palm Beach where I was a bishop for less than one year.  Father Flanagan is the brotehr of CLI’s founder Tim Flanagan

One of the parishioners from there, Dianne Simouitz, was very active in the diocese. They had about 600 people at the banquet.

With Al Lagan and Tim Flanagan

They had a very beautiful program that allowed them the chance to talk about the fine works that they’re doing. I am very pleased with their contribution to the Church throughout the country.

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The following morning I travelled to Baltimore for the fall session of the Bishops’ conference. Even though the conference starts officially on Monday, during the weekend I had to participate in meetings with several committees I am part of, including the Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations Committee as well as the Latin American Secretariat.

During the conference we had the opportunity to welcome the Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the new apostolic nuncio to the United States. I had already have a chance to meet him the week before in Rome.

Archbishop Dolan welcomes Archbishop Vigano

Archbishop Dolan gave a very inspiring Presidential Address
on the ministry of bishops.

I would say the centerpiece of the meeting was Archbishop Lori’s presentation on the priority to deal with issues of religious freedom that was very strongly endorsed by all of the bishops.

It was a very positive meeting. I was asked also to make a presentation on the ad limina because the last time it took place was seven years ago and many bishops have not experienced it yet. Archbishop Dolan asked me to make a presentation to the bishops, so that they would have an idea of what to expect.

We were glad to be part of the presentation on Monday morning on Project Rachel together with Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Dinardo, who is the chairman of the pro-life committee. Our purpose was to inform the bishops of the ministry of Project Rachel, and to encourage the dioceses throughout the country, that might not have this initiative, to become aware of it and hopefully adopt it. There are so many women and men that have been affected by the trauma of abortion. It’s such a wonderful way of having a ministry of reconciliation and healing for that.

Marianne Luthin, our director of our Pro-Life Office in Boston was there, and she was one of the principal presenters at the press conference that took place on Tuesday.

During the conference I was elected chairman of the Pro-Life Committee, although my role will start officially one year from now when Cardinal DiNardo’s term will end. This system allows for a smooth transition.

Cardinal Dinardo

I’ve always felt humbled by the confidence of my brother bishops. This is certainly a very important committee for all of us. It represents the centerpiece of the social gospel of the church. In the United States there are so many threats to the gospel of life. I’m very pleased that the bishops’ conference has an outstanding team of staff members, who preserve the committee.

The Archbishop for the Ukranian Catholics, Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, one of the largest rite churches within the Catholic Church was present at our meeting of the bishops. He thanked the bishops and all American Catholics for all their support as the Church in Ukraine had to go through the darkest years of persecution. We were very happy to see him.

I would want to mention that while we were there we were told of the death of Archbishop John Francis Donoghue, the Bishop Emeritus of Atlanta.

He was a very good friend of mine. When I was a young priest in Washington, he was the chancellor of the archdiocese. He served as chancellor under Cardinals Boyle, Baum, and Hickey, and then he became the Archbishop of Atlanta. I expressed my condolences to Archbishop Gregory and assured him of our prayers.

Each year, the military archdiocese sponsors a dinner with the chief of chaplains.

From left to right: Father Tim Hubbs, Chaplain Cecil Richardson (Chief of Air Force Chaplains), Father Red Raux (Air Force chaplain and priest of the Archdiocese of Boston), Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio (Archdiocese for the Military Services USA), Msgr. Donald Rutherford (Chief of Army Chaplains), Chaplain Howard Stendahl (Deputy Chief of Air Force Chaplains), Msgr. Alfonse Stephenson (Chief of Chaplains, Air National Guard) and auxiliary Bishop Richard Higgins (Archdiocese for the Military Services)

Boston, of course, is one of the archdioceses with the largest number of priests in the military. I was happy to be a part of that. They had some entertainment during the meal. Afterwards, there was a video presentation that I was able to see.

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Finally, as I mentioned, I conclude this post with the text of my Pastoral Letter, Jesus’ Eager Desire: Our Participation in the Sunday Mass . You can download the letter here.

Until my next post.

Cardinal Seán

Jesus’ Eager Desire: Our Participation in the Sunday Mass

Pastoral Letter

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap.

November 20, 2011 Solemnity of Christ the King

A. Introduction: Family Meals

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year. Every year so many of us willingly endure highway traffic jams and overcrowded airports because we want to be with family members on Thanksgiving, even when we know the turkey might be overcooked, the stuffing barely edible, and the conversation boring. Why? We go because we know our presence matters to our parents, siblings, family and friends — and we love them. We each witness to this love for each other when we are present at table for Thanksgiving and other milestones such as birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms, First Holy Communions, weddings and funerals. Our presence is a sign to each other of the gift and the importance of family in our lives.

As a young priest preparing couples for marriage, I always stressed the importance of the family meal. I look back at my own childhood and recall how we gathered each evening for dinner — the children, my parents and my grandmother who lived with us. It was a time of lively exchange when we recounted both the sad and funny things that may have happened during the day. We shared ideas and aspirations. But most importantly, it was a time to share ourselves. Prayer was always part of the gathering with grace before meals and often the Rosary afterwards. As a child, I would rather have been many places, such as playing outside or visiting friends. And, as for the food, well, as they say, the shortest book in the world is the Irish cookbook: boil everything and serve the potato with it! Looking back, however, I realize that those dinners with the O’Malley clan are where we discovered our identity and forged bonds that have lasted a lifetime. There we shared our own stories, and our individual stories were woven in to a history that we shared together.

B. Jesus’ Eager Desire — Do This in Remembrance of Me

The Thanksgiving meal of our Catholic family occurs every Sunday. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word e ?a??st?a (eucharistia), which literally means "thanksgiving." Jesus Himself instituted this family tradition on the night before He died. When He gathered the disciples in the Upper Room for the Last Supper, He told them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you."1 He taught them the importance of humble service through washing their feet.2 Then He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and through His divine power transformed it into His own body, blood, soul and divinity. He told them, "Whoever eats this bread and drinks this blood" will have eternal life. He then instructed them to, "Do this in memory of me." Since that day almost 2,000 years ago, the Church has carried out Jesus’ command.

Jesus’ eager desire is to celebrate this thanksgiving meal with every one of us each Sunday. We pray in many good and helpful ways but none equals the prayer that is the Sunday Mass. It is the one that Jesus implored us to do in His memory. As St. Paul wrote to the 1st century Christians of Corinth, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes."3

We live at a time when many people state that they are "spiritual but not religious." If this is the way that you see your relationship with God, I am grateful that you are reading this letter. You recognize your hunger for God and want to have a relationship with God because He created you, redeemed you and loves you. Perhaps you have drifted over time from the regular practice of our faith or possibly you have made a conscious choice not to join our family each Sunday. Please know that you are missed. Jesus instituted the Eucharist and founded the Church to gather His chosen people and to foster communion with Him, and through Him, communion with each other.

Our culture today promotes an unhealthy individualism that has certainly crept into the way some members of our Catholic family practice their faith. But Christian discipleship is never a solo flight; it is a lifelong family pilgrimage. At the heart of that adventure is the Eucharistic banquet where the Last Supper and Calvary become present. Pope Benedict describes what happens at Mass in this way:

At the celebration of the Eucharist, ”we find ourselves in the ‘hour’ of Jesus… [and] this ‘hour’ of Jesus becomes our own hour; His presence in our midst… By making the bread into His Body and the wine into His Blood, He anticipates His death, He accepts it in His heart, and He transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside simply brutal violence — the crucifixion — from is within becomes an act of total self-giving love… In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world… Jesus can distribute His Body, because He truly gives Himself… The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn. We are to become the Body of Christ, His own Flesh and Blood. We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one.”4

Some people say, "Mass is boring" or "I don’t get anything out of it" or "I pray in my own way." Consider for a moment how parents would feel if their children said similar things about the family celebration of Thanksgiving or a birthday party. "I don’t get anything out of the celebration" or "it’s boring" or "I’ll celebrate your birthday in my own way." We would feel disappointed, incomplete, and certainly hopeful that the family would be fully reunited at the next gathering. Similarly, Jesus’ eager desire is to have us all present each Sunday for His thanksgiving meal.

C. Sunday Mass: A Great Hunger Throughout the Ages

The Eucharist is Jesus’ great gift to us, and the fulfillment of His promise to be with us always until the end of time. It is a central part of God’s saving plan of infinite love for us.

Many Catholics today seem to take the gift of the Sunday Mass for granted. It is a great sadness to me as spiritual leader of the Archdiocese of Boston to note that, on any given Sunday, so many Catholics choose to be absent from Mass. It was not that long ago that almost all Catholics went to Sunday Mass unless they were sick or incapacitated.

In the early days of the Church, Christians did not enjoy the freedom of religion that we do today in the United States. They were regularly persecuted by the Roman authorities for attending Mass. Pope Benedict XVI often tells the story of the martyrs of Abitene (in modern-day Tunisia). In 303, forty-nine Christians suffered torture and martyrdom because they defied the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s order not to celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday. When asked why they had disobeyed the emperor, one of them said, "Sine dominico non possumus" — "Without Sunday, we cannot live."5

In fact, for nearly 2,000 years Christians have risked their lives to participate in Sunday Mass. During the Reformation in England, priests were martyred when caught offering Holy Mass for English Catholics. Courageous lay people who gave their homes over as places of Catholic worship, and who harbored priests, suffered torture and death.

The witness of saints in our own lifetime testifies to the tremendous price paid by some of our Catholic family for celebrating the Sunday Eucharist. In the past century, Catholics in former Communist countries like the Soviet Union or Vietnam were persecuted for practicing their faith. Today in places such as Egypt, China, North Korea, Iraq, Sudan and countless other areas, Catholics risk their lives and travel for hours to attend Sunday Mass. We give thanks to God that we do not have to put our lives in jeopardy to attend Mass at our local parish. We rejoice that, unlike those in poor areas, we do not have to walk for miles, over hills or on inadequate dirt roads to attend. The vast majority of us can walk safely down the street or make a short drive to arrive at our beloved parish. But the ease, convenience, and legality of the Mass should not cause us ever to lose sight that the Mass is so precious that many of our Catholic brothers and sisters around the world are braving great inconvenience and persecution to receive what we, by God’s love, have available near us.

In his first Holy Thursday letter to priests, Blessed Pope John Paul II touchingly recalled situations of the faith triumphing over persecution from his own personal experience of living under religious oppression:

Sometimes it happens that [the lay faithful] meet in an abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they keep, and recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic liturgy: and then, at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation a deep silence comes down upon them, a silence sometimes broken by a sob … so ardently do they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter.6

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta often spoke about how precious each Mass is. Frequently she would instruct newly ordained priests to "celebrate each Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass." In other words, she implored priests never to take the celebration of the Mass for granted and let it become routine. I ask the same of every Catholic in the archdiocese. Just as we should be grateful for each day God grants us, let us anticipate and participate in each Mass as if it could be our last or our only Mass. Let us never take for granted the wonder that is the encounter we have with God each Sunday that we celebrate the Eucharist together.

D. Why Catholics Come to Mass

Sometimes we become fixated on the reasons Catholics give for skipping Sunday Mass. These are important and the Church needs to hear these concerns and respond. However, it is equally important to focus on and share the many reasons why Catholics throughout the Church’s history have come, and continue to come, with eager anticipation.

1. We desire to respond to God’s love

"God so loved the world that He sent His only son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."7 Jesus’ love for us led Him to offer Himself on the cross for our salvation. The same saving love of Jesus leads Him to continue to give Himself through the gift of the Eucharist.

The word "love" in English, particularly today, has been stripped of much of its beauty and meaning. It often is reduced to a "feeling." In Greek, there are seven words for love and the word for the love God has for us, agape, connotes action, a self-gift. The love we want to have for God is a self-gift in return, of our time, energy, worries, hopes and joy. The Mass is the best place to thank God for the gifts besides Himself that He gives us — especially life, family, friends, faith and love.

2. We desire to encounter Christ in the most profound way possible

At Mass, eternity and time intersect. It is part of God’s plan of salvation that we would be able to meet Him directly and receive His grace through the sacraments. Because He is all loving and truthful, we believe Him when He and the Church He founded teach that He is really present with us in the celebration of the Mass.

The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy explains that Christ is present to us in four ways during the celebration of Mass: (1) in the community celebrating; (2) in the Word proclaimed; (3) in the priest presiding; and (4) in the Eucharist.8 Dr. Tom Curran elaborated on these four forms of Christ’s presence at Mass in a way that is very helpful.9

First, we encounter Christ in the community of the faithful. Each one of us is made in God’s image and likeness. The kindness we show each other in Jesus’ name is a way we show kindness to Jesus Himself. Also, by joining in the community of the faithful, we are included in Jesus’ prayer of thanks and praise to God the Father. It is a holy encounter with Jesus and with our fellow communicants.

Second, we encounter Christ in His Word. The readings proclaimed from Sacred Scripture are truly the words of everlasting life and the letter from a loving God to His people. What is truly amazing is that, if we pray before Mass for guidance in a decision and we intently listen to the proclamation of Scripture and the homily, God will often speak to us in words we most need to hear.

Third, we encounter Christ in the priest. Jesus chose to have His sacrifice re-presented on the altar by an ordained priest or bishop. When the priest speaks in the first person during the Consecration, and says, "Take this, all of you and eat of it, for this is My body," Jesus is speaking through him. He stands in the person of Christ, the Eternal High Priest. Through the priest, we are able to participate in the greatest event in history, the one that saved us from our sins and opened up the possibility of spending eternal life with God in heaven.

Fourth, and most importantly, we encounter Christ in the Eucharist. We take Jesus’ body and blood within us, and Jesus transforms us. We become one with Him by receiving Him in Holy Communion, and through Him, with each other.10

Because of these direct encounters with Christ at Mass, we seek to be active participants — not passive spectators — in listening to His Word, sharing in the Offertory, joining in the singing, and proclaiming a reverent "Amen" ("truly, I believe") when we worthily approach to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

3. We desire to gather and pray with our parish family

The celebration of Mass, like life, has vertical and horizontal dimensions. This parallels the great commandment, which instructs us to love God and then to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Christian life is a pilgrimage we make with our brothers and sisters in Jesus. Jesus set the example by gathering all the Apostles at the Last Supper instead of having a dozen individual meals. God foresaw from all eternity that we would be placed in our particular community at this particular time and that discipleship is lived in friendship and fraternity with those for whom and with whom we pray at each Sunday Mass. Our presence to each other is a symbol of our solidarity and unity with God and with each other. It is the fullest expression of our Christian identity.

Liturgy means, "work of the people." The greatest work we will do each week is to worship God and pray for, and with, our parish family.

4. We desire to strengthen our particular family

Father Patrick Peyton, the great "Rosary Priest," instructed us, "The family that prays together, stays together." He advocated praying a family rosary daily. In the same way, I recommend that attending and praying at the Sunday Mass together will strengthen your family to confront the various challenges today that often tear families apart.

During the sacrament of Baptism, parents are reminded that they are called to be the first and best teachers of their children in the ways of faith. Knowing that the Mass is Catholicism’s central prayer and that it is the source and summit of Christian life, we teach our children and grandchildren one of the most important lessons of all when we attend Mass with them.

Recently I attended a dinner at which the principal of one of our local Catholic high schools was being honored. In his remarks he said: "I grew up in a family where going to Mass on Sunday was about as optional as breathing." Many of us in the audience could identify with those words — it was not a matter of authoritarian parents or social pressure, but rather a sense of how important the Sunday Eucharist was for our family identity and survival. To miss Mass is to stop breathing; it is the sure path to a spiritual asphyxiation.

5. We desire to witness to our faith and provide a living legacy to our children and grandchildren

Children are always watching their parents and grandparents. We form our young people by the way we participate in the Mass. Children who see that their parents get to Church early to pray before Mass will want to imitate them. Children who observe parents and other adults reverently receive the Eucharist will more readily realize that the Eucharist truly is the Body and Blood of Christ. The example of parents is an essential part of preparation for receiving First Holy Communion. Children who hear from their parents how much, and why, they love Mass will be less inclined to compare Mass to television and consider it "boring."

A great tribute at a funeral liturgy is when we describe the deceased as someone who never missed Sunday Mass and someone who had a great desire to receive the Eucharist and to be with the parish family. When I was growing up, my family and others in our parish would regularly attend Saturday afternoon confession together and Sunday morning Mass. Following Mass, extended families gathered for a great Sunday lunch and time for relaxation. Celebrating Sunday, the Lord’s Day, was a legacy passed from generation to generation. It was a time to build up the family of Christ, the Church, as well as our own family.

Today the pace of life has quickened. Technology allows work and other responsibilities to intrude into family time. Youth sports, which used to have distinct seasons and no games on Sunday, are now year-round activities with games beginning as early as 7:00 a.m. on Sundays.

Indeed, many families have busier, more hectic schedules on Sundays than they do during the week because Sunday has become simply part of a two-day weekend. Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote about this in his 1998 pastoral letter on the Lord’s Day.

The custom of the ‘weekend’ has become more widespread, a weekly period of respite, spent perhaps far from home and often involving participation in cultural, political or sporting activities which are usually held on free days. This social and cultural phenomenon is by no means without its positive aspects if, while respecting true values, it can contribute to people’s development and to the advancement of the life of society as a whole. All of this responds not only to the need for rest, but also to the need for celebration, which is inherent in our humanity. Unfortunately, when Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a ‘weekend’, it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see the heavens. Hence, though ready to celebrate, they are really incapable of doing so. The disciples of Christ, however, are asked to avoid any confusion between the celebration of Sunday, which should truly be a way of keeping the Lord’s Day holy, and the ‘weekend’, understood as a time of simple rest and relaxation.11

St. Ignatius called Christians people who "live in accord with the Lord’s Day" because they gathered on the first day of the week after the Jewish Sabbath to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection. Their lives were renewed by this sacred worship. As Pope Benedict says, Sunday is not just a suspension of ordinary activities, but a time when "Christians discover the Eucharistic form that their lives are meant to have."12 The way we celebrate Sunday will affect the way we live the remainder of the week and is a mark of Christian identity from generation to generation.

6. We desire to be transformed by Christ’s sacramental grace

The Eucharist is not just something symbolic. Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; … he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and … abides in me, and I in him."13 Upon hearing these words many disciples abandoned Jesus but He did not call them back and say, "I am just kidding," or "these are just figurative expressions." Instead He asks the Apostles if they are going to leave Him too. St. Peter answers in the name of all faithful disciples: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."14

The graces and transformative insights God provides in each celebration of Mass help us move toward a happier, holier life. As we prepare for Mass, we have the opportunity to pray confidently that Christ will give us sanctifying grace. When we arrive, we can ask God to speak to us through the readings, music, homily and prayers and show us one way we can grow to become more the person God created us to be. When you gain that insight, you can pray for the remainder of the Mass how you can put that new insight into practice in the upcoming week.15

The Eucharist gives us strength to face life’s challenges and to keep mindful of God’s love for us.

7. We desire to participate in Jesus’ victory over death and the salvation of the world

Each Sunday Mass is a "little Easter" because it marks the Resurrection — Jesus’ victory over death. This victory is the most significant one in world history because it opens up the possibility of everlasting life.

Consider for a moment the fact that God loved each of us so much that He became incarnate — a human being — so that He could suffer death on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this because He wanted us to live eternally with Him in Heaven. His victory, through His love, is meant to become our victory too.

Sports fans in Boston over the past decade have had the good fortune to celebrate many championships. Our victory parades have been incredible gatherings. No sports fan in the nation would deny that Boston knows how to celebrate victory. Wouldn’t it be great if others said that about us for the way that we celebrated the biggest victory of all — Jesus’ victory over death?

8. We desire a foretaste of Heaven

"Every time we celebrate the Eucharist," Blessed John Paul II preached in 2004, "we participate in the Lord’s Supper which gives us a foretaste of the heavenly glory."16

The Pope would add in his beautiful encyclical on the Eucharist,

The Eucharist is a … foretaste of the fullness of joy promised by Christ; it is in some way the anticipation of heaven, the ‘pledge of future glory.’17 In the Eucharist, everything speaks of confident waiting ‘in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.’ Those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a future fullness which will embrace man in his totality. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world: ‘He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’18 This pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist we digest, as it were, the ‘secret’ of the resurrection. For this reason St. Ignatius of Antioch rightly defined the Eucharistic Bread as ‘a medicine of immortality, an antidote to death.’ 19

St. Augustine wrote, "O God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."20 God wants us to experience deep peace and joy by sharing in His divine life. The Mass, because we receive divine life within us, is the foretaste of that heavenly peace and joy.

9. We desire to follow God’s loving guidance and to commit to deepening our relationship with God

God’s commandments and the teachings of the Church that are based upon them are often misunderstood as burdens instead of guidance and wisdom for a joyful and peaceful journey through this life and into the next. God created us and knows what will make us truly happy.

God’s Third Commandment instructs us to keep the Sabbath holy. For Christians, this weekly Sabbath is Sunday, which the early Christians always called the Lord’s Day. By keeping Sunday for God, by keeping first things first and putting God above other things, we will experience greater order and more peace in our lives.

The Church calls every one of us to make a commitment to attend Sunday Mass. In doing so, we promise to do our part to keep up our relationship with Christ and with our Church family — the Body of Christ.

Christ’s relationship to the Church is described in Sacred Scripture as that of a Bridegroom with his Bride.21 His self-sacrificing love is something the Church seeks to reciprocate. It is a model of the love between a husband and a wife. Imagine if a wife, celebrating an anniversary dinner with her husband, told him that she accepted the dinner invitation only to "fulfill an obligation." How would you feel to be on the receiving end of that message?

Likewise we are at Mass in response to a commitment of love, not just to fulfill an obligation. Christ eagerly desires to meet us in the Mass and to be present with us at all times. He hopes that we reciprocate His eager desire and make it a personal commitment each week of love and gratitude.

When I was a seminarian, I remember reading an interview with Flannery O’Connor about what it was like to grow up Catholic in the South. O’Connor said there were very few Catholics and many prejudices against them. She told the story of her best friend who was a Baptist. Flannery often invited her to Mass. Finally, one Sunday the little girl got permission from her mom to accept Flannery’s invitation. Flannery could not wait for the Mass to be over so she could ask her little friend whether she liked it. The little girl said: "WOW. You Catholics really have something special. The sermon was so boring, the music was lousy, the priest mumbled the prayers of a language nobody could understand, and all those people were there!"

While some complaints about the way the Mass is celebrated are legitimate — and there is no question that we should work to make the celebration of Mass as beautiful as we can — we need to make sure we focus on what is already beautiful — the people gathered, the proclamation of the Word of God, the Eucharistic sacrifice, and the communion we share with God and with each other. Obviously, that is what the people in O’Connor’s parish did. They were not there to be entertained. Most of them were probably there because they realized "sine dominico non possumus" — "without Sunday we cannot live!"

E. The New English translation of the Roman Missal is a great opportunity to enhance our worship

This Advent, many of the Mass prayers will change for the first time in nearly 40 years with the implementation of the new English translation of the Roman Missal. Just as a painting is refurbished and previously obscured elements become visible, this new translation restores much of the beauty and sacred character of the prayers that have been obscured.

This new translation represents the most significant liturgical change in four decades, and is therefore a great opportunity for catechesis on the Mass. Many of our parishes already have sponsored adult education sessions and printed bulletin columns with catechesis on the Mass.

I encourage every Catholic to spend time learning about the new Mass prayers. The more we grow in knowledge of the Mass, the more we are likely to grow in love for the Mass. Great resources for self-study may be found at CatholicTV.com/missal, at the Archdiocesan website BostonCatholic.org/NewRomanMissal, and at StudyMyFaith.com.

As we commit to praying the Mass anew, we might find elements of the current celebration that need improving. Is the Mass celebrated with reverence and dignity? Is our hospitality warm and is our welcome genuine as we gather the community each Sunday? How can the experience for newcomers and returning Catholics be strengthened? How good is our effort to know each other’s names? Are there frequent community-building gatherings after Mass? Would families with young children feel welcome at all of our Masses?

What is the community’s experience of the singing and chanting of sacred music? Music can be one of the most beautiful aspects of our liturgy and we have so many talented musicians, cantors and choirs in the Archdiocese of Boston. The most beautiful liturgies, however, are those in which everyone sings. Regardless of how good or not-so-good you consider your voice, it is the one that God gave you and your best effort will be beautiful to your Heavenly Father — so please sing. If your parish choir needs a few voices, consider joining. As St. Augustine is reputed to have said, singing is praying twice, and you will be blessed for your involvement.

Most parishes would benefit from new volunteers to make our Sunday gatherings stronger. If you are not involved yet in a special Sunday ministry or you would like to get more involved, please see your pastor or parish staff.

F. Particular Messages

1. To Catholics who have been away from Sunday Mass

My dear brothers and sisters: please know that we miss you, we love you, and we hope you will rejoin our Catholic family for our Sunday Mass.

Some of you have drifted away from the Church and have been waiting for a good time to return. I pray that you will consider this the time to join us on our faith journey toward Heaven. The sacred teachings of the Church offer guidance, direction and meaning in a world where so many cannot find their way. Our faith points us to Jesus, who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life."22

Some of you have made a choice to stop coming to Church because you have been hurt by the actions of someone in the Church or because of a difficulty with a Church teaching. From my first day as Archbishop of Boston and perhaps for the rest of my days, I will always be asking the forgiveness of all those who have been hurt by the actions, or inaction, of people and leaders in the Church. Please do not let those experiences and memories separate you from the love of Christ and of our Catholic family and prevent you from receiving the grace of the sacraments.

When we launched the Catholics Come Home initiative on Ash Wednesday, a reporter asked me what I would say to Catholics who do not attend Mass because they disagree with, or have questions about, Church teaching. I answered that our teaching does not change because people disagree with it; our faith comes from Christ’s own teaching in the Scriptures and through the teaching authority of the Church throughout the ages. We recognize, however, that many struggle to reconcile Church teaching with social norms in American society today; to them, we say that we want to engage in a meaningful conversation with you. We want you to know that you are part of our family. We want to assure you that God loves you and waits for you at Sunday Mass. The best place to begin a conversation is by gathering with the family of believers in the worshiping community.

To those who consider themselves unwelcome at Mass because of some irregularity or moral struggle, please know that you are always loved by God and the Catholic community desires your presence with us. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. An inability to fulfill all aspects of Christian worship or to receive Communion should not keep you from Mass. In fact, the habit of being faithful to the Sunday obligation can provide the actual grace, if you cooperate with it, to give you the strength to overcome current obstacles and find paths of reconciliation. We stand ready to help you.

2. To my brother priests

This past decade has been a challenging one in which to live our priestly vocation. Yet you have persevered with courage and faith. Thank you for your love for Christ and for the people whom you serve. Thank you for working even harder as the number of active priests has declined.

The challenges that we face today are similar to challenges faced by the priests in the Archdiocese of Boston in our first hundred years. Many of our first priests were missionaries from France, Ireland, Italy and other places. There were few of them, and a great many Catholics to serve. We have entered a time for a New Evangelization where there are also few of us and many Catholics to serve in our parishes and an even greater number to whom we need to reach out and invite home. This makes it a great time to be a priest because we know that we cannot do it alone. But we know that we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. His grace is sufficient for us.

Recently, on the official blog of the Archdiocese of Washington, a pastor wrote an article in which he wondered if it was unrealistic to think he could double the size of his parish in one year. He concluded that if he was able to inspire his parish to adopt a plan "for each one to reach one," then it was realistic. He outlined a detailed approach of formation, prayer, commitment, witness, relationship building and inviting. He asked every member of the parish to strive to bring one person back to church within the year. The priest wondered in his article if he was aiming too high or putting too much emphasis on numbers. "At the heart of evangelization," he said, "is relationship: meeting Christ in others, allowing them to meet Him in us. This is what Christ did, he went out and met others and summoned them to the Kingdom by stages and through relationships." He asked openly, "Am I crazy?" He responded, "Perhaps, but at least call me a fool for Christ. I am going to aim high, that we double our Sunday numbers. Not just for the number’s sake, but for what they represent, souls coming back to God’s house, to be nourished at the altar of the Word and Eucharist, to be more deeply immersed in Christ."23 Please consider with your parish councils and staff if you would be willing also to set a "crazy" goal to double the number of souls who meet Jesus in our parishes. This might be a great activity to undertake during the Church’s celebration of the "Year of Faith" from October 2012 through November 2013, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. 24

As priests, we need to reflect on the crucial role of preaching to catechize, motivate and inspire people to live lives of faithful discipleship. Priests and deacons might look for the opportunities to prepare their homilies together, reflecting on the Word of God and its application to the needs and circumstances of the people in our parishes.

Teaching Masses can help our people deepen their understanding of the different parts of the Mass. Two years ago, the archdiocese introduced a new program for preparing couples for marriage that includes increased catechesis on Christian doctrine. In their evaluations, the participants said that what they enjoyed most out of the sixteen-hour program was the Teaching Mass. That certainly brought home to the instructors that many young Catholics are excited to learn about the Mass.

Many parishes have discovered that dignified and vibrant Family Masses are greatly appreciated by families with young children. In reaching out to young families in this way, we affirm that the whole family — of all ages — is welcome at Sunday Eucharist. The faint sounds of a baby crying or a toddler talking are a hymn to the future. Two points are important to keep in mind. First, it is good to have Family Masses all year to avoid the implication that Mass attendance is only required when religious education is in session. Second, it is important to stress that everyone is welcome at every Mass. If young families cannot make the Family Mass, they should be welcomed as warmly at other Masses. Likewise, the Family Mass should be an experience that those without children treasure as well.

Reverent and beautiful liturgical celebrations require careful formation and training of liturgical ministers. As knowledge deepens, so does the reverence and love for the sacredness of the liturgy. We should look for opportunities to gather our liturgical ministers for ongoing formation and also to involve young people in liturgical roles. Various archdiocesan offices offer good outlines for the training of liturgical ministers, and the workshops connected with the implementation of the new translation of the Roman Missal are a good beginning.

In a similar way, I encourage an emphasis on sacred music in our liturgies. Our hymns are a form of prayer, not entertainment, and their beauty should lead us to glimpse the beauty of the heavenly banquet. Again, praying with the new Roman Missal provides an opportunity to focus on a smaller corpus of hymns that everyone knows by heart.

As clergy, we must lead by example. Priests and deacons have a special responsibility of carrying out our roles with a deep sense of reverence for the mysteries we celebrate. We must be men and teachers of prayer. As we ask our people to be evangelizers, we must do so ourselves in the way we invite, involve, and welcome, and also in the way we prepare our people for evangelization, the central mission of the Church.

3. To parish councils and parish staffs

Thank you for your dedicated service to the Church. Your efforts, following the guidance of your pastor, are critically important in the renewal of the Church within our archdiocese.

Please focus your energy on evangelization and efforts to encourage participation in the Sunday Eucharist throughout the year. If you serve in a parish where parishioners travel heavily during the summer, please put the listing for MassTimes.org in your bulletin and convey to your parishioners that you are happy to help them find a worshipping community when they travel. As the saying goes, we want to take Jesus with us on vacation.

It is important that all of our people make one-on-one invitations for others to join us at Mass. I would like to ask you to begin that process and then to ensure that we are constantly training and encouraging people to be inviters.25 Train them for outreach, for giving a short catechesis on the Mass, and for witnessing to their own love for the Eucharist. Then involve the whole parish.

Please make lists of those we want to invite. Parish record books and censuses can be helpful. We certainly want to reach out to people who have baptized their children, brought them for First Communion and Confirmation, enrolled children in religious education, been recently married, attended funeral liturgies, and those who in the past used offertory envelopes.

Please plan a major neighborhood outreach, perhaps as a prelude to a parish mission, day of recollection, or evening of prayer. Parish territories can be divided into zones and parishioners living within those zones can invite their neighbors and friends who do not come to Mass or have no religious affiliation, first to their homes for a gathering, and then to the parish for liturgy. Rosaries in the homes during the months of October and May are also ways of encouraging people to reconnect with the Sunday Eucharist.

Please discuss with your receptionists, greeters, ushers, volunteers, ministry leaders and parish staff members the best practices of hospitality toward newcomers and the skills needed to invite, engage and involve parishioners in your parish life. The materials we prepared for the Catholics Come Home initiative can be helpful in this effort.26 Everyone in the Church can be a minister of hospitality, welcome and invitation. Please also consider inviting a parishioner to form a newcomers ministry, if you do not have one already, which can contact all new parishioners and get them connected to other parishioners and families.

Ride-sharing programs can become a more important ministry at most parishes. There are many Catholics who would be grateful for a ride to and from Mass and for the company of a friendly fellow parishioner. Please invite a parishioner to serve as a coordinator of a ride-sharing ministry and begin running bulletin announcements to promote it.

Coffee receptions after Masses at least monthly, weekly if possible, have been shown to deepen the sense of community. If you do not have this ministry yet, please consider asking a couple of families at each Mass to begin it and organize a rotating group of host families.

4. To Catholic School and religious education teachers

Thank you for lovingly responding to the call to help our young people know that God loves them and to partner with parents in their work of raising their children to be well-formed adults.

Catholic schools and parish religious education programs exist to help children to be saints and to live Gospel teachings as part of their daily lives. Among other things, that means making sure that the program is geared toward Sunday Mass, which should be presented as the most natural activity for a Catholic. Your personal witness and example are crucial: when your students know that you "cannot live without Sunday," they are inspired and encouraged to imitate you in practicing their faith.

Mass is the central aspect of our Christian life and must be central to religious formation, from pre-kindergarten through high school. Catholic educators should develop strong programs and faith-based activities to reinforce what is heard at Mass. Friday classes can be used to give students a "sneak preview" of the coming Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word and instruction about the liturgical season.

We must remind parents that religious education is incomplete unless it includes participation at Mass, whether youngsters are in Catholic school or the parish religious education program. At parent meetings for a school’s open house or in sacramental preparation meetings, let parents know that religion classes will include discussion of the Scripture readings at Mass each week. Many of our parishes now communicate with families via e-mail. Perhaps an e-mail reminder can be sent to families at the end of the week briefly mentioning the theme of the upcoming readings and our interest in hearing what the children/teens think about Jesus’ message. There are many websites that pose a "Question of the Week" based on the Sunday readings. These might be effective reminders to parents that we hope to have them and their children with us at Mass.

A positive and strong catechesis relative to Sunday Mass and the habit of attending Mass over a thirteen-to-fifteen year formational period cannot but provide the Church with a generation of Catholics seriously convinced of, and committed to, making Sunday the Lord’s Day. Participation of students in school or youth Masses as readers, gift bearers, altar servers and ushers also deepens an understanding of important elements of our liturgy.

Inspiring speakers and witness talks by peers should be part of our youth catechesis. Teams of presenters could be suggested by archdiocesan offices to supplement presentations from parish members. Already, many parishes and schools have adopted catechetical programs and invited speakers that focus in age appropriate ways on the beauty of Catholicism, sanctity of life, chastity, "theology of the body," and vocations so as to instill awareness that Christian faith and life are intimately connected. Students might also find the recently published YOUCAT, the new youth catechism, helpful in understanding aspects of our Catholic faith.

You have the rare and precious opportunity to communicate Church teaching in its entirety to the young at a time in their lives when they are most likely to accept it. Most importantly, you can instill in them an appreciation for the gifts of life and faith in a way that will protect them from the relativism, individualism and materialism of our age.

5. To parents

You are the primary teachers of the faith to your children. Your deepest legacy in life will be helping your children know God and, through God’s grace, to get to heaven. It is never too late to make this a priority and to ask God’s assistance.

Your good example of faithfulness to Sunday Mass, prayer and moral decency preaches more eloquently than the homily of any priest. When children see that their parents love Sunday Mass they likewise will grow to love it too. Too often parents "come for the kids" and kids come because "Mom and Dad brought me." Articulate to your children your love for Jesus, why you attend Sunday Mass as a family and why their instruction in the faith in school or at CCD is one of the most important gifts you can give them. I ask that you live Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a day that includes Holy Mass, religious instruction, leisure activities, a family meal, spiritual readings, and acts of charity.

Please take an active role in the catechetical instruction of your children. This is a great opportunity to witness to your faith and to tell stories of how your own parents, family members and friends handed on the faith to you. Children delight in stories and these conversations can be part of the tradition handed down to the next generation. Introduce them to the stories of the saints. In a time where society elevates entertainers and professional athletes to "hero" status quickly, you will be doing your children a huge favor if you share with them the stories of those that have made the "eternal hall of fame."

Please make prayer a natural and regular part of family life. Pray before bedtime, before meals, and in difficult situations such as illness or stress in the family. Ask your children for their prayers for you, explaining that God loves children’s prayer in a special way. Catholic educator Jim Stenson writes that children often feel that they cannot contribute big things to family life but they can learn that their prayers are powerful before God.27 When your children see you living your faith happily, they learn an important life-lesson: that prayer is part of grown-up life.

Show children by your example the need for God’s mercy, forgiveness and love in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. No matter what sins we have committed, God’s love surpasses them. Confession gives us a chance to "hit the reset button" on our relationship with God. It is particularly a helpful sacrament for adolescents as they navigate very challenging years. When adolescents see confession as a normal activity for parents and peers, it becomes a normal and helpful step in their own lives.

I would like to add a brief note to fathers: Research studies show that children more regularly practice their faith when they see both their mother and father practice it together. These studies also indicate that it is the faith practice of the father that most helps both boys and girls to see faith practice as an important adult activity. So, in a particular way, I ask all fathers to be heavily involved in faith formation and to consider volunteering as catechists in religious education programs.

I know that fidelity to the Church’s vision of family life is challenging, especially in our increasingly secular culture. You and your family can offer society at large a powerful witness to the primacy of God in your life. Jesus did not promise that His way would be easy but He did promise that He would supply the grace needed to live your vocation. I ask you, fathers and mothers of young families, to imitate Joshua and the people of Israel who, when asked whether they would serve the Lord or pagan gods, gave the answer: "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"28

6. To young Catholics

Your participation in our Sunday Eucharist enlivens our liturgy. We are blessed to have so many university and graduate students within the Archdiocese of Boston. We are also so blessed to have so many younger students in our Catholic schools and parishes. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have been right to point out frequently that you are not just the future of our Church; you are also an important part of the Church today. Our Church needs your witness.

In an address to young people in Los Angeles in 1987, Pope John Paul II stated:

You who are young bring hope to the world. The future of the world shines in your eyes. Even now, you are helping to shape the future of society. Since I have always placed high hopes in young people, I would like to speak to you today precisely about hope. … Dear young people of America, listen to His voice. Do not be afraid. Open up your hearts to Christ. The deepest joy there is in life is the joy that comes from God and is found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the hope of the world. Jesus Christ is your hope and mine!29

You are a generation that is looking for relationships that are real and deeply interpersonal. I have learned that Christ is the only one who can fulfill that desire and make all your other relationships worthwhile. Invest the time to get to know Him.

Pope Benedict XVI, at the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne Germany, taught the youth gathered there about the Eucharist in these words:

The Eucharist must become the center of our lives. … Dear friends! Sometimes, our initial impression is that having to include time for Mass on a Sunday is rather inconvenient. But if you make the effort, you will realize that this is what gives a proper focus to your free time. Do not be deterred from taking part in Sunday Mass, and help others to discover it too. This is because the Eucharist releases the joy that we need so much, and we must learn to grasp it ever more deeply, we must learn to love it. Let us pledge ourselves to do this — it is worth the effort! Let us discover the intimate riches of the Church’s liturgy and its true greatness: it is not we who are celebrating for ourselves, but it is the living God Himself who is preparing a banquet for us.30

G. Conclusion: Rushing to invite the world to our family gathering

For us, each Sunday is the day of the Resurrection. On that first Easter, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus.31 The disciples were confused, hurt, and full of fear and doubts. They were trying to determine what to make of Jesus’ death and the empty tomb. They discussed these developments with Jesus whom they did not recognize. When they reached the village they asked Jesus to stay with them. St. Luke says when they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus made as if He were going to continue on His journey. It was only the insistent invitation of the two disciples that brought Jesus to their table. I think that is a very important detail of this Gospel. The Lord does not force Himself on us; He likes to be invited into our lives. When they sat down for the evening meal, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. At that point, the disciples recognized Jesus. Suddenly Jesus vanished but the bread remained. The disciples said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" Then the disciples immediately returned to Jerusalem to tell the Apostles that Jesus had truly risen and appeared to them and that they had recognized Him in the breaking of the Bread.

We too live in times where many people are confused, hurt, and full of fear. Jesus wants to meet us in the same way He met the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Like them, we will recognize Christ and encounter Him most profoundly in the breaking of the bread at Mass. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to be with us until the end of time. I pray that our love for the Mass and our Eucharistic amazement will increase so that our hearts will be burning within us when we hear the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed and participate in the breaking of the bread.

Let us all do what those two disciples on the road to Emmaus did. Let us rush to tell the world that Christ is alive and eagerly desires our family to gather at the Lord’s Table to experience God’s love, to discover our identity as Catholics and to fulfill our mission together. Let us proclaim that we desire to live each Sunday with the Lord and with each other in the supreme prayer of the Church, the Eucharist, our Thanksgiving celebration.

(Endnotes)

1 Luke 22:15

2 John 13:1-11.

3 1 Corinthians 11:26.

4 Pope Benedict XVI. Homily on the Occasion of the XX World Youth Day, Cologne-Marienfeld, Sunday, 21 August 2005.

5 Pope Benedict XVI, Bari, Italy, 10 May 2005.

6 Letter of His Holiness John Paul II to all the Priests on the Occasion of Holy Thursday 1979.

7 John 3:16.

8 Sacrosanctum Concilium #7.

9 Dr. Tom Curran, The Mass: Four Encounters with Jesus That Will Change Your Life, MCF Press, 2008.

10 Pope Benedict XVI, God is Near Us, p. 78..

11 Dies Domini, #4

12 Heart of the Christian Life: Thoughts on the Holy Mass, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, p. 77.

13 John 6:51, 54, 56. Referenced also in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1406.

14 John 6:68-69.

15 Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism, Beacon Publishing, 2010.

16 Homily of Pope John Paul II, St. Peter’s Basilica, 11 November 2004.

17 cf. John 15:11.

18 John 6:54

19 Ecclesia de Eucaristia, 18.

20 Confessions 397:1.

21 Cf. Matthew 25:1-13.

22 John 14:6.

23 Msgr. Charles Pope, "I wonder if it is unrealistic to think I could double the size

of my congregation in one year?" Archdiocese of Washington, 7 September 2011.

24 Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter "Motu Proprio Data", Porta Fidei, For the Indiction of the Year of Faith, 11 October 2011.

25 The following groups may be helpful in planning or implementing outreach campaigns: the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, the Cursillistas, the NeoCatechumenal Way, prayer groups, WINGs groups, men’s organizations, youth groups, ARISE participants, catechists, liturgical ministers and ushers.

26 Materials can be found at CatholicsComeHomeBoston.org.

27 James Stenson, Religious Upbringing of Children, ParentLeadership.com.

28 Joshua 24:15.

29 Pope John Paul II. Teleconference with Young People at the Universal

Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. 15 September 1987.

30 Pope Benedict XVI. World Youth Day Cologne. 18 August 2005.

31 Luke 24:13-35.

As I mentioned in my last post, last Thursday the bishops of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Region 1, which is made up of the six New England states, began our ad limina visit to the Holy See. Throughout the coming months, bishops from the other 14 U.S. regions will also make their ad limina visits.

It’s the practice in the Church that every five years each diocesan bishop, together with his auxiliaries, goes to visit the Holy Father, to make a report of the diocese and to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. It is also a time when the bishops visit the various dicasteries, that is the departments, which make up the Roman Curia.

It’s always a very beautiful occasion, an opportunity for the bishops to reflect on our ministry, to pray together, to be with the Holy Father and to reconnect with the catholicity of the Church and our history, which is the history of the Apostles, the history of the Roman martyrs.

It’s also a wonderful opportunity of fraternity with all the bishops of the region. It provides us with time to pray and talk about the Church in our dioceses of New England. It also is an opportunity for us to visit our priests that are in Rome and the seminarians who are at the North American College.

Because most the events of the ad limina are private meetings or liturgies, I understand there was very little detail of the visit even in the Catholic press, let alone the secular media. So, in this post I’ll do my best to recount our activities for you. As you will see, it was a very full week.

- – -

As I told you last week, our ad limina visit began last Thursday with some preliminary meetings and Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica for deceased bishops and cardinals and at the North American College.

The highlight of the Ad Limina visit is, of course, the meeting with the Holy Father, and the Masses that we celebrate at the tomb of St. Peter, the tomb of St. Paul and the other basilicas. I always find it to be a very moving experience.

This year the Ad Limina visit started very quickly because almost immediately after arriving, on Friday, we had the Mass at the tomb of St. Peter, at which I was the principal celebrant and homilist, as well as the visit with the Holy Father.

The day began with the Mass at the tomb of the Apostle.

Later that day we had our meeting with the Holy Father.

In addition to the auxiliary bishops, I was very happy to be able to bring several of our Boston priests and seminarians who were in Rome to meet the Holy Father. With us were Msgr. Connie McRae, who now works in Rome; Father Richard Erikson, who is on sabbatical; my priest secretary Father Jonathan Gaspar; the rector of the cathedral, Father Kevin O’Leary; and two of our seminarians from the North American College, Deacon Eric Bennett and Tom MacDonald.

Those who have met him know the Holy Father is an extremely gracious and warm man. He could not have been more kind or more welcoming to the bishops, the priests and the seminarians who were with us. He greeted them and gave each one a rosary. Then, I and my auxiliaries went in for our meeting with the Pope Benedict.

We had a very good conversation with the Holy Father, in which updated him on the status of the archdiocese. The Holy Father was particularly interested in the programs of evangelization and outreach as well as the situation of the seminary and the Catholic universities within the archdiocese.

Later that day we met with officials from the Pontifical Council for the Laity, where Cardinal Stanislaus Rylko spoke to us about the World Youth Days and the ecclesial communities. We had a very good discussion about the various lay movements as well as campus ministry.

Afterwards, we went to the Pontifical Council for the Family, of which I am a member. There, we had an opportunity to talk about the Church’s ministry to married couples, preparation for marriage and all of the life issues that are a part of the competence of the Council.

Finally, we met with the Congregation of Bishops, which is headed by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, formerly of Quebec.

- – -

On Saturday afternoon we had Mass at the Church of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Just as I celebrated and preached the Mass at the tomb of St. Peter, the other Metropolitan Archbishop with us on the visit, Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford, was the principal celebrant and homilist at the tomb of St. Paul.

- – -

On Sunday morning I celebrated the Mass at Casa Santa Maria, the residence for American priests studying in Rome. Msgr. Francis Kelley is the rector; and Msgr. McCrae, who was with us for the meeting with the Holy Father, is the spiritual director.

It’s interesting that one of my predecessors, Cardinal William O’Connell, was at one time a rector back when the North American College was there.

The building of Casa Santa Maria is very historical; it’s at least 300 years old. It was originally a convent of cloistered Dominican nuns, and then it became the original site of the North American College. Then, once the new building was built for the North American College, it became the Casa Santa Maria.

I took some pictures of the refectory there, because it had been renovated by Cardinal O’Connell and much of the work was paid for through the generosity of the Catholics of Lowell.

- – -

That afternoon I was pleased to be able to meet the new Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. I did not know him before, and it was a chance for us to talk about the Church in the United States and his new mission here.

The Holy Father with Archbishop Viganò

I also expressed to him our sorrow at losing Archbishop Pietro Sambi so suddenly, but also our gratitude for all the good that he accomplished during all those years as the Holy Father’s representative in our country.

We look forward to Archbishop Viganò’s arrival in Washington. He will be present with us for our bishops’ meeting next week in Baltimore, and we pray that the Lord will bless his mission as Nuncio to the United States.

- – -

Monday morning through midday was occupied with meetings with the Congregation for Clergy, the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Assistance to Healthcare Workers.

In the afternoon we had Mass at another of the Papal Basilicas of Rome, St. Mary Major.

Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport presided at the Mass and in his homily he spoke about Cardinal Newman’s visit to St. Mary Major before his conversion.

- – -

Again on Tuesday we met with several dicasteries for much of the day. This time with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In the late afternoon, we had Mass at the last of the four Papal Basilicas, St. John Lateran, where Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine presided and preached.

That evening, the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Miguel Diaz, and his wife, Marian, hosted a reception in honor of our visit.

The bishops of Region 1 and some of our guests were with us. I knew Miguel from my time in Palm Beach. He and his wife are both theologians; and he was teaching in the seminary and his wife was involved in evangelization programs for the Diocese of Palm Beach. During his remarks, he said that I had been the boss of both of them!

With Marian and Miguel Diaz

He also said how important the diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See are. It is an opportunity to foster better communication between the Holy See and our government. In my remarks I added that that his “former boss” is very proud of the fact that two of his recent predecessors as Ambassadors to the Holy See have been Bostonians – Ambassador Raymond Flynn and Ambassador MaryAnn Glendon.

- – -

On Wednesday, the last day of our visit, we began the day with an early morning Mass at the Altar of the Tomb of Blessed John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence was the principal celebrant and homilist.

In his homily, Bishop Tobin spoke about his personal encounters with Pope John Paul and the significance they had for him.

After the Mass, which was about 9 a.m., we met with the Apostolic Signatura, which is the high court of the Vatican, something akin to our Supreme Court.

From there, we went to our last meeting of the ad limina visit, which was with a brand new dicastery, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization. The Holy Father established it about a year ago and we are told that Father Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation, was one of those who had suggested that such a dicastery be founded.

It was very interesting to learn more about this new dicastery, headed by Archbishop Rino Fisichella. They hope to organize city-wide missions in many of the large metropolitan areas of Europe as a preparation for the Synod on the New Evangelization to be held next year. However, they are waiting for the Synod itself to take place and for the post-synodal document to really set the course for that new dicastery.

It was a very hopeful encounter and we could see that there was a great deal of energy there. All the bishops were very pleased to see the progress in the establishment of this new dicastery and I am very hopeful that it will be able to help people to understand, and to become involved in, the new evangelization.

Finally, on Wednesday evening, we were invited to a parting reception at Villa Stritch, the residence for American priests working in the Roman Curia. It was a very nice evening.

- – -

On Thursday, a week from when we arrived, we departed again for home.

In all, it was an inspiring week. The liturgies were very beautiful and we were grateful to have had several of our priests who were in Rome join us for some of the Masses. In addition to those already mentioned, they included Fathers Jim O’Driscoll, Steve Madden, Jim Flavin, John Kiley and Doc Conway. Some were on sabbatical or retreat; others were in Rome as part of other travels.

We are also grateful that the seminarians and the young priests who are studying at the North American College and the Casa Santa Maria were a part of those Masses, including our own deacon, Deacon Eric Bennett and a deacon from Providence, Deacon Ryan Connors. The seminarians served at the Masses and assisted with the music and the readings.

It was uplifting to be able to hear our other bishops preach. Bishop Lori, Bishop Tobin, Archbishop Mansell and Bishop Malone all gave very inspiring reflections for us. It was a beautiful and intense moment of prayer. Throughout the visit, all of us were praying especially for our priests, religious, deacons and people back home. We see our visit to the Holy See as representing our people in this moment of prayer and reflection at the heart of the Church in Rome.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

In the centuries-old tradition of the Church, every five years each bishop goes to Rome to meet the Holy Father, visit with the different offices of the curia and pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul.  We also present a report to the Holy Father on what has happened in our dioceses in the intervening years.  This visit is called the ad limina Apostolorum, which means “to the threshold of the Apostles”, though it is now commonly referred to simply as the ad limina visit.

The bishops of the New England Province are now in the midst of our ad limina visit, and throughout the year, bishops from the other regions of the country will go and spend about a week in Rome for these meetings.   

Yesterday morning, I concelebrated a Mass with the Pope at St. Peter’s, which was celebrated for all the deceased cardinals and bishops. 

Then, in the evening, we have had preliminary meetings with all the bishops of New England and later had a Mass with our Boston seminarians who are studying at the North American College, at which I presided and preached. 

- – -

Now on to the events of the week…

Last Thursday I was in New York for an event to support the organization Hope for a Healthier Humanity, which works to aid the poor in Central America, particularly in providing health care and other human services. 

I was honored during the evening with the organization’s John Cardinal O’Connor Global Health Award, along with Dr. Jeffrey Freed of Mt. Sinai Medical center who received the HHH Humanitarian Award.

With HHH Chairman of the Board, Cardinal Oscar Rodriquez of Tegucigalpa, and Dr. Mary Sedutto, founder and executive director

I was very happy to be a part of their celebration and to be able to support this very crucial work that’s being done in Honduras and other countries in the Caribbean and Central America.      

- – -

On Friday, I spent much of the day with my brother priests of the Archdiocese.

In the afternoon, I attended a luncheon for about 70 mostly senior priests organized by Bishop John Dooher at Lombardo’s in Randolph.

We had a wonderful time, including a sing-along with Father Paul Rouse playing the piano. 

Then that evening I attended a dinner at St. Mark’s in Dorchester with Father Dan Finn, organized for the priests working in his vicariate.  This was another large gathering, with maybe 40 priests or so.

- – -

On Saturday morning, we had our 3rd Annual Archdiocesan Justice Convocation.  There were over 200 people in attendance. It was wonderful to see so many people enthusiastic about the Church’s social gospel.

I had the Mass and it was standing room only in the chapel.

Father Bryan Hehir delivered the day’s keynote address.

As in its’ first two years, the convocation was again very successful. Father David Couturier, Sister Marian Batho, Father Bryan Hehir, members of the archdiocesan Pastoral Council and Mary Ann McLaughlin all lent their talents to making the day a success. We are very grateful them and to all of those who worked on organizing this event.

- – -

That afternoon, I had the annual White Mass with the members of the Guild of St. Luke, an organization for Catholic physicians and other health care workers.  This year they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their founding of the the guild in the archdiocese.

Dr. Helen Jackson, president of the Guild

As I appealed to the Lawyers’ Guild  at the Red Mass, so I appealed to the physicians to work to prevent the legalization of physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts.  Dr. Helen Jackson, the president of the guild, and all the doctors were very supportive.

They had a day of speakers and programs.  The evening program featured Dr. John Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, who gave an extraordinary exposition of some history of medical ethics starting with the Hippocratic Oath. 

John Haas

He gave a beautiful picture of the Catholic concept of medicine, which sadly, contrasts with ideologies prevalent today.  However, he asked the Catholic doctors to remember Hippocrates and, of course, the Divine Physician, Jesus Christ. 

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Last Thursday, the arrival of the Stanley Cup caused a great deal of excitement in the Pastoral Center.

We have many hockey fans here and, of course, I was anxious to have my picture taken with it so I could send it Archbishop Miller in Vancouver.

You may recall that at the time of the Stanley Cup Finals the Archbishop of Vancouver and I made a friendly wager of a $100 donation to the winner’s local Catholic Charities agency.

The archbishop was a very good sport about his team losing and sent me the donation for Catholic Charities of Boston.

- – -

That evening I attended Cathedral High School’s Partnership for Success dinner at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

This was the 10^th anniversary of this dinner to raise money for scholarships to the high school. Mr. John Remondi was honored for the extraordinary work he has done to support Cathedral High.

Dinner co-chair Barry Hynes, WCVB’s Rhondella Richardson, John Remondi, and dinner co-chair John Drew

They had a wonderful video and one of the students spoke and gave a very inspiring talk. Rhondella Richardson from WCVB-TV Channel 5 was there to emcee the event.  The keynote speaker of the evening was Villanova president Father Peter Donohue.

Father Donohue and dinner co-chair Barry Hynes

It is because of John’s efforts and the help of other alumni of Cathedral High that the school has not only survived, but is flourishing. They have raised many millions of dollars, built a new gymnasium and new science labs and put a new roof on the building.

Everyone is so grateful to his dedication and it was wonderful to see him there with his wife Dotty and their beautiful family.

John and Dotty Remondi

He told his story of his mother being an immigrant from Italy and how they had to struggle when they came to America and what an important factor Catholic education was in his own life. He is truly a man who is giving back in a big way.

- – -

On Friday, I attended the funeral of Father Paul Francis, the oldest priest in the archdiocese, a man who was ordained a priest long before I was born.

He was originally from Belize, though at the time he was born it was British Honduras. He was sent to Rome to study, but when the Second World War broke out he ended up being stranded there. He was a very brilliant man and so he kept studying — and obtained a number of degrees and doctorates and so forth. Then eventually, he found his way to Boston where he worked in our parishes and was pastor for several years at Sacred Heart in Weymouth .

I was very moved to see that the church was filled. At his age, 96, usually one has buried all of one’s friends and acquaintances, but he made such an impact on the life of those people that they all came to pay their final respects.

His sister-in-law and nieces and nephews were also there. Some of them are still living in Belize, and they were very surprised that I had been in Belize. When I was part of the Antilles Bishops’ Conference, Belize was one of the member countries. I have many fond memories of Bishop Martin and the wonderful people of Belize.

With Father Francis’s relatives

So it was a wonderful send-off for a priest who was very, very beloved. Father Frank McGann gave a beautiful homily and of course Sacred Heart Church, which has been rebuilt, is just a stunning place for it.

- – -

That evening, I attended an alumni dinner at St. John’s Seminary. Over a 100 priests came; including many priests from neighboring dioceses who had studied at St. John’s.

We had a Holy Hour before the meal. One of the deacons gave a talk on the seminary and priesthood, and two of the seminarians provided musical entertainment. One played the flute and the other the violin, they were very good. I was particularly happy that the last tune that they played was the “Irish Washer Woman!”

- – -

On Saturday, we were very pleased that so many people came to participate in the Adopt-a-Priest Mass organized by the Serra Club of Boston by which everyone could volunteer to pray for a priest for a year. Loretta Gallagher, the club president, explained this adoption to the people at the end of Mass.

Loretta Gallagher

This day was also the first feast day for Blessed John Paul II and so we celebrated the Mass of the feast. Cardinal Dziwisz, who was the Holy Father’s personal secretary and very close friend, sent me a beautiful relic of John Paul II that we venerated after the Mass. The relic was a piece of cloth soaked in his blood.

Talk about providence! The relic arrived just the day before the Mass with a very nice letter from Cardinal Dziwisz, who was also my classmate in the same consistory — we were made cardinals together.

There were over a 1,000 people who came to the Mass, including many priests.

Then afterwards George Weigel gave a stunning talk: “Pope John Paul II— a Saint for Our Day.” He also answered questions about the Holy Father; it was standing room-only downstairs for his conference. I think The Daughters of St. Paul sold out all of the books that they had brought of George Weigel’s second book on John Paul II “The End and the Beginning.” Of course, there were coffee and cookies after the Mass, too.

George Weigel

It was a great success and we were all so pleased. It was a beautiful way to mark the first feast day of Blessed John Paul II.

O God, who are rich in mercy

and who willed that the Blessed John Paul the Second

should preside as Pope over your universal Church,

grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,

we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,

the sole Redeemer of mankind.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

- – -

Later that day, I went to a Mass for candidates for the permanent diaconate in Peabody.

Now we are ordaining deacons every year, and this particular class has six Hispanics, one Brazilian and one Vietnamese, so the different ethnic groups of the diocese were very well represented.

Of course, Deacons Dan Burns and Pat Guerrini from our Diaconal Life Office were with me for the Mass.

Deacon Burns with the new candidates

- – -

On Sunday, we had the Mass at the Cathedral for World Mission Sunday. Many different choirs came, once again representing some of our different ethnic groups we have here in the archdiocese. There was the Archdiocesan Black Catholic Choir, the Cape Verdean Choir, the Ugandan Martyr’s Choir and the Vietnamese Catholic Community Choir of Boston. Intercessory prayers were also said in Ugandan, Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, Portuguese and English.

We also distributed mission rosaries, the practice being initiated by Archbishop Fulton Sheen where each decade of the rosary is offered up for a different continent and the missionaries there. Of course, Father Rodney Copp was there, as he is our director of the Pontifical Mission Societies here in Boston.

We also had Bishop William McNaughton with us and several other Maryknoll priests. We wanted to mark especially the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Maryknoll. The co-founder was Bishop James Walsh who was formerly the director of the Propagation of the Faith here in the Archdiocese of Boston. We also acknowledged the fact the founder of the Xaverian Missionaries was being canonized that morning, so we congratulated them on the new St. Guido Conforti.

- – -

That evening I went to another event related to the missions: the St. James Society’s Cushing Award Banquet held at BC High.

The Cushing Award medals

There were three honorees: Bill Burke of St. Sebastian’s School, Sister Janet Eisner of Emmanuel College, and Father John Unni of St. Cecilia Parish.

with Sister Janet, Father Unni and Bill Burke

The director of the Society, Father Hays

During the evening they showed an excellent film about the St. James Society! None of us had seen it before and they had lots of old photos with Cardinal Cushing and the first missionaries — it was wonderful!

- – -

On Monday, I went to the wake of Sister Mary Hart who had received the Robert Leo Ruffin Award at the Healy Awards Dinner only a couple of years ago.

She was so dedicated to the people of St. Katherine Drexel Parish. Her twin brother and many of her relatives were there, along with large numbers of parishioners that gathered to honor her life of service, which made an incredible impact in our community.

We’re all very grateful to God for her vocation and we wanted to express our condolences to her religious community— the Sisters of the Good Shepherd— to her family and to the many people that she served.

- – -

Also that day, I stopped in at a new restaurant in the neighborhood of the Cathedral, El Paraiso. It was recently opened by a family of our Cathedral parishioners and Father O’Leary, Father Jonathan and I went to a lunch there to bless the restaurant.

We wish them great success and we were delighted by the wonderful cuisine and hospitality. If you’re in the South End area, it’s wonderful place to eat and they also have a great take-out selection!

- – -

On Tuesday, I was invited to spend a day at Boston College. My visit was coordinated through the Church in the 21^st Century Center with Father William Leahy, the president of B.C.

I had Mass at St. Mary’s Church at noon and in the afternoon I met with professors and staff members from such areas as the vice president of mission and the chaplaincy office.

Then in the afternoon, I gave a talk that was open to the student body. I was delighted by the wonderful attendance. The subject of my talk was the Eucharist and the need to evangelize and to look for ways to invite young people to be a part of our worshipping community.

There was also a dinner hosted by Father Leahy with representatives from different components of the university as well as some students. Even at the dinner, we had a discussion about the pastoral concerns and formational concerns of our young people.

We’re very grateful in Father Leahy’s interest in promoting the Catholic identity of Boston College and also all of the help that he’s given to us in the revitalization of our parochial schools, as well as a very generous policy they’ve had in giving scholarships to priests of the archdiocese studying there.

- – -

That same day, I went to the annual dinner of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. It was held at Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge and they were honoring a member of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities.

Our own Father David Michael was one of the honorees along with Dr. Larry Lowenthal, former Executive Director of the Greater Boston Chapter of the American Jewish Committee; and Dr. A. Karim Khudairi, a founder of the Islamic Council of New England. 

With Father David Michael and Rev. Johnson

The banquet also was a farewell gathering for the Rev. Jack Johnson, who is departing and will be replaced by Rev. Laura Everett.

We wish Rev. Johnson well in the future and we certainly look forward to collaborating with Rev. Everett.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

On Thursday, I went to Brockton for the dedication of the new emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital, which is part of the Caritas System.

The new emergency room is state of the art. Many of the community leaders gathered for the event. The old emergency room was in really deplorable condition and this one—thanks to Steward Health Care’s gift of $30 million—is magnificent.

The old emergency room opened in 1968 with an expected annual capacity of 25,000 visits. In the last few years, the average annual visits have more than doubled the original figure and the new emergency department will accommodate approximately 60,000 yearly visits.

I was very happy to see Dr. James Thomas there, who works in the emergency room. His brother is the Vicar General of the Maronite diocese of St. Maron. Dr. Thomas has worked with Caritas Christi at different hospitals and is now there.

Chatting with Dr. Thomas

They gave us a tour of the new facilities

- – -

On Friday, Bishop John Dooher had organized a day of recollection for priests and invited Father John Sassani, from Our Lady Help of Christians Parish, to preach. It was hosted by the monks at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham. So I went down to visit and have lunch with them— it was a very good group of priests.

I have been encouraging the auxiliary bishops to schedule these opportunities for the priests — that they get together three times every year to pray and to be in each other’s company. It’s really a very important part of our priestly ministry; we must be ministering to each other and building up a strong and united Presbyterate.

- – -

On Friday afternoon, I visited with circus workers and blessed some animals of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus that was in town.

With Father Jerry Hogan

Father Jerry Hogan for many years has been the chaplain of the circus workers. The Church has always had a special ministry to people working in the circus because there are many Catholics involved. Since they’re traveling with their families from place to place, it makes it difficult for them to be incorporated into a parish.

There have also been groups of Sisters, particularly the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the United States, that have traveled with the circus.

But Father Jerry has always made himself available to them since being named chaplain in 1993, and he was anxious for me to meet some of his parishioners at the circus. It’s quite an international group. There were many Brazilians, a number of Argentines, Chinese, Colombians, Mexicans, and Hungarians, among the many cultures there.

I also had my picture taken with the Ringmaster, who was from New York, an American—a very tall and imposing gentleman.

Father Hogan also generously arranged for the senior priests from Regina Cleri and their support staff to be a part of the evening and they had a fun experience at the circus.

- – -

That evening, I went to the Irish Pastoral Centre fundraising dinner at Florian Hall in Dorchester. They honored a very famous sports broadcaster, Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, from Galway who was in attendance.

The Irish Emigrant newspaper was there and sent us some photos.

Honoree Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh

Father John McCarthy, Sister Marguerite Kelly and Alicia Connors are part of the staff of the IPC, so I was there to greet them and thank all of the participants in the evening for their support of the Irish Pastoral Centre and to congratulate them on the fine work that they do, not only for Irish immigrants but for other immigrants as well.

With members and friends of the IPC, including Sister Marguerite Kelly, Alicia Connors and Father John McCarthy

There were a group of children who were step dancers who did a fine job.

The Irish Consul General, Michael Lonergan, was also there. He is from Limerick, so I introduced him to our seminarian David O’Connell who is from Limerick as well.

- – -

Also that evening, we have a monthly event called “Jesus in the North End” for young adults and college students that has a Holy Hour, priests hearing confessions, Mass and then afterwards a social event. This time there was a pizza party.

I was there to celebrate Mass and visit with the young people afterwards. We had a wonderful turnout and the Church was filled. I’m very grateful to Father Matt Williams and his office for organizing these activities.

—

On Saturday morning, I was at the Altar Server Appreciation Mass, where there was a huge crowd at the Cathedral.

It’s an annual Mass to honor our altar servers and many of them came dressed in their cassocks and surpluses or albs. We gave out the awards— the Blessed Mother Teresa and Blessed John Paul II awards to senior and junior servers. It was wonderful to have the St. Paul’s choir school singing there also.

We thanked them and their families for this very special contribution that they make to the life of the Church by helping our priests in the celebration of the Eucharist. I encouraged all of them to deepen their love and appreciation of the Eucharist. I shared with them some of the experiences in my own life as an altar server. It was an important part of my vocational discernment.

After Mass there was a gathering in Cathedral High School with the “Make Your Own Sundae” setup of ice cream and assorted toppings. I didn’t go, as I was greeting people after Mass at the church but, as you can see, there were a lot of happy youth (and adults of course) there!

- – -

That evening, I attended the Massachusetts Citizens for Life banquet dinner at Lantana. They were honoring Ambassador Ray Flynn and Linda Thayer. MCFL president, Anne Fox, and her associates are doing very important work for life in the Commonwealth.

Ambassador Flynn with MCFL’s president Anne Fox

At the dinner, they invited Chuck Chalberg, who does a show on G.K. Chesterton and who dresses up like him.

So I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have my picture taken with G.K. Chesterton! He gave a wonderful presentation.

Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon was also there and many other leaders from our own Catholic community who are supportive of the organization. Father David Mullen, who is a board member, was also part of the program.

- – -

On Sunday, I went to St. Patrick’s church in Roxbury to celebrate their 175^th anniversary as a parish.

I had a trilingual Mass there of Spanish, Portuguese and English. It was standing room only in the church. It was a very enthusiastic and beautiful celebration of the joyful and fruitful life of this parish, which for almost two centuries has been welcoming new-comers into the Church here in Boston.

When the church was opened and the parish was started, as I mentioned to the people, Texas was fighting for its independence from Mexico, the United States was involved in war with Seminole Indians in Florida and the whole country was moving towards the Civil War over slavery.

And it was almost the same year that the first Catholic school in the archdiocese was burned to the ground by the Know Nothings in Charlestown. It was a difficult period for Catholics, but there were courageous people united in their faith, and now into this great community of today. It’s still challenging to be Catholic, and we need to have their courage and their desire to pass on the faith to new generations.

We offered the Mass for all of the priests and sisters and parishioners who had served in that parish. We made a special prayer for the beloved pastor of St. Patrick’s, Father Walter Waldron, who unfortunately was unable to be there because he was in the hospital, recuperating from surgery. But he was very present to us.

Afterwards, I had coffee with the Cape Verdean Sisters, whose community was founded by a very saintly Capuchin from Torino who spent almost 60 years working with the Cape Verdean community — Padre Pio was his name. And then I stopped by the hospital to give a full report to Father Waldron about the celebration… since he had played hooky!

- – -

That afternoon, I went to a Mass of welcome and a reception at St. Anthony Shrine for their new Guardian, Fr. James Kelly, who’s coming to us from New Jersey. He’s a Franciscan friar of the Holy Name province and he also happens to be Bishop John Dooher’s cousin.

Many people came together for the occasion to welcome him and to express our appreciation of the ministry of the friars in Boston.

- – -

On Sunday evening I went to a reception along with our new Vicar General, Msgr. Deeley, for the Cardinal’s Leadership Circle organized by our Boston Catholic Development Services.

This gathering was hosted by James and Julie Shea of Salem for the work of our Archdiocese . There were over 50 people gathered in their home to talk about what’s happening in the diocese and to thank parishioners for their support and leadership.

With James and Julie Shea in front of their lovely home

It was a wonderful gathering of leaders from the North Shore area

With Leadership Circle members Jim and Maureen Morgan

We surprised James and Julie with special wishes as they both celebrated their birthday the week of this event

As we drove there we encountered scores and scores of motorcycle riders and, of course, very elaborate Halloween decorations in the area. We told the attendees that we thought to gather with them in Salem at the end of October could be spooky, and I said “I advise you all to get home before dark!”

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On Monday, I was at St. Mary’s Junior-Senior High School in Lynn where the Mosakowski Family Foundation had made a very substantial donation to this school and five others in the North Shore area: St. Jeanne d’Arc in Lowell, St. Ann in Gloucester, St. John the Baptist in Peabody, St. Pius V in Lynn, and Sacred Heart in Lynn.

At a reception, a number of people spoke on the occasion and of course I was very pleased to see Jane and Bill Mosakowski.

Bill Mosakowski participated in a group that I had asked to visit all of our primary schools in the diocese, to develop an assessment of their financial situations. Bill offered his staff to help with this report, which is very, very valuable to all of our pastors and principals. Bill was so enthralled with what’s happening in many of the schools that he decided to make this $1.2 million donation for St. Mary’s and the other schools in the region.

I was able to meet a large group of students who had also received scholarships from the foundation and they gave us a very wonderful greeting.

Back in June, the Mosakowski Family Foundation created the Msgr. Garrity Scholarship at St. Mary’s, with a gift of $1 million, and I was happy to see some of those funds already at work through these students.

Msgr. Paul Garrity with Jane and Bill Mosakowski back in June

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On Tuesday, I attended a meeting at the Pastoral Center with pastors and principals of our Catholic schools and Father Joe O’Keefe was the keynote speaker. Father O’Keefe is the former dean of the Lynch School of Education at Boston College and has been a professor in education for over 20 years.

His address was on Catholic identity and the mission of Catholic schools. He gave an outstanding and very inspiring talk, we were all moved by his words.

Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill gave us a wonderful report on Catholic education in the archdiocese; we’re very pleased that this year enrollment in half the schools is up. The test scores are above charter schools, public schools or other comparable schools. It was a very uplifting meeting, and we recognized the schools that had significant anniversaries and plaques were given out to them. Here they are and I congratulate them on their service.

Our Lady of the Assumption in Lynnfield —50 Years— Opened in 1961, founded by the Sisters of St. Francis.

St. Bridget in Abington—50 Years—Opened in 1961, founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence

St. Raphael in Medford—50 Years—Opened in 1961, and founded by Sisters of St. Joseph

- – -

That evening, I attended the St. Andrew’s dinner at St. John’s Seminary, which was organized by Father Harrington and Fr. Hennessey from our Vocations office.

A number of priests brought young men from their parishes so that they could experience a little bit of the seminary. They were at the Holy Hour, dinner, and then afterwards there was a short program where three of the seminarians—Gerald Souza, Rudney Novaes, Sinisa Ubiparipovic— gave very inspiring witness talks.

- – -

One Wednesday, I went to a dedication of a renovated permanent housing facility for people who have struggled with homelessness.

Our Urban Planning Office, that does so much to provide low-income housing to people, has partnered with the Pine Street Inn, a local shelter for the homeless, in acquiring some property and refurbishing it.

This was a very difficult project to initiate because some of the people in the neighborhood initially objected to this project. Mayor Thomas Menino was very supportive, however, and we’re grateful to him and to all of those who worked together to help acquire the financing and to bring this about.

The Pine Street Inn makes a point of trying to place people in permanent housing, not just a “warehouse” of homeless people.

This was an important event for them, but we had the dedication and blessing at Pine Street Inn itself. It was referred to as a virtual dedication, because of the heavy rain and to prevent the crowd from being out in the elements. And it was also, I think, good for people to see the connection between the new house and the shelter.

With Lisa Alberghini

Lyndia Downie does a wonderful job as director of the Pine Street Inn. Lisa Alberguini from our office, Mayor Menino, and I, among others, addressed the crowd and congratulated and thanked everyone for their good work.

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Each year we have a Mass and dinner for the Knights of Malta. This year it was held on the feast of the North American Martyrs.

The event was held at Emmanuel College and, as always, Sheila Feitelberg and Jim O’Connor did a great job organizing the event.

With Suzanne Downing, Order of Malta Boston Area Chair (standing) and Sister Janet Eisner, the president of Emmanuel College.

The Knights make a great contribution to the life of the Church, particularly in their work on behalf of the poor and the sick. I reminded them in my homily that their mission has been epitomized by the Latin phrase Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum — in defense of the faith and in service to the poor and sick.

Marybeth and Paul Sandman and Joe Finn

And so I told them that the challenges they need to be concerned about are religious freedom in in terms on a national level, which has taken such a hit in recent days. The most recent thing being U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Office of Migration and Refugee Services not receiving a grant to continue their service to victims of human trafficking, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And also, of course, the whole issue of physician assisted suicide. The Order of Malta in the past has had many sessions in the parishes on medical ethics and this is an area that, of course, is very central to the kind of ministry that they do. So we’re happy for the opportunity to be able to reflect on that with them and to thank them for their great contribution to the life of the Church.

Below is the full text of my homily.

Today’s gospel reading describes for us what the Catholics consider the second glorious mystery of the rosary, the ascension of our Lord into heaven.  He is giving us our marching orders, the last instructions that have been called the great commissioning: “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  At the beautiful Chapel of the Trinitarians in Washington, the principal religious image is a very imposing statue of Christ ascending into heaven, his hands extended in blessing.  As the risen Christ blesses his disciples, he does so with hands marked by the place of the nails.  The risen Lord is still the crucified Lord, and discipleship still means taking up the cross and following him each day.  For 2000 years Jesus’ disciples have gone to the end of the earth to share that discipleship with others.  It was often a very costly grace; as it was in the case of the North American martyrs whose feast we celebrate today.

St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues along with their companions, fellow Jesuits and lay leaders who courageously sought to share their Catholic faith with the Native Americans of Canada and the United States.  They suffered unspeakable torture with incredible courage.  In the case of Isaac Jogues after he was beaten and his fingers were cut off, he escaped and returned to France.  But as soon as he could, he went back to the New World to continue the mission of making disciples of all nations.  Like  St. Sebastian, this valiant son of St. Ignatius was martyred twice.  In some way martyrdom at the hands of primitive, pagan people who have never heard the gospel is not as painful as the martyrdom of those who are killed in Christian countries by people who once heard the gospel and have now turned their back on it.  Such was the case in some of our martyrs of the Knights of Malta, those who died at the hands of Henry VIII in Catholic England or those who died martyrs in the Spanish Civil War.  I like to think of the latter as martyrs of the new evangelization because they died trying to reignite the flame of the faith in lands that had been traditionally Christian.

The first lesson from today’s Mass is particularly poignant where St. Paul writes: “but we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.”  This certainly has been the role of martyrs in the Catholic Church.

The Holy Father says that martyrs speak to us in the language of the cross.  In the early Church, martyrdom was considered the highest form of discipleship.  The first Christians celebrated Mass in the catacombs on the tombs of the martyrs, hence our custom of placing relics of the martyrs in our altars.  Pope John Paul II spoke frequently about the modern martyrs, particularly those from our own times.

John Paul II actually called upon the Sant’Egidio community to transform the ancient church of San Bartolomeo in Rome  into a shrine to the 20^th century martyrs.  I visited there in September and was quite moved to see how each of the side altars were converted into shrines commemorating the martyrs of the Nazis, of the Communists, the Spanish Civil War, Archbishop Romero, martyrs in Asia and Africa and throughout the whole world.  These martyrs made a gift of their lives in witness to their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ideals of his gospel.  I had a blog entry in September about the church of San Bartolomeo.  If you didn’t see it, you can say three our Fathers and three Hail Marys.

We will probably never be called upon to shed our blood for the faith, but I assure you, we will all be called upon to suffer for our faith.  As the dominant secular culture of New England becomes more hostile to Christian values, the harder it will be for people to openly profess their faith.  The only commandment left: thou shall not smoke.  And the only important virtue is that of tolerance, which includes tolerance for everything except religious people.  In the past, the church was persecuted for what we teach about God, the Trinity, transubstantiation and other dogmatic points of theology.  In our day, the church is persecuted for what we teach about the dignity of human life and the human person.

On May 13 last, I had the joy and privilege of celebrating the feast day Mass of Our Lady of Fatima at the shrine in Fatima.  Among the more than 300,000 pilgrims who attended the Mass was our own Grand Master, Fra Matthew Festing, accompanied by a delegation of members of the Order.  After the Mass we had coffee together and he presented me with a very beautiful volume, “The Order of Malta: A Portrait”, which not only describes the 11^th century origins of the Sovereign Order of Malta, but gives a glimpse of the extraordinary work being done in Christ’s name by the Order.  The Order of Malta is undoubtedly one of the most effective humanitarian organizations with 13,000 members, 80,000 permanent volunteers, and 20,000 medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, auxiliaries and paramedics.  This veritable army is engaged in assisting the elderly, the handicapped, refugees, children, the homeless and those with terminal illness and leprosy in every part of the world, without distinction of race or religion.  Throughout its worldwide relief corps the Order is also in the forefront of providing aid to victims of natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts.

We are very proud of the extraordinary work being done by the American branch of the Order of Malta.  We are all aware that the dual purpose of the Order is summarized in the Latin phrase: “Tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum.”  That is, to defend the Catholic faith and to serve the poor and the sick.  Looking at our American context and the challenges we face as a Church, two urgent arenas of action for the Order of Malta are the church’s struggle on the national level to defend religious freedom, and our local challenges stemming from the present campaign to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

In the same beautiful lesson from St. Paul to the Corinthians, the apostle writes: “I believed, therefore I spoke.”  We must speak our words to an unbelieving world.  Our commitment to defend the faith and to serve the sick as our liege Lords demands our involvement in these two issues: religious freedom, and physician-assisted suicide.  The eroding of religious freedom and conscience clauses and the attempt to turn our doctors into executioners would completely corrupt the medical profession and healthcare in this country.

On our part it will require much prayer, this is spiritual warfare.  This is the month of the Holy Rosary because Pius V and the people of Europe stormed heaven with prayer to save their countries from the disastrous invasion that would have ended their way of life.  The battle of Lepanto was the culmination of a spiritual battle that was won with prayer.  We should make no mistake about it, for believers, the stakes are very high and we cannot afford to be complacent or indifferent.  We need every hand on deck and rowing in the same direction.

Besides prayer we urgently need careful planning and hard work.  This month paid workers are collecting signatures in the supermarkets and shopping centers throughout Massachusetts.  If we do nothing, the culture of death will prevail in our State, and that will have a domino effect in other parts of the nation.  I am told that the Hemlock Society, gussied up with the new politically correct name:  “Compassion & Choices”, sees our State as low hanging fruit.  I hope that we can show them that this is a prickly pear.

As I pointed out to the Catholic jurists of the Red Mass, the State of Oregon since legalizing physician-assisted suicide a decade ago, now has a suicide rate that is 35% higher than the national average, not counting the so-called legal suicides or the over 1,000 botched suicides that need hospitalizations.  We do not want to be a society that promotes suicide.  The World Health Organization has pleaded with governments not to do anything to normalize suicide or present it as a solution to human problems; to do that is to encourage people to take their own lives.  Nor do we want governments and insurance companies to be deciding what categories of persons are worthy of living and which people should be put down.

On this feast of Northamerican Martyrs, that is witnesses, we did not want to retreat to the witness protection program, but gear up for what is our Battle of Lepanto.  I know that the Order of Malta will be in the front lines and help the Gospel of Life to prevail.   God bless you,  Thanks for all you do.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

I want to begin this week noting a distressing development, which seems to be just the latest in a series of attacks on religious freedom in our country.

This week it was announced that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement would not be renewing a grant to U.S. Catholic bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services to help human trafficking victims obtain food, clothing and access to medical care. That work has now come to halt.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed this issue in a post yesterday to the USCCB Media Blog. I want to share that post with you here:

There seems to be a new unwritten reg at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It’s the ABC Rule, Anybody But Catholics.
It showed up in a letter from HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to advise the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Office of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) that it would not receive a grant to continue its services for victims of human trafficking.
The USCCB program excelled because of its anytime-anywhere approach. It had extraordinary reach, something valued by people who work to free men, women and children from slavery. Because of USCCB’s organizational capacity, MRS could respond immediately. Should an Immigration Enforcement official find a vulnerable child, for example, a call to the MRS program got safe housing immediately. There was not the delay of weeks that one associates with programs that lack such a network.
The program worked well on the ground. but not so well for distant administrators promoting the abortion and contraceptive agenda, who bristle at the fact that in accord with church teaching, USCCB won’t facilitate taking innocent life, sterilization and artificial contraception. MRS anti-trafficking programs ran successfully for six years in harmony with these moral convictions until the American Civil Liberties Union brought suit against the government for not forcing the USCCB program to provide these services as a part of the program. The suit’s outcome is pending, but ORR apparently has made its own decision apart from any judgment of the court. So much for the Administration’s guarantee of conscience protection.
That’s the climate which allowed ORR to dismiss the USCCB proposal and instead award grant money to the United States Committee on Refugees and Immigrants, (USCRI), Heartland and Tapestri. ORR even awarded more money than it said it would in the original proposal.
ORR earmarked most of the money for USCRI. Eskinder Negash, current director of the ORR, had been vice-president and chief operating officer at USCRI before joining ORR in 2009.
The ORR’s request for proposals had stated that agencies receiving the money were to be fully operational ten days after being awarded the grant. That would have been October 10. One wonders how that could have happened since USCRI and Heartland reportedly were posting ads seeking to hire staff just a few days before that date. None of the three organizations has much depth of experience in monitoring and providing services. USCCB staff were given a number to call for a smooth transition for the people served by the anti-trafficking program. Those who called it found no one could answer their questions.
Trafficking of human beings is one of the great modern-day scandals, but at least until now, the U.S. government sought to sincerely address the issue. It asked USCCB for help when regional programs weren’t reaching victims outside the usual hotspots for trafficking. USCCB created an extraordinary program in conjunction with several partners, Christian and secular, including Lutheran Family Services, Jewish Family Services, Salvation Army, YMCA affiliates, domestic violence shelters, World Relief and others. Only one-third of its subcontractors were Catholic-affiliated, but with the USCCB infrastructure they reached virtually everywhere in the USA.
Now ORR seems to have yielded to abortion politics. It has undercut a worthy program, limiting the numbers served, while increasing the time and money it will take to serve them.
Apparently HHS rules about the benefits of experience and cost effectiveness can be waived. So can rules about being fully operational by a certain date. What can’t be waived is the new, albeit unwritten rule of HHS, the ABC rule – Anybody But Catholics.

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Last Wednesday I attended the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council.

Among the topics we discussed was the Pastoral letter on Evangelization, and Janet Benestad was there to lead that discussion. It was a very valuable conversation.

We also spoke about the new pastoral letter that’s coming out on the Sunday Eucharist.

There are a number of members of the APC who completed their terms with that meeting. I want to acknowledge them here and thank them for their service:

Kathleen Allen, Armand DiLando, Michael Gilroy, Andrew Griswold, Deacon Philip LaFond, Peggy Mann, John Moran, Thomas Nuttall, Maureen O’Brien, Thong Phamduy, Suzanne Robotham, Deacon Louis Sheedy, John Sullivan, Patricia Tobin, Libby Yon, and Lynn A. Zofchak.

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Among the new forms of consecrated life that have been restored in the Church after the Second Vatican Council, we have that of the hermits. These are men and women who make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and follow a rule of life that commits them to a very intense life of prayer and service, particularly works of mercy.

On Friday, I was pleased to preside at the profession of our latest hermit, Mary Therese Inoue.

Mary Therese has been prepared for a long time by Sister Marian Batho and by her work with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. Many of the Oblates were there and concelebrated the Mass. Some members of her family were with us, as well.

- – -

Also on that day, I celebrated the funeral Mass of Msgr. Stanislaus Sypek, who was the pastor of St. Adalbert Parish in Hyde Park.

Msgr. Sypek was among the last group of priests ordained during Cardinal O’Connell’s era. He was 96 years old and was still an active pastor of St. Adalbert’s, which is a Polish national parish. He had been a personal friend of Blessed Pope John Paul II and a great leader in the community and was among the last pastors appointed by Cardinal Cushing in 1969.

He was a very accomplished man; he had two doctorates. He was originally from New Bedford, but his family moved to South Boston. He was well known for all of the aid that he acquired and transmitted to the Church in Poland, as well as supporting orphans in the Holy Land.

The preacher at the Funeral Mass was Father Phil Hamel from New Bedford, who was a dear friend of Msgr. Sypek’s. Many members of Monsignor’s family joined us for the Mass.

He served as a pastor at St. Adalbert’s for over 40 years. Having been pastor for so long at St. Adalbert’s, certainly there are many people for whom he is was only pastor they had ever known. We know he will be sorely missed.

- – -

On Saturday, I met with Father James Socias of the Midwest Theological Forum of the Prelature of Opus Dei, which produces a number of Catholic catechetical and liturgical publications.

During our visit, he presented me with a copy of the new Roman Missal they produce.

They also publish the Didache Catechisms, which are a series of high school texts and lesson plans explaining the Catholic faith.

They are beautifully done with numerous pictures and illustrations, designed to be very engaging for young people. They also include questions and answers and stories, but also lots of theological content, of course.

I asked him to send me some copies for review, so we can explore ways of using them in more of our schools and programs.

- – -

That evening we had dinner with Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, a Dominican friar.

He is the Secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education and was in Boston to celebrate the diaconate ordinations for the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Parish.

Archbishop Brugues was the provincial of the Dominican friars in Toulouse and was also bishop of Angers, France when Pope Benedict named him the secretary — which is the second highest position in the congregation of Catholic education — in 2007. The pope bestowed upon him the personal title of archbishop.

This was his first visit to Boston, so we were very happy to welcome him.

- – -

On Sunday, I went to St. Leonard of Port Maurice Parish in the North End for the 150^th anniversary of the founding of the modern Italian state. St. Leonard’s is one of our Italian parishes and the church was very well attended and they had a beautiful choir.

Rosario Scabin, of the Post Gazette took photos at the event and sent them to me.

The Italian Consul-General, Giuseppe Pastorelli, was there with his wife and his young son. There were also a number of young Italian student-immigrants, as well as many of our people from the local Italian community of Boston.

I pointed out that Massachusetts has the 6^th largest Italian-American population in the United States and they are a very important part of our local church.

We’re very pleased to be able to congratulate them and celebrate this birthday celebration of the Italian state.

- – -

On Wednesday, I met with the bishops of the Boston Province. This time we had two new bishops with us.

Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester, N.H., who will be installed on Dec. 8, came to join us for the meeting. It was a wonderful opportunity for him to meet all of the bishops of the province.

Bishop Libasci visited me recently at the Cathedral rectory

We had the new Eparch of the Melkite Diocese in Newton, Bishop Nicholas Samra, with us as well. He replaced Archbishop Cyrille Bustros, who is now the new Archbishop of Beirut, Lebanon.

For this meeting, we also invited the major superiors of mens’ religious communities from the region. Periodically, we, as the group of bishops, meet with the major superiors of the region and this was one such occasion. I was pleased that even the abbot of St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer was able to be with us.

We’re very grateful for the presence of so many different religious communities of men who, by their charism and spirituality, enrich our Church. They are so generous in helping out in the parishes, retreats and many other ministries of the archdiocese and the other dioceses of the region.

- – -

We are very pleased that this week the Campaign for Catholic Schools was able to announce a $1 million grant from the State Street Foundation, the grant making arm of State Street Corporation.

Jay Hooly, State Street’s chairman with some JPII Academy students

The grant will benefit the middle school programs and professional development at the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester and Mattapan, which has a very culturally and racially diverse enrollment of 1,300 students. In fact, it is the largest elementary school in Boston.

We are very grateful to the Campaign for Catholic Schools, State Street and all of those who are helping us to raise money for our Catholic schools.

Catholic schools are one of the most important ministries of the archdiocese and we are committed to do everything possible to promote their Catholic identity and their academic excellence, so that present generations and future generations of Catholics will have the opportunity for a sound Catholic education.

- – -

And next week we look forward to the first commemoration of the feast day of Blessed John Paul II on Oct. 22.

We are marking it in Boston by a special Mass organized by the Serra Club with the help of our vocations office. The Mass will be at the Cathedral at 10am, followed by some light refreshments and then a talk by George Weigel, who was a personal friend and the designated biographer of Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

On Thursday, for the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, I was at Bridgewater State Hospital, which is part of the corrections system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

We were accompanied by Deacon Jim Greer, who oversees the hospital and prison ministry, and a chaplain there, Peg Newman.

We had the Mass in the auditorium and were able to greet several of the inmates. Then we visited those that were confined to a section of the hospital, because they were not in good enough health to attend.

- – -

That evening, I went to the Harvard Club in Boston to attend an event marking the release of a new book by local businessman and former Swiss Guard, Andreas Widmer, called “The Pope and the CEO.”

It was a very pleasant time and during the evening they had a Q&A with Andreas about his book. One of the more amusing things we learned was that the original cover showed Andreas being much taller than the Holy Father — so they shortened him in the photo! I told him that Giotto had learned how to do that, he sized everyone in his paintings according to how important they were!

The interesting thing about Andreas’ book is that so often, particularly today, we identify lay ministry and people’s participation in the Church with their liturgical functions such as lectors, ushers or greeters. Of course, the liturgy is the high point of our life; it’s there where we find our strength and live our Christian vocations.

But the vocation of the laity is really to carry the ideals of the Gospel to the workplace, to the family, to society and this is what Andreas Widmer is doing. Having lived in the shadow of the pope and observed the Holy Father and absorbed his spirit, he has translated that experience into the life of a Catholic businessman, a Catholic professional. This is a great service to the Church.

- – -

On Friday, I attended the Catholic Near East Welfare Association plenary meeting in New York.

This organization was started in 1926 by Pope Pius XI and its call is one of support to the Eastern Catholic Churches, to give humanitarian aid to those in need, to educate us Westerners about the history, culture, people, and churches of the East, and to foster Christian unity and understanding as well as collaboration between religions.

They have a new director now, Msgr. John Kozar, who was the head of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States until recently.

Touring the new office with Msgr. Kozar

He left that job to replace Msgr. Robert Stern, who had been the CNEWA president for many, many years and had done a wonderful job.

Msgr. Kozar has vast experience with the Mission Societies, which puts him in good stead for this new role heading this very important Catholic institution supporting Christians in countries where they are a small minority and the Church’s presence is very important.

They publish a beautiful and colorful magazine, ONE, that provides information about their work and insight about the lives of Christians in the Near East.

- – -

On Saturday, I was in Wilmington, Delaware for the 25^th anniversary of Poor Clare Sister Maria Elena Romero. These cloistered Poor Clare sisters are part of the Capuchin order.

They have three or four houses in the United States and this was their second house. When it first opened, I gave a retreat when I was bishop in the Virgin Islands. Now, they invited me back to be part of the Golden Jubilee of one of the sisters.

A number of the Capuchin and other Franciscan friars, who have their formation programs nearby, were at the celebration as well as many of the Hispanics from the Third Order Franciscan group that I had founded in Washington some 40 years ago.

The sisters are Mexican; in Mexico the Capuchin sisters are a very large community with many vocations. It was very wonderful to be a part of the celebration and to see that they have two young sisters in formation: one from El Salvador and one from Mexico.

- – -

On Sunday, I was at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Andover to celebrate Mass for their 50^th anniversary. Father Arthur Driscoll, the former pastor, joined us along with a number of priests who had been connected with the parish. They had an extraordinarily wonderful choir, both a children’s choir and an adult choir.

I was very impressed by the fact that there was great congregational singing. Often times in parishes with a good choir, people just listen!

Another thing that the parish does is they have nametags for the people, which I thought was a very interesting idea — it helps to build community and let’s people get to know each other.

Father Richard Conway is doing an extraordinary job and there’s a wonderful parish spirit.

The liturgy was beautifully executed, and people had many different activities to mark the 50^th anniversary of their parish life.

- – -

After we left Andover, we went straight to join the Respect Life Walk to Aid Mothers and Children, which begins at the Boston Common. The walk is sponsored by Massachusetts Citizens for Life and raises funds for a number of pro-life programs such as crisis pregnancy centers, counseling services, women’s homes and educational programs.

I was pleased that we had a wonderful turnout and the weather held out. We were fearful it was going to be rainy, although we would have walked—rain or shine— as always.

I was very pleased to see a good number of seminarians there as well as quite a large group from the Fall River Diocese.

I was invited to address the group and give them a final prayer before the walk. Of course, I reminded them of the importance of working for life and to be very aggressive in our opposition to physician assisted suicide, which is now the latest threat to life in the Commonwealth.

- – -

On Monday, I had lunch with Father Andrew Small and Father Rodney Copp of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Father Small gave me a photograph of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Fulton Sheen, of course, was the former national director of the Propagation of the Faith in New York.

That is now Father Small’s role, as director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, which includes the Propagation.

We had a very nice conversation with Father Small. He shared with us that the canonization cause for Fulton Sheen was moving ahead and he asked me if I had ever met Bishop Sheen.

So I told him that as a child I used to serve Mass for him. He would come to our parish almost every year and spend a week there. It was quite a sensation, because we had several Masses every day at the parish. It was not a large parish, territorially, but a very large percentage of the people went to Mass every day. I think there were three or four Masses each day and they all had good crowds.

But when the rumor would be out there that Bishop Sheen was coming, then the telephone would start ringing off the hook in the rectory, asking “Which Mass is Bishop Sheen going to have?” The pastor would always say, “I may as well cancel all the other Masses!”

At his Mass the church would be packed and he would preach every day, which in those days was never done. It was like a retreat for the parish, such a wonderful gift.

After that time I didn’t see him for many years, until 1975 when, as a young priest, I was asked by Cardinal Baum to head up the social justice committee for the Holy Year. One of the activities that I organized was a seminar on preaching social justice, and I invited then-Father Avery Dulles and Archbishop Sheen.

And I called him up and said “I don’t know if you remember me, I used to be your altar boy, would you come and give a talk?” He kindly agreed to do it.

When he arrived I went to pick him up at the airport, and I was so shocked to see he was so short! As a child, of course, I thought of him as a giant, but he was like Zacchaeus — vertically challenged!

Later in Fall River, Father Travassos told me that he had also once been assigned to pick up Archbishop Sheen at the airport. (Father Travassos is also short.) When Father met Bishop Sheen, he told him “Ah, you’re one of us” at which the bishop laughed and said “Yes, on the television program I used to have the blackboards and everything lowered.”

But in 1975, Archbishop Sheen looked the same as ever, with his piercing blue eyes and striking figure.

Of course, as a young priest, organizing the conference I was worried about the attendance beforehand. As any of you who have done this sort of thing will understand, if you invite someone important to speak at an event, you always wonder in the back of your head if they will end up talking to an empty room.

In the end, we had probably over 500 priests at the conference. It was held at Catholic University’s Harke Theater which was filled, every seat was filled with priests.

Archbishop Sheen got up on the stage; he pushed the microphone aside and gave an absolutely stunning presentation. Afterwards, the priests gave him about a ten minute standing ovation. This was the last time I saw him, but it was a very moving event.

Of course, Cardinal Dulles, who at the time was Father Dulles, also did a fantastic job. I remember when I introduced Father Dulles, I said, “A lot of people say that the Americans don’t appreciate our theologians, but there’s no Rahner International Airport in Germany!”

- – -

That evening, I went to celebrate the Transitus of St. Francis – a nighttime commemoration of the death of St. Francis of Assisi – with the Poor Clares in Andover.

We had the Mass and the Transitus there, and the sisters have the custom of blessing the bread and distributing it to the people as part of the service. There were a number of Tertiaries, secular Franciscans, at the Mass. It was a very lovely celebration.

- – -

On Tuesday, I met with Reverend Jack Johnson, a Methodist minister who is the head of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. He joined me at the Pastoral Center for lunch.

Rev. Johnson is finishing his tenure as executive director and wanted to talk to me about future collaboration.

- – -

That afternoon, I met with our recently ordained priests. I meet with them regularly for a Holy Hour, a discussion and dinner.

This time, they came with a number of questions on topics such as the New Evangelization, preaching, the interior life of the priest, and conflict resolution among priests.

I find these meetings are always a very life-giving experience and I think the young priests enjoy being with each other and with their bishop.

- – -

On Wednesday, I attended the inauguration of the new president of Regis College, Dr. Antoinette “Toni” Hays. Dr. Hays is replacing Dr. Mary Jane England, who stepped down after a long tenure at Regis.

I celebrated Mass as part of the inauguration

With Toni Hays

She has been on the faculty there since 1985 and most recently was the first academic dean of their new school of nursing, science, and health professions. She obviously has the advantage of knowing the school well and will be able hit the ground running, as they say.

Chair of the Board of Trustees, Donna M. Norris, MD,
with President  Hays  at the investiture

We are very grateful to the Sisters of St. Joseph who founded and sponsor the school. Like all of our Catholic colleges, Regis is a gift to the community. We also want to thank Dr. England for her service to the school and the archdiocese.

Regis students cheering the academic procession

As Regis inaugurates a new president, we pray for the mission of the school; that the good Lord will bless them, that they will be a source of evangelization and transferring the faith, and inspire people to lives of faithful, generous service to God and to the whole community.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Last Thursday, we were pleased to have a visit by Cardinal Edward Egan of New York.

Cardinal Egan was here to preach at our retreat for senior priests. He stopped by to see the new Pastoral Center and to have lunch on his way back to New York.

I know the priests were all very enthused and grateful for the retreat that he preached.

- – -

That evening, I attended our 3^rd annual Celebration of the Priesthood dinner.

We were all very gratified that 1,100 people came together to help us to honor our priests and to raise funds for the Clergy Funds.

I was very impressed with the video that was shown, which featured five of our priests in the archdiocese, each with a different story.

And I was also very impressed by the talk by Chris Boyle, who is a theology teacher and coach at Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury. He gave an extraordinary witness of a young Catholic talking about the importance of priests in the life of his family and his own life.

You can hear Chris’s talk in this slideshow:

During my remarks, I shared that I have been asked some interesting questions by children over the years. I said my favorite encounter with a youngster was when I was asked “Are you the communion guy?” And I think this is a great description of the priesthood.

As I said at the dinner, not only is Communion in the sacrament of the Eucharist, the center of our existence as Catholics, but there is also the communion of the unity of Christ’s family in the Church, that is our connectedness to God and to each other. And priests and the laity depend on one another, so it was a great evening altogether.

We are grateful to all of those who helped support the Clergy Funds. After a few worrisome years, the fund will be in the black next year, and that is very important. We want to be able to take care of our priests in their own old age and infirmity and this fund enables us to do that. So we are grateful that people have recognized this and were very generous in supporting this cause— the dinner brought in over a million dollars.

- – -

On Friday, I met with the Italian Consul and Father Antonio Nardoianni, the Franciscan pastor of St. Leonard Parish in the North End.

The Italian community is planning celebrations locally, as Italians are throughout the world, for the 150^th anniversary of the state of Italy. And they came to speak to me about it and invite me to be part of the celebration that’s going to be held on October 9 in St. Leonard’s.

- – -

As each of the seminaries begins the year with a Mass invoking the aid of the Holy Spirit, that evening I went to celebrate the Mass of the Holy Spirit at Redemptoris Mater Seminary. It was also the feast of St. Padre Pio.

I was happy to greet one of the new seminarians, Nick Thompson, originally from Minnesota. Another three are on their way after they were invited to come to our seminary a couple of weeks ago, at an international gathering organized by the Neocatechumenal Way in Porto San Giorgio, Italy.

These young men responded to God’s call to the priesthood as they were participating in the life of their local Neocatechumenal communities. Their call is both diocesan and missionary so they are willing to go to be formed, and eventually incardinate themselves in, any diocese with a Redemptoris Mater Seminary like ours here in Boston.

I have participated several times in those gatherings, but this year I was unable to attend so I asked our Vicar for the Clergy and Parish Life, Father Tom Foley, to represent me there.

- – -

On Saturday, we had our first meeting of the year with the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which included the four bishops of the Massachusetts along with representatives from the various dioceses. The new staff members of the MCC were there: executive director, James Driscoll, and associate director for policy and research Peter McNulty.

Of course, among the very important issues that we discussed was the initiative to legalize physician assisted suicide. Plans were made to initiate a response on the part of the Church, and a committee is being set up with representatives from the four dioceses.

Jim Driscoll also announced that the MCC is working on launching a newly redesigned web site, which will be a great aid in our efforts at outreach and education on this and other issues.

If you missed my post last Friday, I want to point you again to my remarks on the issue.

- – -

On Sunday, I visited Most Holy Redeemer Parish in East Boston. The pastor Father Tom Domurat invited me to celebrate the Spanish Mass there.

This parish has one of the largest Mass attendances in the diocese, and, not surprisingly, the church was packed.

The image of El Señor de Los Milagros outside Most Holy Redeemer

We were accompanied by many members of the Hermandad del Señor de Los Milagros in their purple outfits. They represent the Peruvian community, which was beginning their week long celebrations in of honor the Lord of Miracles, which is a very famous image of the crucifixion in Lima.

I once visited the convent where the original image is kept. It was painted in the 17th century by an unknown slave on a wall of a building where they were housed. One day there was an earthquake, there was great devastation and the entire building collapsed, except for the wall with that painting. When the people saw the image still standing in the midst of the ruins, they developed a great devotion to the image.

Later, when a second earthquake devastated Lima, the image was reproduced onto a canvas and carried in procession through the city.

The tradition has carried on for centuries of carrying the image through the streets of Lima in October. About two million people participate, many dressed in purple, burning incense along the way. I have never been fortunate enough to be there for the celebration but I have seen pictures of it.

The procession in Lima

The Church of the image resides today. On the wall you can see the original painting, to the right is the image carried in procession

When I was in Washington for 20 years, I had the celebration there with the Peruvian community, so I was aware of the origins of the feast.

I told the people at Holy Redeemer the story about how after I had left, the Capuchin friar who took my place in our church, Sacred Heart, started preaching his sermon about Nuestra Señora de los Milagros (Our Lady of the Miracles). Because, of course, the image is of Calvary which includes Our Lady. He was so used to having all of the Marian feasts, that he thought this was one more!

Finally, one man couldn’t stand it any longer. He walked into the sanctuary, up the steps (Sacred Heart has a very high pulpit with a flight of steps leading up to it), tapped him on the shoulder and said in a loud stage whisper, “Father, it’s El Señor de Los Milagros!”

Then also at the Mass, I gave a special blessing to those involved in the St. Vincent de Paul Society who are very active in the parish. Father Al Keenan, who is a retired priest in residence there, also accompanied us.

There are some great things going on at Sacred Heart, which is a very active parish. This was Bishop Robert Hennessey’s former parish and, in fact, he is coming back next week for the feast of El Señor de Los Milagros itself.

- – -

On Wednesday, I attended a presentation with a large group at the Pastoral Center given by Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, the executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, better known as ICEL. In the evening, he also spoke at St. John’s Seminary.

He gave a talk on the new translation of the Roman Missal that will begin being used on the first Sunday of Advent. He has been very much involved in the translation. He is uniquely equipped with his background in theology and language to do this, and we’re very grateful for his work.

He gave me the new Missal, the one that has been published by the Catholic Truth Society out of London that has explanatory notes. This edition is unique in that it is the first edition of the new Missal to be printed in a smaller format.

We are grateful to Msgr. Wadsworth for making time to share his insights and expertise with us here in Boston and we are pleased that so many came out to take advantage of his talks.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

This year, we are very blessed that we have over 70 men studying for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston. On Friday, we had a Holy Hour and dinner for them at the Pastoral Center.

At different times during the year, I like to meet with the seminarians together as a group and also in smaller gatherings.

Father Dan Hennessey gave a short talk and then I also gave some remarks.

- – -

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of ordaining 13 permanent deacons for our archdiocese, whom I refer to as “the baker’s dozen.”

The ordination Mass was wonderful and it is always inspiring to be able to ordain these men who have answered God’s call to serve the Church through this ministry.

As a young priest, I myself used to run a diaconate program. I have great admiration for the work that deacons do and I know that our priests are very grateful for their presence in our parishes.

This year, in addition to parish assignments, the deacons were also given assignments to assist with different ministries and offices of the archdiocese, such as prison ministry or the Pro-Life Office. We are very blessed that, going forward, we will be having diaconate ordinations every year.

We are grateful to Deacon Dan Burns, Deacon Pat Guerrini, and Sister Mary Reardon and for all of the teachers and workers in the diaconate program.

- – -

The following day, Sunday, we had the annual Red Mass for those involved in the practice of law. The Red Mass has its origins in England and France, where it was the opening Mass for the courts, calling on the Holy Spirit for guidance and wisdom. The Mass gets its name from the red vestments of the Mass of the Holy Spirit and also the red robes judges wore at the time.

In every diocese where I have been bishop, I have begun a Red Mass if they didn’t have one. There has always been a great response by those in the legal profession. Here in Boston, the Mass is organized by the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild of the archdiocese. Every year, the Guild hosts the Red Mass Luncheon following the Mass.

In my homily I addressed a ballot initiative petition, recently certified by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, in support of legalizing physician assisted suicide in our state. I wanted to raise this issue with the jurists because I think they have a unique responsibility and an opportunity to influence public policy in the Commonwealth. I wanted to bring to them the fact that this initiative is afoot.

We must be alert and engaged in an aggressive education process because very often, at first take, people can be seduced by the language of “compassion” and “dignity.” However, I think that when people understand the issue further, they will realize that when we are talking about assisted suicide, we are talking about participating in a murder of a human being.

We also look at the experience of Oregon, where they have legalized physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill and now, a few years later, they have among the highest suicide rates in the country. As I said in my homily, a vote for physician assisted suicide is a vote for suicide. It’s telling people that this is a legitimate “out” if you are suffering or if you have a problem. It also sets the government up to decide what categories of people have a life that is worth living — a very dangerous prerogative.

And of course for us, as believers, we know that God’s law is written on our hearts and we see that faith and reason certainly coincide in indicating here what is the best course of action for the common good and for society. I was very pleased by the response that the lawyers gave to the message and their desire to be on board in fighting against the practice of physician assisted suicide.

At the luncheon after the Mass, there was an extraordinary talk by Justice Phillip Rapoza, who spoke about St. Thomas More. He gave some very interesting facts about the saint’s life and interpreted them for today’s world. Like St. Thomas, we are called upon to live our faith in a time of opposition and of challenge.

Justice Rapoza

We are grateful to the president of the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild, Justice Joseph Nolan, and their chaplain, Father Mark O’Connell, for their efforts in organizing the Mass and luncheon.

- – -

Then, in the afternoon, I went to visit the Daughters of St. Paul in Jamaica Plain where they had a tea event. This is the event’s second year and they give out an award called the Cordero Award. It is named after Mother Paula Cordero, who brought the order to the United States with some of their early sisters. I was very pleased to attend this event, which raises money to support the Daughters’ formation program.

This year, the Cordero Award was presented to Father Bob Reed, the president of the CatholicTV Network. Father Reed gave a very beautiful talk on his ministry in the media.

Father Reed delivering his talk. Behind him is the photo of Mother Paula Cordero

- – -

That evening, I went to the home of Consuelo Isaacson for the annual gathering she hosts to raise funds for Caritas Cubana, which supports the Church’s social ministries in Cuba. Particularly, it supports daycare centers and centers for the elderly, food programs, and provides medical supplies.

With Consuelo Isaacason

Caritas Cubana is an extraordinary organization that has achieved so much, despite the fact that the government in Cuba has not allowed the Church to really participate in the social ministries. Yet, Caritas Cubana has been able to support the initiatives that are taking place in the parishes.

- – -

On Monday, I attended a Red Sox game with our senior priests from Regina Cleri. It was a beautiful day; we had a lovely box at Fenway Park that was generously provided to us by Hill-Holiday. John Kaneb, who is one of the owners, was with us.

It was a perfect day, the only fly in the ointment was that the Orioles won the game! I must say it was one of the few times I’ve ever gone to a Red Sox game where they didn’t win. But they won that night, so apparently we went to the wrong game.

I was pleased to see Father Phillip King, who is well known among Boston priests and who recently published a book on Biblical archeology. He will soon be moving into Regina Cleri, along with Father Vincent Dailey, the uncle of Father Vin Dailey at St. Gregory’s in Dorchester.

With Father King and Father Dailey

Despite the Red Sox’s loss, it was a great opportunity to be with our senior priests and I think they all enjoyed it very much.

- – -

On Tuesday, I had lunch at the cathedral with the new bishop of the Diocese of Manchester N.H., Bishop Peter Libasci.

We had a nice visit with him on his way back from New Hampshire, where the announcement of his nomination was made the day before. We are looking forward to his installation, which will be on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8.

- – -

That afternoon, I attended a ground breaking of the Barstow Village housing development in Hanover, which will provide affordable housing for senior citizens.

They have already begun the foundation and hope to have it finished in a few months.

This project is just another example of the extraordinary work our Planning Office for Urban Affairs does in developing mixed income and senior housing.

- – -

Later that day, I had Mass at the Pastoral Center for the Catholic Charities board, followed by their annual meeting.

Catholic Charities, of course, is doing extraordinary work in these difficult times. During the meeting we heard that Charities has been able to stabilize their financial situation with the help of so many generous donors. We also received a report on the important work being done at the afterschool programs of the Labouré Child Care Center in South Boston.

- – -

On Wednesday morning, I visited St. Agatha Parish in Milton to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of their school. They have 604 students in the school, which was originally staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Father Peter Casey is the pastor and they have an outstanding program there.

At the Mass, the children’s choir sang and the children participated with such fervor and devotion that really makes you more convinced than ever of the value of our Catholic schools in evangelizing and introducing our children to the faith.

- – -

That evening, I attended Blessed John XXIII National Seminary’s 30^th Annual Lawn Party in Weston. As many of you will know, Blessed John is very special in its role of forming men over age 40 for the priesthood for dioceses throughout the country.

As they usually do, during the dinner we heard talks by two seminarians, one studying for the Archdiocese of Boston and one from another diocese. Both gave excellent witnesses.

The one from Boston, David Goldman, is a convert from Judaism who had contemplated becoming a rabbi at one point. After reading the New Testament, a long period of prayer and consultation with priests, he decided to enter the RCIA in 2009.

The other man, James Nolte, is from the Springfield Diocese and he gave a compelling talk about praying for a servant’s heart even as a boy, and then having a variety of jobs before deciding to enter the seminary. He is due to be ordained this spring.

I’m always very impressed by the vocational stories of the seminarians from Blessed John XXIII. They all have very interesting lives and, at a certain point, the grace of God brings them to the vocation of the priesthood.

In my remarks, I told the people that I’m the only bishop in the United States who has had four dioceses. They are all very different, but one thing they had in common was priests who were graduates of Blessed John. They were all excellent priests, so I thanked the guests for their support of the seminary.

Dr. John LaRossa and his wife Gretchen were chairpersons for the committee that worked so hard to put together this important event, which raises about a quarter of a million dollars for the seminary.

We are very grateful to the committee, the rector Father Bill Pallardy and all those who came to support the work Blessed John XXIII Seminary.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Before sharing the events of my week with you, I’d like to take a moment to call your attention to the Archdiocese’s third annual dinner in Celebration of the Priesthood that will take place at the Seaport World Trade Center this coming Thursday, September 22.

This important event raises critical funds for the trusts that support our priests’ medical needs and retirement for the almost 250 senior priests, most of who continue to assist in parishes, schools and other Archdiocesan agencies.

Please join me in attending this celebration or, if you are unable to attend, consider a gift to the Clergy Funds in honor of the priests who have made a difference in you and your family’s lives. More information is available at www.celebrationofthepriesthood.org. On behalf of my brother priests who serve in this Archdiocese, thank you for your support and generosity.

- – -

I was very pleased to be able to participate in Archbishop Charles Chaput’s installation as the new Archbishop of Philadelphia last Wednesday.

The ceremony was very beautiful, and the archbishop gave a very moving homily on what it means to be a bishop. We pray for him, that the Lord will guide him and bless him and allow him to bring healing to the Church in Philadelphia.

As I’ve mentioned before, Archbishop Charles and I are classmates. We studied four years together in college, at the Capuchin novitiate and also for four years of theology. We’re very proud of him and very enthused that the Holy Father has given him this responsibility.

The cathedral in Philadelphia is very beautiful and full of history. The archdiocese was founded at the same time that Boston was, just over 200 years ago. One of their former bishops was, of course, St. John Neumann. St. Katharine Drexel is also from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

It is a church that has such a glorious history and we know that is has a glorious future as well.

- – -

From Philadelphia I travelled to Rome for a worldwide meeting of Capuchin bishops.

Father Bob Oliver was with me and we arrived on Saturday. We had some meetings but in the afternoon, I wanted to visit the Basilica di San Bartolomeo all’Isola (the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island). As the name implies, it is located on an island in the Tiber River.

It’s an old church that the Franciscans had for about 500 years, and recently it was entrusted to the Community of Sant’Egidio.

The church has very important relics in it, including the body of St. Bartholomew the Apostle and the relics of St. Adalbert, who was Bishop of Prague and is one of the patrons of Poland.

The tomb of St. Bartholomew

When Blessed Pope John Paul II entrusted the church to the Sant’Egidio community, it was so that they could make a special shrine to the modern martyrs. And so each of the lateral altars is dedicated to a different group of martyrs: from Latin America, Mexico and Spain to the Nazi era, the Communist era, and Asia. It is a very moving experience to visit there and reflect on modern martyrs in the Church.

The altar with relics of Spain and Mexico

Africa and Madagascar

The Americas

Asia, Oceania and the Mideast

Nearby there is a waterfall. I had never seen a waterfall in the Tiber, so I wanted to share a photo of it with you.

- – -

On Monday, I came to San Giovanni Rotondo where we were meeting with almost 70 Capuchin Bishops from throughout the world. This is only the second time we’ve met as a group. We met in the year 2000 in Assisi and our Father General called us together now for this meeting in San Giovanni Rotondo.

I had the keynote address on the Capuchin identity in the episcopacy.

Then we visited a very old shrine dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, which was initiated in the 4th century.

This shrine was one of the great pilgrimage sites in the Middle Ages. Pilgrims would try to go to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Rome, the Shrine to the Archangel, and then on to the Holy Land.

- – -

On Tuesday, we had Mass at the tomb of St. Padre Pio.

This was the altar at which Padre Pio celebrated the Mass each day during the two years he was not allowed to minister publicly

The following day, we were given a chance to go back to appreciate the mosaics in the chapel.

The artwork in the crypt is by the famous Jesuit artist Father Marko Rupnik, who decorated the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican.

Padre Pio’s tomb is behind the altar, in a sort of a rounded area a slit in the wall, so you can look through and see the coffin.

During the trip, I was also able to have dinner with one of our auxiliary bishops, Bishop Arthur Kennedy— who is in Rome taking the course for new bishops that’s organized by the Holy See. He and Bishop Chris Coyne — a priest from our Boston Archdiocese who is now an auxiliary bishop in the Archbishop of Indianpolis — are part of that group.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

That day I was in Washington D.C. for an administrative meeting at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Our meeting was interrupted with the announcement that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center Towers in New York, but we had no further information. My first thought was that there must have been an accident and recalled how some years before a small plane had collided with the Empire State Building. That small plane had, in fact, hit the office of Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle who was then serving as the director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. I remembered him describing that scene to me, so I immediately had an image of a terrible accident. We assumed there would be some injuries and certainly loss of life.

We had no idea.

A few minutes later we were interrupted again with the news of the second attack. At that point, we cancelled the meeting and it was announced that there would be a Mass for the victims at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which was just across the street.  When we arrived there, we found the shrine already crowded with a huge gathering of people.

One of the most impressive things about Sept. 11 was the deep religious response it provoked in people — a reaction of solidarity, of wanting to be together. People wanted to pray. Sometime later, I spoke to people from Ireland who told me that, on that day, even there the churches were packed and special Masses quickly arranged. Even thousands of miles from the attacks, there was that strong sense of community, solidarity, and need to share sorrow that brought people together in a very profound way.

Of course a great concern for the bishops was to return to their dioceses, but in Washington we were completely cut off. By then we had learned of the attack on the Pentagon and those who gave their lives in Pennsylvania and there was the belief that the terrorists would try to destroy the White House. There were no flights, trains or buses to get back to Fall River, where I was bishop at the time.

The president of Catholic University was good enough to put his car at our disposal so that the three New England bishops could get back to our dioceses that evening. The drive was eerie, with practically no one on the highway and all the toll booths empty. Newark and La Guardia airports were closed and had snow plows blocking the entrances.

While on the way back to Massachusetts, I received a call from my brother, who was in Boston because he was a pilot for United Airlines. He told me he had been scheduled to pilot the next flight to Los Angeles. Had he been assigned one flight earlier, he would have been the pilot on one of the planes that struck the Twin Towers.  However one who was on that plane was David Angell, the brother of Vermont Bishop Kenneth Angell, who perished on that same flight. Bishop Angell had actually driven David and his wife to the airport that morning. He dropped them off at Logan Airport and, on his way home, heard about the crash on the radio. It was amazing how many people were affected by these events. Everywhere you went, people had a story about someone that they knew on a plane, in the Twin Towers or at the Pentagon. 

The entire nation was also moved by the sacrifices of the public safety officials who gave their lives courageously fulfilling their duty. Over 300 fine men and women perished, including Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan in New York who was the fire chaplain and who died giving the last rites to victims at the World Trade Center.

The events of Sept. 11 demonstrated the fragility of human life and, as often happens in these cataclysmic events, you saw the very worst and the very best of humanity. The worst, certainly, were those who plotted for months, and perhaps years, to perpetrate this crime that killed thousands of innocent people. At the same time, you saw the courage of the firefighters, law enforcement officers, and even average citizens, such as the passengers who fought back on United Airlines Flight 93, forcing the plane down before it reached its intended target.

Unfortunately, the dehumanizing practice of terrorism, in many ways fueled by our communications culture, has become part of our modern world. There was a time when warfare was seen as something conducted between combatants. Civilians and other populations were, for the most part, respected and protected. Now, however, terrorists target the most innocent and vulnerable to cause the greatest amount of shock and horror for the psychological effect that they can instill on the public.

We had not had an act of war on the continental United States since the Civil War — of course we cannot forget Pearl Harbor — so it was a very shocking experience for Americans. Yet, the horrors of modern warfare are an experience that people in Europe lived during World War II and, in other parts of the world, continue to experience.

However, as we commemorate these events 10 years later, our attitude is one of prayer and gratitude for the sacrifices of so many who went in to rescue victims of these terrible terrorist attacks. We pray for the victims, the families and the survivors who may still be traumatized and whose health has been compromised by the effects of the attacks.

Terrorism often comes about because of injustices in society. One of the ways that we can discourage terrorism is to be proactive in dealing with the injustices in the world. As Catholics, we believe we have a mission to build a civilization of love, work for greater solidarity and cooperation among nations, promote the rights and dignity of every human person, and to advance economic justice and religious freedom in the world.

- – -

As important as it is to reflect on this important moment for our nation and the world, I would also like to share with you some of the events of my week.

Just as we recently had the opening Mass at St. John’s Seminary, the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary community initiated their academic year with a celebration of the Mass of the Holy Spirit last Friday, with the presence of the rector and the faculty, the vocation directors and the student body.

The rector of Blessed John XXIII, Father Bill Palardy

As the name implies, Blessed John XXIII is a national seminary for those who are pursuing a “second career” or late-life vocation. The majority of these seminarians are from other dioceses, but there are several studying for Boston. Our archdiocese continues this initiative of Cardinal Richard Cushing who was inspired by the words of Blessed Pope John XXIII who said that a vocation can come at any time in a person’s life. Cardinal Cushing founded the seminary and named it in honor of Pope John XXIII.

Afterwards, we took pictures with the Boston seminarians and had a lunch.

We are very proud of the excellent service that this seminary, which belongs to the Archdiocese of Boston, provides for the Church throughout the United States. It has served countless dioceses. In the four dioceses where I served as bishop, I had wonderful priests who were all graduates of Blessed Pope John XXIII. They were outstanding pastors and functioned in many important roles. I know that countless bishops share the same gratitude to this seminary. And of course we’re very grateful to Father Bill Palardy for accepting the rectorship, replacing Bishop Peter Uglietto.

- – -

Of course this week we celebrated Labor Day, and what is Labor Day without a cookout?

Each year Father Bob Casey and the good people of St. Brigid Parish in South Boston sponsor a cookout for priests and it’s always very, very well attended.

The new Vicar General, Monsignor Bob Deeley, joined us for the event and many of the priests from Regina Cleri were also part of the celebration.

I was very happy that they had a good old fashioned cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers. Sometimes you get to the cookouts and they are serving fancy food, and it’s just not the same! But it was a wonderful event and the weather was overcast, but the rains held off and everyone had a great time.

- – -

Although many priests celebrate their golden anniversary of priestly ordination, it’s rather rare that a bishop celebrates the golden anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

That’s why this week we were especially happy to have Bishop Bill McNaughton with us Tuesday, as we marked the 50th anniversary of his episcopal ordination at the Pastoral Center.

We have the joy and privilege of the presence of Bishop McNaughton, who is a Maryknoll missionary from Lawrence and the retired bishop of Incheon in Korea. As a young priest he was sent off to be a missionary in Korea and a founding bishop of a diocese there.

So we invited Bishop McNaughton, his family, some of the members of the Maryknoll community and Father Rod Copp and the staff of the local office of the Pontifical Mission Societies. They took part in the celebration, which we incorporated into the daily noon Mass, followed by a lunch for Bishop McNaughton and his guests.

I celebrated the Mass and Bishop McNaughton preached. In his preaching he talked about his vocation and experience. He said that he was ordained a bishop at St. Mary’s in Lawrence by Cardinal Cushing who, he said, gave him $10,000 to start his new diocese.

He told us it was an 18 day trip from California to Korea on a freighter and 16 of the days there was fog and the fog horn went off every three minutes! And he said he kept thinking along the way, “Why didn’t I become a diocesan priest and I could have stayed in Boston?”

But he said when he got to Korea that he fell in love with the people and had an extraordinary experience there as their bishop. He also attended all of the sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

Now, in his retirement, he has returned to live in the archdiocese and helps us with confirmations and also helps out with the ministry to the Korean Catholic community.

A couple of weeks ago, Bishop McNaughton gathered with the Korean Catholic community in Waban to celebrate his jubilee. More than 500 people attended along with several priests and bishops.

I understand the children gave him a gift of 5 bouquets of flowers, each one representing 10 years.

This year Maryknoll is celebrating their 100^th anniversary and, of course, two of the founders of Maryknoll — Bishop James Walsh and Mother Mary Joseph Rogers — are Bostonians. So it’s a wonderful way to celebrate Maryknoll’s contribution to the missionary efforts ad gentes, by recognizing the 50 years of episcopal ministry of Bishop McNaughton.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

The last couple of weeks have been quite something for acts of God. Here in the East, on Tuesday of last week we had the earthquake centered in Virginia, followed by Hurricane Irene, which moved up the coast last weekend.

In some ways, Irene was not as bad as people had feared, particularly in New York City where the mayor went to such lengths to assure the safety of the public. Still, it did terrible damage and cost people their property and even lives. Of course, tens of thousands were also left without electricity.

Having lived through hurricanes in the West Indies, I am very conscious of just how powerful these storms can be and the devastating effect it can have on people’s lives.

In our own area, Vermont was the most seriously damaged. I’m always impressed at how people tend to be solicitous and generous in helping their neighbors during a time of crisis like this.

I myself was affected by it because I happened to have a wedding in Washington D.C. on Saturday and was planning to come back on Sunday, but there were no flights or trains that day.

I had wanted to get back as soon as possible because on Monday morning we were having Mass at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury with the elementary school teachers and administrators of our Catholic schools.

So, Bishop Robert Hennessey very generously agreed to take my place. He told them that he was the substitute teacher coming to say the Mass.

- – -

This week we had the “changing of the guard” of the Vicars General as Father Richard Erikson ended his tenure and we welcomed Msgr. Robert Deeley to take his place.

We had a farewell Mass and reception for Father Rich here at the Pastoral Center on Tuesday.

The Mass was attended by his father, his sister and brother in law, and other friends. There were many priests, auxiliary bishops, staff from the Chancery and a number of people from Holy Name Parish, where Father Erikson has resided with Msgr. George Carlson and the other priests there. It was a very beautiful tribute to Father Erikson.

I think people realize what a fine priest he is and how selfless he has been in serving the Church. We were very happy to see how enthusiastically people turned to out to be with him in this time of transition.

I told him that the big news of the last week was Steve Jobs leaving Apple and Father Rich Erikson leaving the Pastoral Center (although he didn’t get quite as much publicity about it!)

He will be leaving shortly for Rome, where he will participate in the Institute for Continuing Theological Education, which is held at the North American College in Rome.

It’s a wonderful program that affords priests an opportunity for theological and spiritual renewal. It also affords them an opportunity to spend time in Rome — the center of Christendom — and to appreciate the Holy Father’s ministry and the universality of our Church.

- – -

Having said goodbye to Father Erikson, on Thursday we officially welcomed Msgr. Robert Deeley our new Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

In 2005, Msgr. Deeley very generously acquiesced to my request that he help out at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Holy See. He did a wonderful job there and was also very good about getting together with our seminarians and Boston priests who are stationed in Rome. The nice feature of this tenure was that for much of the time he was in Rome his brother Kevin, who is a Navy chaplain, was also in Italy. So the Deeley brothers could get together on a regular basis.

Msgr. Deeley also responded very generously when I asked him to return to Boston to assume this very important responsibility of Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

I’m very happy that he’s back and we also marked his inauguration with a Mass of thanksgiving and a reception at the Pastoral Center.

But before the reception with coffee and other light refreshments, we had the Pastoral Center staff gather in our auditorium.

There, Msgr. Deeley publicly read the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity. Monsignor received a round of applause from our staff and gave some brief remarks.

He said that he was pleased to make these professions in public, in front of the staff. I think it was it a great witness for our staff and a reminder about what our mission is here.

We certainly look forward to his leadership here in the archdiocese.

- – -

This week we saw another changing of the guards, as it were, with the appointment of Archbishop Edwin O’Brien as the next Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The order is one of the oldest organizations in the Church. Dating back to the time of the Crusades, they were originally an order of knights charged with protecting the sacred sites of the Holy Land. In modern times, the Order maintains that ancient mission by supporting the works of the Church in the Holy Land such as schools, clinics, hospitals and churches.

As I have mentioned in the blog before, I was once returning from Lourdes and was able to be part of the veneration of the Crown of Thorns — that very important relic is entrusted to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Cardinal John Foley, who was for so long the head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was named Pro-Grand Master of the Order in 2007 and he recently retired, due to his age and health reasons.

I believe he was the first American to hold that post, and I understand he did such an extraordinary job that the Holy See has decided to have another American to continue that work.

Archbishop O’Brien is a natural fit for the position. He was, of course, rector at the North American College, so he knows his way around Rome very well. He has a military background as well, having been in the service himself, as well as having been the archbishop of our Military Archdiocese.

He is certainly a man the Holy See has given many responsibilities over the years. He was in charge of our visitations of our seminaries in the United States and has done an excellent job as Archbishop of Baltimore. I’m sure that he will continue the wonderful work that Cardinal Foley has done with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Locally, we have an outstanding group, where I serve as Grand Prior. We have a history of wonderful leaders: The Ryans, Denis Looney, and now John Monahan.

- – -

Another event I want to mention was visit last week by Father Pat Byrne, who is the superior of the Society of the Divine Word in Ireland. He was here to consult with Father Rodney Copp, the local director of the Pontifical Mission Societies to speak about the very important work of the Holy Childhood Association.

Father Byrne, of course, is a member of a very large missionary order and has great passion for mission animation educating people about the mission of the Church ad gentes.

The Holy Childhood Association was founded in France in 1843 as a mission society similar to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, but for children. Its founder, French Bishop Charles Forbin de Janson was convinced that children, rich in faith and love, are capable of playing their own part in the Church’s mission of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ — and even of stirring adults to show the same missionary spirit.

Today, all around the world, HCA continues to follow the founding vision of “children helping children.” After learning about the great needs of the world’s poorest children, our young people are invited to pray and offer sacrifices so that children in the missions may know Christ and experience His love and care.

Each year over 3000 programs are funded by the Holy Childhood Association. In Uganda, HIV/AIDS orphans are cared for; in Ecuador, religious educational materials are printed for elementary school students. Children are fed what may be their only meal of the day in Haiti, while in India, children are prepared for their First Holy Communion. In the loving hands of missionaries, our children’s sacrifices become like the loaves and fishes in the hands of the Lord: multiplied to serve as many as possible.

HCA is the Church itself teaching children that we are all called to be missionaries by our Baptism. Here in the Archdiocese, Catholic schools, parish religious education programs and even Catholic home school programs have mission education and animation materials available to enhance the faith formation of our young Catholics through our Holy Childhood Association office at the Pastoral Center.

The mission education programs offered by HCA are varied so as to fit into the curriculum of any Catholic formation program, be it in a Catholic school or parish religious education program.

Maureen Heil, in our office of the Pontifical Mission Societies, does such a wonderful job coordinating this program.

While Father Pat was here, she put together this video with on the work of the Holy Childhood Association:

- – -

On Wednesday, we celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit at St. John’s seminary for the beginning of the academic year there.

I talked on the Holy Father’s message to the seminarians at the Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena during World Youth Day. In fact, some of our seminarians were actually in attendance there.

The apse of the chapel at St. John’s has been renovated this summer.

This year we have around 70 altogether seminarians studying for the Archdiocese, which makes us one of the larger contingents in the U.S. Of course, St. John’s is filled and we have a new diocese, the Archdiocese of Hartford, coming on board beginning to send seminarians to study there. The Redemptorists have been sending some seminarians to study at St. John’s, as well.

I wanted to welcome the seminarians from other dioceses and other religious communities who are starting there at St. John’s — it’s a great spirit in the house.

The rector, Bishop Arthur Kennedy, and the faculty were with us at the Mass, as well. I told them how grateful I am to them for making St. John’s certainly one of the premiere seminaries in the country, and that we’re very proud of them.

- – -

Later that day, we had our first meeting of the year for the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council here at the Pastoral Center.

It was a very good turnout and we discussed a number of initiatives that the diocese is involved in, particularly pastoral planning and the conference on the Church’s teaching on social justice. We talked about the Catholics Come Home program and how to continue those efforts of outreach and evangelization.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Hello and welcome back!

As you may know, this week I returned from attending the World Youth Day encounter with the Holy Father in Madrid, Spain.

World Youth Day was a very important part of the legacy of Blessed Pope John Paul II and his love and ministry to young people in the Church. It has touched the lives of many millions of young people and helped them to experience the catholicity of the faith, to deepen their commitment to the Lord and their sense of being part of Jesus’ family in the Church. In general, the young people who go have a wonderful experience.

It is a great institution in the life of the Church and there’s no other gathering of young people in the world that consistently brings together the numbers that World Youth Day does.

It is also a great blessing for the place that hosts the World Youth Day gathering.

The first World Youth Day I attended was in Denver. I remember the people there were alarmed that this was going to take place because they imagined it was going to be like Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, and the young people would trash the city! And yet, afterwards, they were all shocked that there was not one incident and that kids were so well behaved and had such a wonderful spirit. The joy that they brought with them was a gift to the whole city and that is an experience that has been repeated over and over again.

I was also impressed by the volunteers from the parishes. There were thousands of volunteers who just were so helpful in organizing and directing people and helping them and making sure that everyone had what they needed. The Holy Father had a meeting with them before he left to thank them for their generous service.

I think the presence of so many young Catholics was a great consolation to the Church in Spain, which has been suffering from the secularization of Europe.

As I mentioned in my post of August 12, I would like to share some of my experiences with you.

- – -

On Monday, we went with the pilgrims to Toledo and there we had a liturgy in the church of San Juan de Los Reyes — a church that had been built by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, the so-called “Reyes Catolicos” (the Catholic Kings).

Toledo is a very ancient city, it’s the primatial see, the oldest diocese in Spain. It’s a beautiful walled city with many medieval and ancient buildings.

At the Mass, we had a lot of our priests concelebrating; the church was filled.

I spoke to the pilgrims a little bit before the Mass about the history of Toledo. It is an interesting history of great cooperation and peace among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Evidence of this is the old synagogue, which is one of the very significant buildings in Toledo.

I tried to impress on the young people the very unique role that Spain has had in the evangelization and the history of spiritualty. In the States of course, the English speaking world wrote the history and was often was very disparaging of Spain’s contributions to the New World, resulting in what we call the “Black Legend” or “Leyenda Negra.”

As Catholics we must realize that, although many Spaniards perhaps went to the New World looking for gold or for fame, there were many who went with a sincere desire to spread the Gospel — people like Blessed Fray Junípero Serra, the Jesuits working at the reducciones in Paraquay and so many other great missionaries.

So many charisms have come out of Spanish Catholicism. In Spain, we saw the founding of the Jesuits, the founding of the Dominicans, the reform of the Carmelite Orders — very important spiritual traditions in our Church. And in more modern times, we have the formation of many realities such as Cursillos de Cristiandad, Marriage Encounter, The Neocatechumenal Way and Opus Dei.

In Toledo, after the Mass one of the things that I did was to visit the Church of Santo Tomas, where the most famous painting of El Greco still is, as a mural on the wall over the grave of Conde de Orgaz.

We were on our way to the Cathedral and I said to the taxi driver “Is the El Greco museum open?” And he said we would drive by it, as it was on the way.

When it was closed he said “Well even though that’s closed, I’ll bet the church is open and that’s where the best one is.” I said “Definitely.” In fact, it is my favorite of his paintings, and so I was very happy he took us there.

The painting is called The Burial of Conde de Orgaz (The Count of Orgaz).

He was a very pious layman and, according to legend, St. Stephen (on the left) and St. Augustine (on the right) appear from heaven to bury him.

An angel is carrying his soul up to heaven and we see the Blessed Mother, John the Baptist and St. Peter waiting in heaven.

There are many other interesting details to this painting. The young boy in the foreground is El Greco’s son and El Greco himself is one of the men in crowd (just above St. Stephen’s head.)

On St. Stephen’s dalmatic, there’s one panel showing his martyrdom. And his face is actually reflected in the shiny silver armor of Conde de Orgaz.

It’s a magnificent painting, probably the best of El Greco. El Greco was himself from Greece, but lived many, many years in Toledo and did many of his paintings there.

- – -

In the days leading up to the meeting with the Holy Father, a number of bishops and cardinals were asked to give a catechesis (which is a conference on the faith) for the pilgrims. I was one of eight English speaking bishops to be asked to do that, and so I spoke Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in three different churches.

There were three themes we were asked to speak on: Faith, Established in Christ, and Being a Witness. Following these talks the young people could come up to the microphone, ask a question, and I would try and answer them. We ended each session with a Mass.

Some of our Boston pilgrims went to all three of my sessions, but the main group came on Thursday.

On Wednesday, I had Catechesis and Mass at San Juan Crisóstomo, a diocesan parish.

Then in the afternoon I preached at a vocations service, which was organized by the USCCB, at a Jesuit parish San Francisco de Borja, which was packed.

On Thursday, I was at the Capuchin church, San Antonio. It was a very large church and I would say there were over a 1,000 young people at this Catechesis and Mass.

The church is in a working class neighborhood where most of the parishioners are Latin American immigrants, which I found very interesting. It was much like my ministry in Washington D.C.; the parish had a clinic, and all kinds of social services.

The main Boston group was there and it was nice to see them again. Then afterwards I had lunch with the Capuchin community there.

That afternoon was the welcoming ceremony for the Holy Father.

On Friday, I had another Catechesis at the church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Filipinas, a Dominican church.

- – -

Friday night there was a Stations of the Cross at the main venue for the week’s activities called Plaza de Cibeles, which is in front of a Baroque white building that was originally the old post office. It’s now the city hall and they put a stage up there and that’s where the opening service was with the Holy Father as well.

The stations were very well done. They brought what the Spanish call pasos, or floats, that they use for the processions on Good Friday and during Holy Week. They came from cities all over the country and some of them were just gorgeous.

They also had a young man singing what they call “Saetas” to the Virgin. It’s interesting because when you hear it you think this is a Jewish cantor in a synagogue or it’s a Muslim singing from a minaret—it’s so Middle Eastern. And yet these are the songs they sing in Spanish to Christ and to the Virgin. The Saetas means like an arrow, and it is certainly a very piercing, beautiful and haunting melody.

You can see the different pasos in this YouTube video. (But the music is not the Saetas I was telling you about!)

This day the Holy Father went to El Escorial, which is the university where I taught back in 1970. He met with the nuns and the university professors there. This is a beautiful old monastery that was built by Phillip II who lived there as a monk with the Jerónimos, a very important order at that time in Spain.

He built that monastery to commemorate a victory over the French, I believe on the feast of St. Lawrence. He built it in the shape of a grill, since St. Lawrence had been martyred on a grill.

It’s a beautiful spot.

I was very happy to be able to teach there because they had a wonderful library, which I made good use of. They also had a number of original works of Santa Teresa and many of the Spanish mystics and I was writing my dissertation on the Spanish mystics.

- – -

Then Saturday the Holy Father had Mass in the Cathedral for seminarians. I wasn’t able to go, but I had a chance to take some photos later that I wanted to share with you:

As I said, I was invited to attend, but we were having a Mass for the Boston crowd at the largest church in Madrid, which is San Francisco el Grande. I had never been in that church and Father Matt Williams came up with the idea. It’s a stunning church, it really is monumental!

I don’t know how many were there, but it seemed like a couple thousand people — quite a big crowd!

- – -

Right next to where the bishops were staying there was a cloistered convent of Dominican nuns. One night I went in to pray my office there, and they were having a service, so I stayed for part of it.

In the pictures you see (though they are a bit dark) there are two levels of grills. The upper level was where the nuns were and the second level down below there was a choir.

But in the center of the sanctuary, you will see that there is the baptismal font that St. Dominic was baptized in.

That was sort of the center piece of this service. So we renewed our baptismal vows, they sprinkled us with water from that notable font and then they had witness talks by a cloistered Dominican nun and by a friar—who spoke very, very powerfully.

- – -

Saturday night was the vigil with the Holy Father at Cuatro Vientos airbase.

Of course, one of the most memorable aspects of the vigil for anyone who was there was the torrential rain that hit not long after it started.

I suppose it shows that I live in New England, but I think I might have been the only bishop who brought an umbrella. I had heard on the news that there might be rain, so I took it with me. And when the rain came, they brought out these big white umbrellas for the bishops to use, and they quickly turned inside out. Meanwhile, my little black collapsible umbrella was probably the only one that was really functioning!

Unfortunately, the Holy Father’s homily, in which he was going to respond to questions that had been submitted by a number of young people, was destroyed by the rain. It put me in mind of a Mass I once had at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge. We often had inclement weather on the feast day and we thought that we had solved the problem by putting my homily in plastic page protectors. But on that day it was raining so hard, and there was so much rain on my glasses, I couldn’t read it anyway!

It was still a very moving service, and after the winds and rains died down, which was rather quickly, we had the Holy Hour and the consecration to the Sacred Heart.

The monstrance from Toledo that they used for the Adoration was quite impressive. If I am not mistaken, I think it is part of an even larger monstrance that’s actually horse drawn and was pulled through the city of Toledo for the feast of Corpus Christi.

Even more impressive, though, was the reverence of the pilgrims. The crowd stretched as far as you could see and yet, during Adoration there was great quiet.

After the vigil, the young people spent the night there, but we left around midnight and came back at 5 o’clock in the morning for the Closing Mass.

- – -

The Closing Mass on Sunday was very lovely, but it was also very warm. King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sophia were seated next to the Holy Father on the platform.

At the end of the Mass, the Holy Father announced that the next World Youth Day would be in Brazil and the Brazilians came up and got the cross and the icon and then we prayed the Angelus.

- – -

On Sunday night, we had a goodbye dinner with some of the Boston pilgrims at a restaurant called Rio Frio. I think it was the only thing about Spain that was frio!

- – -

Typically on the Monday after the World Youth Day Closing Mass, the initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way hold a gathering for the members of the Way from around the world and also a number of bishops and cardinals. This gathering, like many of the World Youth Day events was in the Plaza de Cibeles.

I was asked to attend, and we had group of about 130 pilgrims from Boston there.

As he usually does, Kiko Arguello, one of the initiators, gave a period of catechesis, after which he invited young men and women to offer themselves to discern a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.

Those who feel called are asked to stand and then come up to the stage to receive a blessing from one of the bishops. Later, when they return home, they will receive additional formation and spiritual guidance to continue their discernment.

As always, it was quite impressive. Of the about 200,000 young people there, I understand about 8,500 came forward — about 5,000 young men and more than 3,000 young women.

I was very pleased to give many of them my blessing. It was very fitting end to World Youth Day.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

After much prayer, reflection and consultation, today the Archdiocese will make available on our website a Publication With Respect to its Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Child. The link for a document which provides the rationale for this decision as well as for the new website itself is http://www.bostoncatholic.org/publication.aspx

This decision was made only after considerable input from the Cabinet, the Presbyteral Council, the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, the Archdiocesan Review Board and many individuals.

It is my ardent hope that this Publication will contribute to the safety of children and healing in our Church. I pledge my continued prayers for all those affected by the crime of the sexual abuse of minors.

Cardinal Seán

I’ve been able to celebrate Masses and lead catecheses for our pilgrims from Boston. I look forward to sharing a thorough report with you next week.

This week I’ve asked Scot Landry, Secretary for Catholic Media, to discuss what we’re doing as an archdiocese to evangelize through the use of media. We are blessed that our Archdiocese has a great television station in CatholicTV and America’s oldest Catholic newspaper in The Pilot. Scot and his team have worked hard to add new media vehicles to these established ones.

Dom Bettinelli and George Martell of the Catholic Media team are here with me in Madrid covering the pilgrimage and allowing those in the Archdiocese to follow our journey. Please visit WYDMadridBoston.com and Flickr.com/BostonCatholic for the latest photos, updates and videos. You can also visit CatholicTV.com to watch the events with the Holy Father.

The Catholic Media Secretariat

I’m grateful to Cardinal Seán for the opportunity to share what we’re doing in our Catholic Media Secretariat to assist him in his work of renewing and strengthening the Church in the Archdiocese of Boston.

On July 1, 2010, Cardinal Seán established the Catholic Media Secretariat. This action instituted a group into the organizational structure of the Archdiocese whose purpose is to implement Pope Benedict’s call to put all forms of media, old and new, at the service of the primary mission of the Church, which is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the world. The Holy Father specifically asked the Church at all levels to evangelize the “digital continent.”

“I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. In the early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately.”

“It falls, in particular, to [those] who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this "digital continent". Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds!”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Message Of The Holy Father Benedict XVI For The 43rd World Communications Day, 24 January 2009.

In a video to announce the new secretariat, Cardinal Seán remarked:

“Jesus’ last instruction to us his followers was a call to announce the Gospel to all nations. Our Lord is inviting us to share in His mission. We are always looking for new and better ways to share the message of Christ with the largest audience possible.

“St. Paul and the Apostles traveled throughout the known world to preach the Gospel. Modern technology has made the world smaller and opens new doors for the task of Evangelization. In the Archdiocese of Boston we are excited to announce this new initiative to employ the marvels of modern telecommunications at the service of the Gospel.

“Only recently the Holy Father is calling the whole Church to launch out with confidence using the new media to advance the cause of Christ. I am delighted that we are beginning this new adventure of faith together. I hope you join us.”

Cardinal Seán wanted all of our media entities to be in one organization to foster innovation and to strengthen each other. We started with 4 groups:

CatholicTV® (formerly Boston Catholic Television) is the oldest Catholic television network in the United States and presently the second largest national Catholic network to EWTN. Its Sunday Mass broadcast is the longest running program in the Boston television market (since January 1, 1955). The CatholicTVjr™ widget allows every parish, school or ministry website to share CatholicTV’s great programming directly with its community. CatholicTV® has a large following on Facebook and Twitter and has a great mobile application for the iPhone.

The Pilot, established in 1829, is America’s oldest Catholic newspaper and the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. Its website, PilotCatholicNews.com, has earned several national awards for the presentation of Catholic news online. The Pilot also has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, has a large weekly e-newsletter, and can be read on the iPhone, Android devices, and the Kindle.

The Pilot Catholic Directory compiles the official information of all institutions within the Archdiocese of Boston. Most of this content is used by the Archdiocesan website BostonCatholic.org and the parish information of the Directory forms the basis of the Pilot Parish Finder mobile applications for the iPhone and Android devices. This directory contains more than 600 pages of ministry, organizational and personnel listings and really shows the amazing breadth of the Archdiocese.

We combined various website and social media ministries into Pilot New Media when Cardinal Seán launched the secretariat. This new group manages BostonCatholic.org, the official website of the Archdiocese, many websites (parishes, Archdiocesan initiatives and ministries, such as TheLightIsOnForYou.org and CatholicsComeHomeBoston.org, and schools), as well as  the official Archdiocesan Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo presences. The group also assists Cardinal Seán with his new media projects.

Under Cardinal Seán’s leadership and initiative, the Archdiocese of Boston has been a leader in embracing new methods to share our faith, connect with others, and inspire others to help us build a civilization of love. Cardinal Seán himself took the lead as the first cardinal in the world to launch this blog  teaching and sharing his ministry worldwide. He wrote the Foreword to a new book compiled by Brandon Vogt and published by Our Sunday Visitor, called The Church and New Media. I was honored to be asked to write Chapter 7, “New Media in a Diocese.” The book is an outstanding presentation of the potential of new media to help people know Christ, connect with other disciples, and learn more about our faith.

In addition to the expansion of these existing media ministries, Cardinal Seán hoped that we would be able to add ministries that produce parish bulletins, print parish materials and evangelize through radio.

Pilot Bulletins & Pilot Printing

In September 2010 we launched Pilot Bulletins & Pilot Printing, which allow us to print parish bulletins, posters, banners, business cards, newsletters, and promotional materials. Bulletins reach more parishioners weekly than any of our other communication tools. Therefore, we believed that our secretariat should provide a bulletin and printing service to our parishes, schools and ministries. We currently are printing bulletins for 60 parishes with another 40 scheduled to begin printing when the parish’s current bulletin contract expires. Parishes have chosen Pilot Bulletins because of the full color covers that can change each week, the booklet format, the additional pages provided and the ability to include photos of parish events and ministries.

Pilot Printing has had a positive impact on the Archdiocese in its first year, as it was instrumental in the The Light Is On For You and Catholics Come Home initiatives. They can print banners, posters, pew cards, booklets, business cards, Mass cards, presentation folders, letterhead, magnets, and much more for parishes, schools and ministries.

This summer Mike McDonald, a college student at Rochester Institute of Technology and a parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Foxboro, interned with our Pilot New Media group. One of Mike’s projects was to produce this video showing how bulletins get printed now at our Pastoral Center in Braintree.

Catholic Radio & The Good Catholic Life program

Another of Cardinal Seán’s priorities for our Media Secretariat is to help support or establish Catholic radio in the Archdiocese, believing that it is one of the best formats for evangelization. About 15 years ago, there were only about 20 Catholic radio stations in the country (out of a total of about 15,000 AM/FM stations). Now the number has grown to about 175, thanks in large part to EWTN Radio and other radio networks that provide free Catholic programming to Catholic stations.

Last summer, Jim Wright, the President of Holy Family Communications and The Station of the Cross radio network out of Buffalo, approached Cardinal Seán and me with the desire to purchase 1060AM and convert it to 24/7 Catholic programming. The Station of the Cross was already in Buffalo, Rochester and Elmira, New York, so they had experience running radio stations. As he has done in the other three cities, Jim only wanted to move forward if they could receive the blessing of the Archbishop and be able to collaborate with the Archdiocese. Cardinal Seán was happy to welcome WQOM 1060AM and to participate in its inaugural broadcast on All Saints Day, November 1, 2010, by celebrating a launch Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. (Click here for photos from the inaugural Mass.) WQOM’s strong 50,000 watt signal allows it to reach the entire Archdiocese.

Most of the programs on 1060AM are generously provided by EWTN Radio, such as the Son Rise Morning Show with Brian Patrick, Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo, Catholic Answers, simulcasts of The World Over and The Journey Home, and many others. Audio from the CatholicTV Mass and Rosary are broadcast at 7:00pm and 7:30pm respectively.

Cardinal Seán encouraged me to work with WQOM to add a daily discussion program that was produced by the Archdiocese. After initial conversations with Jim Wright and Cardinal Seán, both supported the idea of a program that would be hosted by me and co-hosted by priests and other leaders in the Archdiocese. On Ash Wednesday, The Good Catholic Life program debuted with a broadcast that focused on the beginning of Lent and the launch of the Catholics Come Home program.

The Good Catholic Life airs each weekday from 4-5pm. There are 5 ways to listen to the show. To listen live, you can tune into 1060AM, listen online at WQOM.org, or download the iCatholicRadio app for your Apple or Android device. To listen to a recording of each show, you can visit our website TheGoodCatholicLife.com or download our daily podcast via iTunes. Listeners can also sign up on the show’s website for daily emails with a summary of each show and a link to the show’s audio recording, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

The show has four main goals: to share information about local Catholic initiatives and events, explain Catholic teaching, profile Catholic leaders and ministries, and discuss current local and global news in the Catholic Church.

We have had great discussions and episodes in each of these areas. Please click on a hyperlink to listen to a particular show.

Profiles of Local & National Ministries – Project Rachel & Prolife Ministries,Cor Unum Meal Center, Catholic Schools Office, Pontifical Mission Societies, Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Cursillo, CatholicTV, Pastoral Planning Commission, Prison Ministry and Hospital Ministry, Alpha for Catholics, St. Mary Magdalen College, Tending the Talents Program, Clergy Fund Office, Holy Cross Family Ministries, Why Catholic Program, WINGs Ministry, Office of the Permanent Diaconate, Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity, Metropolitan Tribunal, Religious Life in the Archdiocese, Priestly Vocations Office, Catholic Near East Welfare Association, LifeTeen, Life Matters TV, Catholic Leadership Institute, Office of Pastoral Planning, Catholic Legacy Society, The Neocatechumenal Way, My Brother’s Keeper, and the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization (TINE) at St. John’s Seminary.

Msgr. Connie McRae, former pastor of St. Catherine’s in Norwood

Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen, Leaders of the Women in God’s Spirit (WINGs) Ministry

Fr. David Couturier discussed the changing face of parishes in the US and RCAB

Additional Interviews with Local & National Leaders – Msgr. Connie McRae, Fr. Richard Erikson, VG, Sr. Marian Batho, Fr. Jack Ahern, Deacon Dan Burns, Fr. Wayne Belschner, Fr. Kevin Sepe, Fr. Paul Soper, Fr. Steve Rock, Msgr. William Fay, Fr. John Sheridan, Deacon Jim Greer, Fr. Joseph Mozer, Jim Stenson, Fr. George Evans, Fr. Paul O’Brien, Fr. Ed Riley, Seth DeMoor & OneBillionStories.com, Andreas Widmer, Erika Bachiochi, John Monahan from CatholicTV’s “ClearVoice”, Fr. Joseph Fessio on Pope Benedict’s “Jesus of Nazareth” Book and Youth Catechism, Rocco Palmo from Whispers in the Loggia, Father Ryan Rooney and Father Michael Wood, Michael Miller / Acton Institute, Fr. Robert Reed, Fr. Jay Mello, Fr. Frank Pavone / Priests for Life, George Weigel on Blessed Pope John Paul II, Michael Coren, Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, Fr. Jay Finelli, Sr. Mary Corripio and Sr. Marietta Brown, Fr. Jerry Dorgan, Brian and Janet Benestad, Dr. Christian Smith, Joe Melendrez / Rosary Rap, Brandon Vogt / The Church and New Media, Artie Boyle, Fr. Peter Loro from South Sudan, Dr. John Garvey from Catholic University, and Supreme Knight Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus.

Fr. John Sheridan, pastor of St. James and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes in Salem

 Dr. Angela Franks from the Theological Institute for New Evangelization

Jim Stenson discusses what makes a Successful Catholic Father

Descriptions of Catholic Initiatives & Events – Catholics Come Home, Lenten Mission in Beverly, Worcester Catholic Men’s Conference, Eucharistic Congress, Mom’s Day Away Retreat, Hunger for Justice Retreat, Way of the Cross for Life, Parish Mission in Stoneham, Launch of “There Be Dragons” Movie, Catholic Family Festival, Beatification of Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day, and the Ordination to the Priesthood.

Fr. Paul Soper, pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish in Weymouth

Erika Bachiochi, Author of Women, Sex & The Church

Fr. Kevin Sepe, Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree

Expositions of Catholic teaching – Cardinal Seán’s Pastoral Letter on Evangelization, Successful Catholic Fathers, Cardinal Seán’s Ash Wednesday Homily, Sacrament of Confession, Catholic sexual ethics, Effectively catechizing the young, Cardinal Seán’s Chrism Mass Homily, The Easter Vigil, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, Pope Benedict’s Easter Message to the World, Marian Devotion, Call to Evangelization, Spiritual Direction, Media Evangelization, Sainthood and Religious Relics, Catholic Social Doctrine, Vatican II, School of Mary, Fatima Apparitions and Praying the Rosary.

Deacon Dan Burns, Director of Permanent Diaconate Formation

Sr. Marian Batho, Delegate for Religious

Fr. Wayne Belschner, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston

Catholic news – Every Thursday we discuss headlines from that week’s Pilot and Anchor.

Susan Abbott, Thursday co-host & Director of the Office of Religious Education

Jim and Terry Orcutt, founders of My Brother’s Keeper, and Jack Shaughnessy Sr.

Many people over the past few months have asked me what it has been like hosting a daily radio show. It’s been a blast and very helpful to me personally to be able to learn so much more about our great Catholic faith and to be inspired by the witness of the guests on our show. Our goal is that our listeners, after listening to a particular show, will consider it a smart choice and will want to tune into another episode. We try to ensure that each show is informative and fun.

I am blessed with 5 outstanding co-hosts. Fr. Chris O’Connor, Vice Rector of St. John’s Seminary, co-hosts every Tuesday. Fr. Matt Williams, Director of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults, joins me each Wednesday. Susan Abbott, Director of the Office of Religious Education, helps lead our discussion of the news each Thursday. Fr. Mark O’Connell, Judicial Vicar and leader of the Metropolitan Tribunal, co-hosts each Friday. And Fr. Chip Hines, Pastor of St. Mary Parish in Wrentham, fills in when one of the other co-hosts is away. Having a different co-host each day ensures that each show is fresh with a different set of insights, questions, and perspectives.

As of today, there have been 117 broadcasts of The Good Catholic Life since Ash Wednesday. We have had 151 guests, including 52 different priests. It has been a joy to hear how God works in these priests’ lives in different ways to point us all toward heaven and the love God has for each of us. While I’m a consistent on-air voice of the show, our behind-the-scenes team —  producer Rick Heil, webmaster Dom Bettinelli, photojournalist George Martell, Anna Johnson and Karla Goncalves — works very hard to make each show worth the investment of one hour of our listeners’ time.

Kiera Regan, a college student at Hofstra University and a member of St. Mary of the Hills Parish in Milton, interned with our Pilot New Media team this summer. As one of her projects, she produced the following “behind the scenes” video for our first 100 episodes.

We encourage you to tune in or listen to a recording. Thank you to everyone who has tuned in already and supported us through their emails, calls and prayers.

Thanks again to Cardinal Seán for allowing me an opportunity to share these reflections and this information. God bless you.

I want to begin this week calling your attention to the desperate situation facing the people of the Horn of Africa.

As USCCB president Archbishop Dolan, and Bishop Kicanas, the chairman of Catholic Relief Services, recently wrote in a letter urging dioceses to aid in the relief efforts: “Every day we are seeing more and more heartbreaking news about the drought and famine in Somalia and the eastern parts of Africa. We see millions of people being forced from their homes, leaving behind what meager possessions they had, and walking for days over rough terrain.”

In response to that request, I have authorized our parishes to take up a voluntary second collection at Masses, either this weekend or next weekend, to support Catholic Relief Services in their work to bring help to the people of the region. As an act of Christian solidarity and love, we must share our financial resources with those families and individuals who are in such desperate need.

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On Monday, at Regina Cleri we had a Eucharist with many of the priests and people from the diocese to honor Theresa McCallion, who has been working at Regina Cleri for 45 years!

There was also a reception and lunch afterwards with many wonderful testimonials about her service, her generosity and her devotion to the priests and the community at Regina Cleri.

I know I join everyone in congratulating Theresa and thanking her for her remarkable service to the Church.

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Later that day, back at the cathedral, we received a visit from Bishop Antony Pappusamy from Dindigul, India who is in the United States for mission appeals.

He brought me an orange shawl that is an Indian custom.

His is a rather new diocese, having only been established in 2003, but it is growing very quickly. He was anxious to tell me about the Church in India and the wonderful things that are happening there. He was also kind enough to invite me to visit him some day.

- – -

That evening I was happy to be visited by some Capuchin friends.

Father Moises and Father Emilio were parishioners of mine in Washington D.C. who eventually entered the Capuchins and whom I ordained.

Father Moises is originally from El Salvador, and he is now the pastor of Sacred Heart Shrine in Washington, on 16th Street. Many from Boston will know that church because we’ve had Mass there for the Boston groups going to the March for Life.

With Father Moises before the March for Life in 2010

It’s a wonderful parish that has three Masses in Spanish, one in Haitian Creole, one in Vietnamese, and one in English.

Father Emilio – whose father was with me in the Agrupación Catolica and who used to help in the dental clinic in the Centro Catolico – was a missionary for ten years in Papua New Guinea and is now in Cuba in the town of Manzanillo, near Santiago de Cuba. He’s been in Cuba now for five years and is very happy to be working there. He was home visiting the friars and his family.

Also visiting were Brother Richard and Brother Matthew who were in the area to attend a retreat at Enders Island in Connecticut.

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On Wednesday, we had lunch with the El Salvadoran Consul, José Edgardo Alemán Molina, who is from the same town in El Salvador as Father Moises: Santa Ana. In fact, they were neighbors there and even played on the same baseball team.

We have a very large population of Salvadorans here in the archdiocese. The Consul said there are about 80,000 Salvadorans here in New England.

The Consul gave me a very lovely card — sort of like a Holy Card —  commemorating Archbishop Oscar Romero.

On the back there’s a quote from a celebration that was held on January 16th of last year, at which the president of the Republic of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, made the following statement (I will translate the Spanish for you):

“In the name of the Salvadoran state, I ask forgiveness for the abhorrent crimes and violations of human rights during the armed conflict. May this forgiveness help to bring dignity to the victims, help to alleviate their pain and heal their wounds. May this gesture contribute to strengthen the peace, and further national unity can build a future of hope.”

It was a very dramatic admission of the participation of the Salvadoran government in the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero. I told the Consul that I was privileged to have known Monsignor Romero very well and spent a month with him in Puebla, Mexico and at other times had been in contact and visited him when he was in his diocese of San Salvador.

This was a very sad chapter in the history of the Church in El Salvador. It was during this same terrible time of conflict that Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke and Ita Ford and a lay missionary, Jean Donovan, were murdered.

Obviously the fact that the government would be able to ask for forgiveness and to look back at those terrible war years says a great deal about the progress of this towards reconciliation.

One of the great heroes of the peace process was El Salvadoran president José Napoleón Duarte, who was actually a classmate of my uncle’s at Notre Dame. Thanks to him and many others, the peace process came to fruition and democracy has been restored to El Salvador.

In fact, last Saturday’s Feast of the Transfiguration was the patronal feast of El Salvador: Cristo Divino Salvador del Mundo. It’s the only country in the world that’s named after Christ.

Salvadoran communities traditionally hold a huge celebration on that day and I used to organize one when I was in Washington. Of course, the largest one is in El Salvador.

Part of the celebration was carrying a statue of Christ standing on the top of a globe. He would be dressed as what they call “the Nazareno” in purple or red, with a crown of thorns. At one point the world opens up, the statue descends, and then it comes out again and Christ is transformed in white and radiant garments of the Transfiguration. It is a very dramatic and beautiful celebration for their patronal feast.

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Each year to mark the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, we have a gathering for priests at St. John’s Seminary with vespers and a cook-out.

This year there was a reflection given by Monsignor Peter Conley on the priesthood. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be present to hear the remarks by Monsignor Conley, but I understand they were very well-received.

He spoke on his 47 years of priesthood and the changes that have occurred in rectory life, in the liturgy, and other areas. He had some funny stories of course, but also spoke on the sorrows that he faced. And apparently, he had some interesting Cardinal Cushing anecdotes as well! But he concluded with the constants of a priestly life that are still true today: discipleship to the Lord, faithfulness to prayer, and the different dimensions of love.

The event is always very well attended and this year, because they’re working on the murals in the chapel, we actually celebrated the vespers in the refectory and then went out in the courtyard for the evening meal.

We are very grateful to the seminary for hosting us. It’s always a grand event and we had beautiful weather (despite the threat of a storm that passed just south of us)!

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I also want to note that yesterday was the feast of St. Clare of Assisi. Of course, St. Clare was a friend of St. Francis of Assisi who was inspired by his preaching and by his radical way of following Jesus and the foundress of the Poor Clares.

We are blessed to have two Poor Clare communities in the archdiocese in Jamaica Plain and Andover.

St. Clare is also the patroness of television and so we pray through her intercession that our ministry over the air waves will help bring more people to know the Lord and rejoice in his love!

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Finally, I want to let you know that tonight I will be leaving for World Youth Day in Madrid, the theme of which is: “Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith.”

All told, we have around 500 pilgrims from the archdiocese who will be participating in this year’s World Youth Day. Many of them will also be leaving for Spain in these days.

Please pray for us as we begin this important pilgrimage to be together with the Holy Father.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you when I return!

Cardinal Seán

I want to begin this week expressing my concern over new regulations released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

As part of the new federal health care reform law, all health plans will be required to fully cover certain preventative health services for women. The goal, on the surface, seems laudable. Unfortunately, the government has seen fit to include oral contraceptives, surgical sterilizations and so-called “morning-after” pills, which can cause abortions, among “preventive” services — as if pregnancy was a disease to be cured rather than the gift of new life. Obviously, this is not morally acceptable to Catholics.

The regulations do provide a conscience exemption for religious organizations, however, the criteria is so narrow that it could result in many Catholic institutions — such as schools, hospitals and Catholic charities — being forced to either cover these objectionable drugs and procedures or radically change the nature of their mission.

This, once again, points to the need for Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which has been introduced by Representatives Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska and Dan Boren of Oklahoma.

Cardinal DiNardo, as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, recently spoke out on this issue and sent a letter to all the members of Congress, urging them to move the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act forward.

I urge all Catholics, and all those who respect the right of people to live according to their faith, to become educated on this issue and contact their U.S. Representative and let them know you support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act.

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On Friday, I left for Denver for the Knights of Columbus annual Supreme Convention, where I spent much of the week. Before the convention started, however, I was happy to be able to catch up with family, friends and the local Capuchin communities.

Father John Lager, one of our Capuchin friars, picked me up at the airport and that day I was able to visit with Father Jim Goggins and Dorothy Leonard, who had been a student of mine back in 1970!

I was glad to also spend time with some of the O’Malley clan in the area. My brother Ted and his wife Sue live near Denver, and I was able to see some of the family and we had dinner.

I also went to visit the friars at St. Francis Friary in Denver. Their friary is very near the Capuchin Poor Clare Nuns, whom I also went to visit.

They have a lovely community there. It serves as a foundation for the Mexican communities, where we have many Capuchin sisters.

The sisters will be celebrating their patronal feast — the Feast of St. Clare — on August 11. I was happy to be able to spend some time visiting with their community and they assured me of their prayers for me and for the Archdiocese of Boston. We are certainly very grateful for that.

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Then, on Sunday I concelebrated the Mass with Archbishop Charles Chaput at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

He was celebrating a special Mass for those who were going to participate in World Youth Day.

It was a beautiful event and, at the end of the Mass, the archbishop gave them a special blessing. Then afterwards I had dinner with Archbishop Chaput and Father Lager.

With Father Lager and Archbishop Chaput

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During the week, I also met up with the delegation of Knights of Columbus from Boston. There were about 57 of them who came to participate in the Supreme Convention. Three of our auxiliary bishops from Boston were there with us: Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Bishop Peter Uglietto, and Bishop Robert Hennessey. As I mentioned in my post last week, Bishop Hennessey is now the state chaplain for the Knights in Massachusetts.

Tuesday was the opening Mass of the convention, celebrated by Archbishop Chaput with 11 Cardinals and about 70 bishops as concelebrants. The theme of the convention was “So That The World May Know New Hope.”

There was a luncheon after the Mass at which Supreme Knight Carl Anderson introduced a film. It is going to come out in a few months and was given some support by the Knights of Columbus.

The film is called “Cristiada” and it stars Peter O’Toole and Andy Garcia. It is the story of the Cristero War in Mexico, which was an uprising of Catholics trying to defend the Church against the fierce persecution of the 1920’s.

Many people reading this blog will be acquainted with Graham Greene’s book “The Power and the Glory.” Graham Green went to Mexico after his conversion to report on the situation of the Church there. Out of his investigations, he wrote that beautiful book about the last priest in the province of Tabasco.

“Cristiada” is set in the same era in Mexican history; it was an era of many martyrdoms for the faith. The film centers on a couple of those martyrs who were members of the Knights of Columbus.

In addition to the preview of the film, they also showed us an interview with Andy Garcia, who gave a very interesting witness talk. He himself is Cuban and a Catholic, and he alluded to the persecution of the Church in his own country and how he identified with the themes of this film.

The theme of the film, of course, is religious liberty. In today’s world that is still very important for us, as we see that the great tolerance, which is always touted as such an American ideal, does not always extend to those who have religious convictions and faith. This movie will hopefully be a helpful tool in underscoring the importance of religious freedom and the great price that so many people have paid to live and defend our faith.

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Of the business sessions of the convention, the most important part is always the Annual Report by the Supreme Knight. Carl Anderson, who is certainly a great gift to the Church and the order of the Knight of Columbus — a man of great faith and talent and very articulate in expressing the faith of the Catholic Church — gave a very uplifting and positive report about the many accomplishments of the Knights of Columbus, which now has 1.8 million members throughout the world.

This past year he said The Knights of Columbus have contributed on the order of $155,000,000 and millions of volunteer hours to charitable works.

One example of these works highlighted at the convention was Healing Haiti’s Children, a program which aims to supply prosthetic limbs for every Haitian child who suffered amputation as a result of the earthquake in Haiti.

The Haitian national amputee soccer team, Team Zaryen, were there to highlight work of the program.

This year, they also announced four new initiatives. One is a program preparing local Knights councils to bring aid and support to communities that have suffered a natural disaster or other emergency.

They are also beginning an initiative to help the 15 million AIDS orphans in Africa. The Knights will be collaborating with the religious order called the Apostles of Jesus. The superior of that community was able to be present with us at the convention.

The third is a program to support our troops by offering a scholarship for seminarians who are willing to serve as military chaplains once they are ordained.

And, finally, the Supreme Knight announced they are going to purchase the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington D.C. and establish a shrine and museum to the late Holy Father.

Since it is very near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Catholic University of America, it will be a wonderful venue for this kind of initiative — one that will allow people to express their faith and devotion, and also to become more acquainted with the message and the teachings of Blessed John Paul II.

The Knights also talked about the councils that they have in the military, meeting over in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The young men who formed the color guard that brought in the flags were Air Force cadets and members of the council at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Of course, we’re very happy that our local campuses in Boston are beginning to get more councils formed for the Knights of Columbus.

We are very proud of the wonderful work that the Knights of Columbus do in our own archdiocese and we were delighted that so many were able to be part of the Supreme Convention. It’s always a sacrifice and an expense for delegates and their wives to be present, but it is so important for us to show our solidarity and support for this wonderful organization.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

We were all very saddened by the news that Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, passed away Wednesday night at John Hopkins University Hospital from complications following lung surgery.

We were very shocked by the news, particularly given the fact that he was with us just a matter of weeks ago in Boston for the fundraising event of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, at which he was honored.

With Archbishop Sambi in May

At that moment, he was full of life, health and enthusiasm and gave a very beautiful and moving speech. No one at that time ever would have suspected that his life’s journey was approaching such a sudden end.

We commend him to God’s merciful love and providence and thank the Lord for the gift that his life has been to his family, his Church, and to all the people he has served as a priest and bishop.

- – -

This week we were able to transfer the body of Cardinal William O’Connell from a mausoleum on the top of a hill at the Brighton campus of Boston College to the quadrangle at St. John’s Seminary where he has been reinterred.

The former burial place is just up the hill from the seminary

Bishop Arthur Kennedy, the rector of the seminary, officiated at the ceremony. Once the new monument is completed, I will celebrate the Mass at the seminary for the rededication of his tomb.

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Last Wednesday I met the leadership team of the State Court of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. 

We had a nice talk and State Regent Connie Pagan updated me on a number of initiatives the Daughters are undertaking.

State Regent Connie Pagan

Every year the Daughters make a substantial contribution for the pro-life activities of the archdiocese through their Pennies for the Unborn program. This year they were able to double last year’s amount, presenting me with a check for $20,000.

Marianne Luthin, the director of our Pro-life Office, and Father Kevin O’Leary, who is their state chaplain, were also present there. We were able to thank the women for this very significant gift and assure them that it will be put to very good use, to support the pro-life ministry of the archdiocese.

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On Sunday, I went to a state gathering of the Knights of Columbus. They had a banquet to honor Bishop Dan Reilly, who is retiring as their state chaplain. He is the Bishop Emeritus of Worcester and has been in the Knights for about 50 years. He is probably the only person who has ever been the state chaplain in three different states — he has been the chaplain in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Bishop Reilly

Since his retirement, Bishop Reilly has remained very active in his ministry and has made a wonderful contribution to the Knights of Columbus– with his larger than life personality, joy, enthusiasm and great love for the Church and his vocation, which he brings to everything he does.

He is going to be succeeded by Bishop Robert Hennessey. Bishop Hennessey said in his remarks that the easiest thing in the world is to replace a lousy pastor who nobody likes, and the hardest thing is to replace a beloved man who is very effective. He said that’s the situation that he’s finding himself in!

Bishop Hennessey

It was a very large group that gathered to pay tribute to Bishop Reilly. I think there must have been about 300-400 people and there was representation from Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well. There were also letters read from the bishops who were not able to be there and from Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. So the Knights were very well represented.

Also during the evening, they named Father Richard Mehm of Immaculate Conception in Malden, Chaplain of the Year.

Father Charles Connolly, Bishop Reilly, Bishop Hennessey and Father Mehm

I couldn’t help but think that it was wonderful they could pull together that kind of an event just a week before their National Supreme Convention.

I will be attending the convention with a number of our Boston bishops, including Bishop Hennessey and Bishop Kennedy.

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Also this week, I was visited by several Capuchins who were working at the Steubenville East Conference, which was celebrated this year in Providence. This is one of the Franciscan University of Steubenville summer conferences for youth.

I was visited by the Guardian of Capuchin College in Washington D.C., along with a number of the student friars who were all part of the Steubenville East Conference. The friars came to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for a Holy Hour, dinner and brief visit.

Bishop Bill Fey, who was in the seminary with me, is home on leave and is also staying with me at the Cathedral. As you may remember from one of my posts, he was ordained last year as Bishop of Kimbe, which is an island off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Bishop Fey is a Newman scholar who taught at Oxford University before going to the missions. He is here to attend a conference on Blessed Cardinal Newman that is being held at St. Anselm College.

With Bishop Fey and Father Robert McCreary from Washington, who is also visiting and helping us with some projects

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On Tuesday, I went to Methuen to visit Holy Family Hospital, which is part of the Caritas system, for the dedication of a new emergency room.

I was invited to the ribbon cutting for the new facility.

It is beautiful and state of the art, much along the fashion of the new emergency care center they constructed at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. This is a great blessing for the people in the area and will assure they get the highest level of care.

Of course, one of the things that has allowed us to do this, is the investment that Steward Health Care has made in the Caritas system. Just recently, it was announced that Saints Medical Center in Lowell is becoming part of Steward Health Care.

We are all very enthused about the benefits this can have for Saints Medical Center and that they are committed to maintaining their Catholic identity.

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Earlier this week, we received a call telling us that Patriarche Cardinal Antonios Naguib, the Catholic Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, was visiting the Coptic Catholic community in Worcester and wanted to pay a visit. So we invited him to dinner Tuesday night at the Cathedral and gave him a tour.

I had met the cardinal in Rome on a number of occasions, but it was fascinating to have this opportunity to sit down and hear from him directly about what is happening in Egypt, particularly with the Arab Spring and its implications for the Christian community.

The Coptic Orthodox are about a tenth of the population of about 10 million. The Coptic Catholics, in contrast, are very few, with about 200,000 members. Although they are a small community, their influence and presence — because of Catholic schools and hospitals —are very important there.

It was very interesting to hear his comments on the history of the Church in Egypt. I did not realize that when the Muslims and Arabs arrived, Egypt was an entirely Christian country. And the irony is that the word “Copt” simply means “Egyptian.” So, in many ways, the Christians there are the original “Egyptians.”

During his visit I also mentioned to the cardinal that we have the Ge’ez Rite community that celebrates at the Cathedral, because I knew they share a historical connection. The Coptic and Ge’ez Churches are both part of the Alexandrian Rite and they share the Liturgy of St. Mark, though they celebrate in different languages.

He explained that this is because it was missionaries from Alexandria who brought Christianity to East Africa in the early centuries of the Church.

- – -

Finally, on Wednesday I was very happy to visit with the children in the summer program run by the Missionaries of Charity and treat them to a pizza lunch.

I had a question and answer period with them and sang songs with them at the convent of the sisters of Blessed Mother Theresa.

The children were very enthusiastic and lively. The sisters run that program each summer and it’s always a great event!

Until next week

Cardinal Seán

This week we learned about the appointment of Denver’s Archbishop Chaput as the next Archbishop of Philadelphia.

The news of his appointment is a source of tremendous hope and joy for me, and I wish to assure him of my prayers and the prayers of the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Boston. Archbishop Chaput and I were classmates together in the seminary. We Capuchins are very proud of the outstanding ministry of this great friar.

Our Holy Father is wise in choosing Archbishop Chaput to become the ninth Archbishop of Philadelphia. He brings with him many skills and talents that will be put to good use in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The people and the clergy of Philadelphia have suffered greatly throughout these past few difficult months. Their new Archbishop is a patient man who will work very hard to bring healing and strength to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. On behalf of the clergy and the faithful of the Archdiocese of Boston, I pledge our prayerful support for Archbishop Chaput and for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as they welcome their new shepherd.

- – -

Also this week I was very sad to hear of the passing of Myra Kraft.

Myra was a strong advocate for serving the less fortunate and, together with her husband Robert, they have been great supporters of worthy organizations like Catholic Charities. Her dedication and commitment to serving those in need and her willingness to enlist others in that important work will be greatly missed. We ask God to provide comfort to Robert and their family during their time of sorrow. We pray for Myra and give thanks for her life. May her memory be for a blessing.

- – -

I also wish to share with you an update on the progress of the Archdiocese’s annual Catholic Appeal that was sent to all of our parishes this week.  For all who have contributed to the Appeal, please know of my gratitude, and we hope that those who are considering a contribution will find this message helpful.

Earlier this year, in March, we launched our annual Catholic Appeal, “Offering Hope by Sharing God’s Gifts,” a critical fundraising effort that makes it possible for us to provide 60 vital programs that serve the more than 1.6 million Catholics across our Archdiocese.

Thus far 40,000 individuals and families have given to the Appeal and we have raised over $10.4 million, which is on target with our efforts last year at this time. We are grateful for the support from pastors and their parishioners who took the lead in promoting the Appeal at the parish level.

There are many signs of hope and renewal in our local Church. Your gift to the Catholic Appeal will help us to build on this positive momentum. Your contribution enables us to nourish and comfort the faithful, to support young people at pivotal moments in their lives; and embrace those who have been profoundly affected by life-altering circumstances. We can all be proud of the extraordinary programs and services offered by the Archdiocese. It is a blessing that we are able to share these ministries with our brothers and sisters in Christ in their time of need.

On behalf of all those who benefit from the central ministries throughout the Archdiocese of Boston, I am grateful for your commitment to live the Gospel message and share your gifts generously with those who need it most. Your support of the annual Catholic Appeal will make a significant difference in our ability to carry out the mission given us by Jesus Christ.

May God continue to bless you and all your loved ones with His abundant graces.

- – -

Now, on to the events of my week.

On Saturday I was in Natick for the ordination of a new transitional deacon. Eric Bennett, one of our seminarians who is studying in Rome, asked to be ordained in the archdiocese rather than in Rome.

Often times the seminarians who live at the Pontifical North American College in Rome are ordained as a class there. But as he was going to be home, and to facilitate the participation of his family, we decided to do it during the summer.

So we had the celebration at St. Patrick’s in Natick on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Eric has a very large family with seven brothers and sisters and twenty nephews and nieces. In fact, he was going to be baptizing the newest member of the family over that weekend!

There were many priests who were able to participate and, of course, Bishop Arthur Kennedy, the Rector of St. John’s Seminary concelebrated. One of Eric’s classmates from the Anglicum in Rome — a deacon of the Diocese of Armagh, Northern Ireland — also attended and was the deacon at the Mass.

Father Brian Kiely, the pastor of St. Patrick’s, as always was very gracious in hosting us and his choir did a fantastic job.

It was a beautiful celebration and Eric will be ordained a priest next summer with his classmates from St. John’s, Blessed John XIII and Redemptoris Mater seminaries.

- – -

Later that day, Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Father Jack Ahern and I had lunch with Archbishop Cyril Bustros of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Archbishop Bustros has been the Archbishop of the Melkites in the United States until his election by the Greek Melkite Synod and appointment by the Holy Father as the new Archbishop of Beirut.

With Bishop Kennedy, Archbishop Bustros, Father Rabbat and Father Ahern

While Boston is the local See for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, the Eparchy of Newton is the See for the Melkite diocese.

We had a little farewell lunch for him at their headquarters at Annunciation Cathedral in Roslindale.

The newly appointed bishop for the Melkites here will be Bishop Nicholas Samra, who will be installed in the next few weeks. We are grateful for Archbishop Bustro’s service and he’s always been very close to the archdiocese. We know that being the Archbishop of Beirut will be a challenging task and we pledge our prayers and support to him as he begins his new ministry there.

Also at the lunch we learned that Father Robert Rabbat, who is the rector of the cathedral, has also been named the bishop of the Eparchy of St. Michael of Sydney, Australia.

- – -

On Sunday morning, I paid a visit to the Trappistine Sisters of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham.

I celebrated Mass for the sisters and then afterwards we had a breakfast and we had a dialogue.

They have a large community, it looked like there were about 50 sisters there, I think with three novices and three postulants.

They gave me a tour of their new candy factory and I blessed it for them.

They also showed me their new gift shop/bookstore that they will be opening. Father Kevin Hunt their chaplain was with us; he’s a Trappist monk from St. Joseph’s Abbey, who lives in Wrentham.

The sisters have just built a large new building to expand their candy business. In the Cistercian tradition, they are to support themselves by their work. So, traditionally, the abbeys and monasteries were on large farms or they made such things as beer, jelly or vestments. The sisters in Wrentham make chocolate — and wonderful chocolate at that!

It is such a blessing for us in the archdiocese that we have five communities of contemplative sisters: two of the Poor Clares, two of the Carmelites, and the Trappistines. The Trappistine community, being the largest, therefore has the greatest financial need and the way they address it is by making their chocolate.

If you can’t make it to Wrentham and you would like to taste some their wonderful confections yourself, you can even order them online. In this way, you can also support their community life.

I encourage you to try them.  You won’t be disappointed!

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Later that day I met with Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong. He had said Mass for our Chinese community at St. James in the morning and in the afternoon he met with me.

The cardinal has been visiting Chinese communities in the States and in Canada. He has also been meeting with cardinals and bishops in different parts of the country to update us on what is happening in China, where the tension between the government and the Church continues to grow as the government has insisted on ordaining bishops without authorization from the Vatican.

Afterwards, we had dinner with the Archbishop Emeritus of New Orleans Al Hughes, Msgr. McRae and Msgr. Frank Kelley from the North American College.

Before he left Boston, Cardinal Zen also visited the Pastoral Center on Monday, where he celebrated the daily Mass and met with our staff of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

The Pilot printed a story on his visit that I want to share with you.

- – -

On Monday, I met with Deacon Patrick Moynihan, who is president of The Haitian Project. He came to fill me in on what is happening there. His report was hopeful and he thinks there is progress that’s taking place.

He’s been running a wonderful school down in Haiti and has been very helpful to the bishops. He has been helping us to identify and acquire land so that the new seminary and other Catholic institutions, such as schools and parishes, can be built.

- – -

I also met with Father Kuriakose Vadana, pastor of our Syro-Malabar parish in Framingham. He is moving on to a new assignment and came to say goodbye.

It was wonderful to meet with him and we wish Father all the best in new assignment.

- – -

Also on Monday, I met members of the Sacred Heart Apostolate.

They are going to have a world conference on the Sacred Heart in Paray-le-Monial in France. They spoke with me about the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart and encouraged that devotion.

- – -

On Wednesday, I was visited by a Franciscan sister, Sister Leonora de Stefano, who has recently been stationed in Boston. She was the secretary of Bishop Luigi Padovese, a Capuchin bishop who was murdered in Turkey last year.

Bishop Padovese was the president of the bishop’s conference in Turkey and Sister had worked with him for many, many years.

She brought me a book about him, its sort of a Festschrift with writings about him, his own writings, and writings in his honor.

She also brought a recording of his, a variety of international traditional songs he recorded for friends. In light of his murder, they have a new value that speaks of his humanity and love for God and all peoples.

- – -

Finally, last week Kathleen Menendez, an old friend from Washington, sent me a picture of my Cursillo that I made when I was a young brother. This was the seventh Cursillo that was given in the Washington D.C. area. And it was in the days before the Cursillo was taught in English; it was only offered in Spanish.

In my recent Pastoral letter on Evangelization, I recalled my own experience with Cursillo:

“… as a seminarian 44 years ago I experienced the power of a Cursillo retreat. It was in Spanish in Washington D.C. with a collection of Argentine soldiers, undocumented Salvadoran refugees, Cubans, and some Puerto Rican restaurant workers. The weekend forged us into a fraternity, a community of friends, fellow disciples on fire with our love for Christ and our desire to make Him known, loved and served. At the end of the Cursillo weekend, the Rector gave me a Cross and said "Cristo cuenta contigo." And we answered, "Y yo con Su gracia." Christ is counting on us. With Christ, with each other and with his grace, we can do it. It strengthened my vocation to the priesthood and helped me understand the need to look for the lost sheep.

So, here is the photo. See if you can pick me out!

Until next week

- Cardinal Seán

As I mentioned in last week’s post (and regular readers will recall), typically this time of year I ask one or two of our newly ordained priests to share their experiences with you as they begin their ministry.

This week, I have asked Father Carlos Suarez, whom I ordained in May, to offer his reelections. I hope you find his story as interesting and inspiring as I did!

- Cardinal Seán

- – -

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. – Jeremiah 1:5

As I reflect back upon nearly two months of life as a priest, I’m struck by how well it fits. I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life other than serving Christ and His Church as a priest. This strikes me in a particular way, because I spent so many years trying to turn away from this vocation.

I was born in El Paso, Texas. I realized very early on, around the age of 6, that God was calling me to be a priest. At the time, this translated mostly into coming home from Mass on Sundays, putting on my bathrobe, making an “altar” with the couch cushions and “celebrating Mass” for my grandmother and whoever else might be around.

However, as I grew up, and as I began to think up other plans for myself, God’s invitation began to feel like a burden. I began to push God away and to insist that as great as the idea was, there must be someone out there more suited to serving Him as a priest. It wasn’t that I doubted my abilities, but rather I had convinced myself that my plans were better than what God had in store for me.

My family moved to Massachusetts in 1989, and in 1992 I entered Boston Latin School. During most of my middle school and high school years I continued to put God’s invitation as far away from my mind as possible. I also let my relationship with the Church suffer. Then, towards the end of high school, things started to change. I vividly remember one night during junior year where I was struck by the urge to pray. I began to pray the Our Father, but I couldn’t remember how to finish it. I tried in English, and I tried in Spanish, but it just wasn’t coming to mind. This experience helped me realize how far I had turned from God, and how much I desired His presence in my life. A few weeks later I was wandering around the Prudential Center while waiting for some friends. It was on this day that I discovered St. Francis Chapel. It was through this chapel, and the Oblates of the Virgin Mary that staff it, that I began to come back to an active faith life.

By the time I graduated high school I was back on the right path. I began my studies at Boston University in the fall of 1999, and I immediately became involved in the Catholic Center. The Catholic Center became the center of my social life on campus, and with the help of the campus ministers and my peers I continued to move towards a fuller and more mature embrace of my Catholic faith.

By the spring semester of my freshman year God’s call had come back to the forefront. That January I saw an announcement for the Come and See weekend. I decided to attend, and my decision was confirmed a few weeks later when my mother came to BU for Mass and pointed out the retreat announcement to me in the bulletin. I happily told her I had already signed up. That retreat was a fateful occasion, because as I entered the seminary grounds I was struck by a very strong feeling of “coming home”, of being where I belonged.

After the retreat ended I resolved to take more concrete steps in embracing my vocation. I began praying parts of the Liturgy of the Hours, and I began meeting with a spiritual director. Around this time I was also introduced to Most Holy Trinity Monastery, a Maronite monastery in Petersham, Mass. I enjoyed the silence and solitude I found there, as well as the beauty of the Maronite liturgy.

I’ve continued to make frequent visits there. I find that silence is a key element in creating the space necessary to hear God’s voice.

As I became more serious about my vocation I was strongly drawn towards religious life, I explored a wide array of religious orders, but I felt particularly inclined towards the Salesians. I’ve always enjoyed working with young people, and the Salesians seemed to be a good fit. However, God made it clear that He was calling me to serve Him as a diocesan priest. After graduating from BU, I worked for two years and then I began my studies at St. John’s Seminary in 2005.

The first semester of seminary felt like it lasted about three years. I had to adjust to the schedule, the academics, and the community. However, as I truly allowed myself to enter into the formation, it started to fit more and more and I began to experience that peace which comes from following God’s will. It seems that the more I felt this sense of peace and joy, the quicker the time passed by.

I was ordained a deacon on January 22, 2011. In God’s strange sense of timing, my grandmother, the one for whom I had “celebrated Mass” as a child, died the day before my diaconal ordination. Her funeral Mass was the first Mass I served as a deacon.

Although the beginning of my time as a deacon was bittersweet, the rest of the time was joyful. During my months as a deacon I had to strike the balance between entering fully into the ministry of the diaconate and also making preparations for my priestly ordination.

My priestly ordination on May 21, 2011 is one of the greatest moments of my life. I was blessed in the days that followed the ordination to offer Masses of thanksgiving in places which have been important in my life including my home parish, St. Joseph-St. Lazarus in East Boston, and Marsh Chapel at Boston University.

I’ve been assigned to three parishes in Brockton, St. Edith Stein, Christ the King, and Our Lady of Lourdes. I’ve been here for about six weeks now, and it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Each day brings new blessings through the celebration of Mass and encountering the people of God in other sacramental moments, whether through the sacrament of reconciliation, or the anointing of the sick.

One thing which remains very close to my heart is working with youth. In the long term I hope to help foster a solid youth program at these parishes, and in the short term I’m really looking forward to being one of the estimated 20,000 priests attending World Youth Day in Madrid!

God has truly blessed me through my vocation, and I pray that my work will be a blessing to others. If there is anyone reading this who feels they might have a vocation to the priesthood I would echo the words of Christ which were a favorite quote of Blessed John Paul II, “Do not be afraid!” By running away from the vocation God is calling you to; you are only running from the great and abundant happiness which He has prepared for you.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe Fourth of July.  I think it was particularly nice that the holiday fell on a Monday this year, which provided folks with a long holiday weekend and, hopefully, more time to spend with family and loved ones.

As I normally do this time of year, I have asked invited guest writers to share their experiences with you. This week, I’ve have asked Father Michael Harrington to tell us about his important work in our Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity and, next week, Father Carlos Suarez will offer his reflections as a newly ordained priest.

- Cardinal Seán

- – -

Hello my name is Fr. Michael Harrington. I am a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and Director of the Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity. His eminence, Cardinal Sean, has asked me to share a little about the work and activity we are involved in from this office. Since I read the Cardinal’s blog every week, it is a special honor and a blessing to share this information with you over the Net.

The Mission of the Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity is to help and support the diocesan offices, parishes and ethnic communities so that every person’s dignity is respected, the immigrant is welcomed as a brother or sister, and all humanity under God forms a united family which knows how to appreciate with discernment the different cultures which comprise it.

We endeavor to model and promote under the leadership of Cardinal Sean a collaborative ministry with the multi-cultural communities of the Archdiocese as an effective vehicle for carrying out the mission of the Catholic Church. We seek to welcome, serve and integrate the different cultural and ethnic communities into the full life of the Archdiocese.

The Office is comprised of many components. We have twenty-seven ethnic apostolates within the Archdiocese including Brazilians, Vietnamese, Haitians, Ugandans, Kenyans, Chinese, Cape Verdeans, Polish, Koreans, and Filipinos, to name just a few. Under the umbrella of Cultural Diversity, we also have an Office for Black Catholics directed by Lorna Desroses, an Office of the Deaf Apostolate directed by Fr. Jeremy St. Martin and Fr. Shawn Carey and an Office for Persons with Disabilities directed by Karen Murray. Let me note that here in the Archdiocese we have the largest population the world over of Brazilians outside of Brazil and the largest population of Ugandans outside of Uganda.

We work to provide priests and lay leaders to meet the pastoral and sacramental needs of our communities which you can imagine is not always easy as Mass is celebrated in over twenty languages each week in the Archdiocese. All together, we are blessed to have an active and vibrant multi-cultural ministry within the Archdiocese. Furthermore, we are blessed to have the leadership and support of Cardinal Sean who has a great love for all of these communities. I have been in this office for only a year and I cannot count the number of times where people have approached me and asked me to thank the Cardinal for his pastoral care.

As I began my work in this office, I wanted to go out and attend as many events in the communities that I could. I wanted to see firsthand the life and diversity of the communities of the Archdiocese. I began to visit two or three communities every weekend including many of their feast days, pilgrimages and anniversaries.

Each week I was blown away by the energy, exuberance and vitality. I was drawn ever more into the love of our Universal Church.

Chinese Community on Easter Sunday

Cape Verdean Marian Procession

African American MLK Celebration

Brazilian Community Pilgrimage

Vietnamese Community First Communion

One of the most surprising aspects of my work with the various communities was to see not only the number of youth involved in their apostolate but to experience how well organized they were for mission. For instance, I attended the Open House for the Korean Young Adult Group called Unitas and was elated to see over 100 young adults show up.

Korean Young Adult Group Unitas

Many of our Ethnic communities have active youth and young adult groups that have prayer groups, drama troupes, dance and song ensembles and much more.

Brazilian Young Adult Group from St. Tarcisius in Framingham

One of the goals of this past year was to call more young people into leadership from these communities. We formed the Cultural Diversity Young Adult Council. The council has met monthly over the past six months and everyone has been deeply enriched by these meetings.

Young Adult Council Meeting

Young Adult Council Retreat

The Fruit of these meetings has not only been the sharing of ideas and best practices from their communities but also a multi-cultural young adult retreat for the leaders and a Catholic Family Festival which had over 1400 people in attendance and united people from over thirty countries.

Family Festival – Polish Choir

Family Festival – Cape Verdean Community

Family Festival – Nigerian Choir

Family Festival – Mass with Cardinal Sean

I have shared with you above a few of the new and exciting things that have happened in the Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity during the past year. The space provided here would not even begin to tell you how enriched I have become over this time. However, there is so much more work that needs to be done if we are truly to become the welcoming community that God has called us to be. A few of our parishes are still in need of pastoral resources that would allow them to flourish. Meeting these needs well takes time and is often quite complex. In addition, we have to strive to break down any fears that would stagnate our ethnic communities. The USCCB stated some of these concerns in its document Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Our Diversity when it said,

Competition for resources and recognition among the ethnic groups of the parish often centers on specifics such as Mass times, the use of facilities, and the attention of priests; but such conflicts can reflect vague fears that one group will somehow displace a long-established one. Established parishioners, used to thinking of their parish practices and religious traditions as the norm, may cling to their control over the parish council or "prime" Sunday Mass times. They may find themselves increasingly a minority and may react with fear to protect the parish where they were raised and where they saw their children baptized and educated in the faith. African American Catholics, who have their own history of having been excluded and discriminated against in the larger Church, as in society in general, now face newcomers in many of their parishes, newcomers who threaten their hold on the few institutions where they have come to feel at home. In some cases, multiple immigrant groups compete with one another within a single parish. In other cases, immigrant clergy struggle with their bishop or pastor for control over the finances of an immigrant group or for final authority over the congregation. While such competition can be destructive of community life, the issues involved are often real, and they require wisdom, much charity, and careful mediation to reach solutions that respect the legitimate concerns of all sides.

With this in mind, one of our goals for this fall and the new year is to develop an Enculturation program for priests from foreign countries to become acclimated here in the United States to American rectory living and pastoral practices in the parish. In addition, we are putting together workshops that would help pastors, parochial vicars , deacons and the lay faithful who are welcoming an immigrant community into their midst to understand the needs of the community and that they need not fear change.

I am most grateful to Cardinal Sean for the opportunity to share with you just a few of the things happening in the Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity.

May God Bless you!

This week we are very pleased at the announcement that Cardinal Angelo Scola from Venice has been named the Archbishop of Milan which is one of the largest dioceses in the world. Cardinal Scola has been a friend of mine since he was a priest. Blog readers will remember that when I visited Venice I stayed at his home with him.

He is a very dear friend and I am very pleased the H oly Father has called upon him to this very important ministry and I know he will give a great service to the Church in Milan. His participation in Communion and Liberation will also be a great source of encouragement to all the new ecclesial communities in the Church.

Cardinal Scola recently hosted the Holy Father on a gondola tour of Venice.

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And now, to the events of this week

Last Wednesday we attended the annual Order of Malta dinner for senior priests at the Boston College Club. Jack Joyce and Jim O’Connor of the Knights have organized this wonderful meal for our senior priests. They always bring in bagpipes and Bob Crane and the Treasury Notes sing all the oldies but goodies.

The BC Club has a spectacular view of the city of Boston. Many of our priests have studied at Boston College of course, so it’s a very grand event for them.

A couple of our priests added their voices to the Treasury Notes including Father Richard Fitzgerald pastor of St. Paul’s in Wellesley. The closing prayer was led by Msgr. Paul McManus who is celebrating the 75^th anniversary of his graduation from BC! He has been a priest for 69 years, ordained in 1942.

- – -

On Saturday, I attended the Family Conference which was organized by the Office of Ethnic Ministries. It took place on the grounds of Malden Catholic High School with representatives from the various ethnic groups from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe who make up our local Catholic community. It was a magnificent event.

During the event, many groups perform dances and singing from their respective countries

At the beginning of Mass there was a procession with the flags of all the different countries.

An African group processed in with the lectionary with the traditional ceremony that used when a king comes into their village. It is a very moving and beautiful experience.

The Haitian choir from St. Angela’s in Mattapan sang the Mass parts in Latin four voice and then many other choirs sang the other songs.

There were many priests from the Cape Verdean, Brazilian, Haitian, Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese apostolates who were all part of this very extraordinary manifestation of the catholicity of the Church and of our local Catholic Church in Boston.

Father Mike Harrington was very much involved in organizing the event and Lorna DesRoses and her staff were very much involved in the preparations.

The event gave us an opportunity to publicly acknowledge the priests who are working in our ethnic apostolates and who come from all these various countries. Without their invaluable ministry we would not be able to serve these growing immigrant communities in the archdiocese.

- – -

On Sunday we celebrated the Marriage Anniversary Mass at the cathedral.

We had over 200 couples celebrating their 2 5^th, 50^th, and 60^th wedding anniversaries. It was also the solemnity of Corpus Christi so in my homily I tried to connect the Sacrament of Marriage with the Sacrament of the Eucharist which is the sacrament of love where Christ has made a gift of Himself to us, so giving us the strength to be able to make the gift of ourselves. This is precisely what happens in the sacrament of marriage.

I also cited the sad statistic that it has been announced this year that less than 50% of the households in the United States are comprised of married couples, so it is very important for us to celebrate marriage and the witness of love of the married couples who have embraced this vocation and whose lives are an invitation to others to seek and to embrace the vocation of becoming married people and the parents of children.

During the Mass over 200 couples renewed their wedding vows. Kari Collela and her husband Steve, together with their staff, organized all of this. This gives us an opportunity to recognize the wonderful work that is being done by so many volunteers in the Pre-Cana and other marriage preparation programs of the archdiocese.

- – -

That evening, I participated at the Cardinal’s Leadership Circle gathering at the home of Rich and Helene Monaghan in Hingham.

It was a great gathering of people who are friends and benefactors of the archdiocese.

I spoke about the training programs for the seminarians, the deacons and the lay ministers. On the same day the Globe had an article about Sister Olga so I also referred to that article during my remarks.

Father Hehir spoke about Campus Ministry and reaching out to our youth and young adults.

Rich Monaghan echoed Father Hehir’s words on the importance of communicating and engaging our young people. He also thanked and encouraged all to support our works.

Father Mozer and Lyn Shields share some thoughts

Guests drove to the event in golf carts piloted by the Monaghan kids
which added to the festivity

Sharing a story with Claire and John Bertucci
and Damien DeVasto from our staff

Chatting with Linda and Jay Hooley

Here with the Vieth, Rielly, Murray and Joy couples, who are parishioners from St. Paul’s in Hingham

I am always happy to express appreciation and share our initiatives with our friends and supporters.

- – -

On Wednesday,  Father Chris Marino of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Miami passed though Boston with his mother and the principal of his school. They visited the Pastoral Center and then came to see me at the cathedral. I’ve known him for over 30 years and he is a good friend of mine. It was his first trip to Boston and he was very impressed both with the Pastoral Center and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

- – -

I was also happy to meet with Santiago Enrique, one of the children of our Pilot editor, who recently came back from spending time in Shanghai as part of his studies at Mass Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay.

While in China, Santiago went on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of She Shan near Shanghai  and brought me back a beautiful replica of the statue that stands on top of the shrine.

A view of the Basiilica

You can see the statue standing on top of the church

He shared with me his experience in China and his love for the Chinese people.

- – -

On Wednesday evening, the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, I presided over a Holy Hour celebrating the 60th anniversary of ordination of the Holy Father at the cathedral. We have asked parishes throughout the archdiocese to offer prayers for the Holy Father on this joyful occasion.

I also sent a letter to the Holy Father on behalf of the Catholics in the Archdiocese in which I tell him we are praying for him particularly in this time that the Germans call the “Ablass Woche” which is a week of indulgences leading to Corpus Christi. I told him that during this time the Catholics in the archdiocese would be praying for him and also praying for vocations.

- – -

Also on Wednesday,  we continued our tradition with the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of inviting each other to the celebrations of Saints Peter and Paul and Saint Andrew.

Saints Peter and Paul, celebrated on June 29, are the Patron Saints of Rome, and Saint Andrew is the Patron Saint of the Greek Orthodox mother church, Constantinople. This year we hosted the event through at St. Joseph Parish in Needham and their pastor, Father David Michael together with Bishop Edyvean represented me and welcomed Father John Panteleimon Manoussakis, who represented Metropolitan Methodios at the event.

When we welcome each other to these celebrations, we emulate on the local level what is happening simultaneously half a world away: on June 29 the Holy Father in Rome also welcomes a delegation of Orthodox Christians from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. And on November 29 the Ecumenical Patriarch reciprocates. As the Holy Father said to the representatives a few days ago, “Your participation in this our feast day, like the presence of our own representatives in Constantinople for the Feast of the Apostle Andrew, is an expression of the friendship and the authentic fraternity which unites the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, bonds which are solidly rooted in the faith received from the witness of the Apostles.”

Pope Benedict XVI embraces Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
of Constantinople in 2008.

Let us pray that the Lord may grant us the gift of full communion with our Orthodox brothers and sisters.

Until next week

In Christ

Cardinal Seán

I want to start this week’s posting by sharing a statement printed in this week’s Pilot that clarifies some media reports on the recent developments at St. Cecilia’s Church in Boston. Unfortunately, many sources are saying the archdiocese is allowing the celebration of a rescheduled “Gay Pride Mass” in that church.

The philosophical and political agenda of Gay Pride in relation to marriage and sexual morality is incompatible with the Church’s teachings. For that reason, Father Unni rescheduled a Mass of welcome for all his parishioners to a time that would not associate the Mass with the Gay Pride agenda.
I realize that Catholics who have same-sex attractions are often criticized by their friends for coming to Mass and that the parents and friends of homosexual members of our Church are distressed that their loved ones feel rejected by their Church. We want all baptized Catholics to come to Mass and be part of our community, but we cannot compromise the teaching of the Church rooted in Scripture and tradition.
We hope that all Catholics will come to experience the love of Christ in our community and that in that love they will find the courage and strength to embrace the cross that is part of the life of discipleship.
It is regrettable that there has been so much confusion about this matter. I hope the statement on my blog of last week and The Pilot editorial "A teachable moment" will help people to understand the Church’s teaching. We must be a community that reflects both the love and the truth of the Gospel.

- – -

Last week I went to Puerto Rico, and I met with Archbishop Roberto González, the archbishop of San Juan; Bishop Camilo Gonzalez, the bishop of La Vega in the Dominican Republic; and Bishop Lazaro Martinez, the bishop of Ponce.

We celebrated the ordination of one of our Capuchin brothers, Friar German Quinones, in the church of his home town of Guanica, which is in the Diocese of Ponce.

The ordination took place at the local parish, Parroquia de  San Antonio Abad

- – -

After my return to Boston, on Monday I went to Temple Sinai synagogue in Marblehead, at the the invitation of Rabbi Reb Aaron Fine and the director of their adult education program, George Gammel.

They had asked me to give a talk on the theme of “Tikkun Olam.” This is the Hebrew expression for “repairing the world,” the social doctrine in the Jewish community. The tenets of “Tikkun Olam” are the obligation to work, to perform the works of mercy, to make ours a more just society, and to serve the poor. It is tantamount to our Catholic social Gospel.

The synagogue was filled with members from that congregation, some neighboring congregations, as well as from Catholic parishes in the area. I was also very pleased that Father David Michael could be with us. He does such wonderful work with interfaith issues on behalf of the Archdiocese and is a key liaison with the Jewish Community .

Each year, I typically receive at least one invitation to speak at a synagogue, and I’m always gratified. The people are always gracious and it is clear they are anxious to have a close relationship with the Catholic Church.

The Jewish Journal wrote an article on the visit and posted this video in YouTube that I want to share with you.

- – -

On Tuesday, I joined our seminarians for their annual retreat. Every year between the end of the school year and before the beginning of the summer, we have a retreat that brings together the Boston seminarians who are studying in different seminaries.

We had some men from Blessed John XXIII, St. John’s Seminary, Redemptoris Mater, and also those currently studying outside the archdiocese at Providence College and at the North American College in Rome.

I celebrated Mass for them and then I gave them an opening talk at lunch. The rest of the conferences were given by Father Brian Flatley.

We have a wonderful group of men. I was also very happy that some of the new men who have just been accepted into the seminary for September, were able to participate in the retreat with us.

- – -

After my time with the seminarians, I returned to the Pastoral Center and met with a wonderful group of people who have been working on the preparations of the Clergy Funds dinner.

This is one of the newest but largest fundraising events of the year, which we will be having in September. The dinner supports our fund for senior priests that provides support for them after a life devoted to serving God’s people.

We had Mass and, afterwards, a reception.

At the reception I was happy to have a chance to speak to Doug and Joanie Kingsley who are co-chairs of the dinner. They were there with three of their four sons: Max, Scott, and Doug.

I am very grateful for the work of the entire group who are working on behalf of our senior priests.

- – -

On Wednesday, we celebrated the anniversaries of the professions of our religious brothers.

This year three were in  attendance: Brother Lorenzo from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who celebrated 60 years of religious life, Brother Joe from the Brotherhood of Hope, who is a chaplain at Northeastern, and Brother John, who is a Marist. Brother Joe and Brother John are both celebrating 25 years.

After the Mass we had a luncheon for them with some members of their respective communities.

- – -

I want to end this week reminding everyone of a very special event that will take place next week.

On Wednesday, June 29, the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, we will be celebrating the 60^th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s presbyteral ordination. To mark the joyful occasion we will be having a Holy Hour at the cathedral from 7 to 8 p.m. to pray for the Holy Father, the sanctification of priests and for priestly vocations within the Archdiocese.

The Holy Father has been such a great gift to the Church, with his ability to teach the faith with such clarity and to inspire people by his gentleness and deep faith.

If you can, please join us at the cathedral for this event.

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

Some say that the Catholic Church hates people with same-sex attractions. This is not true. In fact, if there are any members of the Church who hate people because of their sexual orientation, they need to go to confession. But it is true that the Church exists to announce the Gospel and invite people to conversion, to greater discipline in their lives as they seek to follow Christ’s teachings, which apply to everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation.

As Catholics, we must oppose the hatred and rejection of homosexual persons that exists in our society. We do not want them to be the object of discrimination or violence. We believe, however, that God’s law is written in our hearts and that to lead a fully human life we need to embrace His commandments. This is not always easy, we all struggle and sometimes we fail; but a loving and forgiving God is always there to lift us up and help us start over again.

The Church opposes changing the definition of marriage because to do so would weaken one of the oldest and most sacred institutions of human society. The most recent Census revealed that married households are, for the first time, in the minority in our country. The culture of easy divorce, cohabitation and the redefinition of marriage are all threats to strong family life. For this reason, the Church will always defend traditional marriage. This does not mean that we reject anyone. During the heat of the debate on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts I wrote a letter to explain the Church’s position and would like to share that letter with you again today.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Church’s efforts to defend the institution of marriage has been interpreted by some as an indication of the Church’s hostility toward homosexual persons. The way that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts framed the issue is unfavorable to Catholics or others who do not oppose anyone, but rather support an institution which is the cornerstone of society.

Right from the beginning of this controversy I have called on all Catholics to rally behind the cause of marriage. It is encouraging that a number of Catholics who are homosexuals have expressed to me their conviction that marriage between a man and a woman is important for children and therefore for society.

The Church’s position is not based on an animus against people with a homosexual orientation. Each and every member of the Church is called to holiness regardless of their sexual orientation. The Church has often warned against defining people by their sexual orientation in a way that diminishes their humanity. Each person is a mystery, an irreplaceable treasure, precious in God’s eye. We are God’s creatures and in baptism we are His sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to one another.

The extreme individualism of our age is undermining the common good and fractionalizing the community. The Church wishes to call people to unity based on mutual respect and a commitment to the common good. We do not want Catholics who have a homosexual orientation to feel unwelcomed in the Catholic Church. We remind them that they are bound to us by their baptism and are called to live a life of holiness. Many homosexual persons in our Church lead holy lives and make an outstanding contribution to the life of the Church by their service, generosity and the sharing of their spiritual gifts.

We must strive to eradicate prejudices against people with a homosexual orientation. At the same time the Church must minister to all people by challenging them to obey God’s commands, the roadmap for a meaningful human life that allows us to draw near to God and to one another.

In the Gospel when the self-righteous Pharisees bring the adulteress to be stoned, Jesus says let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Then to make sure they got the point Jesus wrote their sins on the ground. The stones fell from their hands and they fled. Jesus said: “Neither do I condemn you”, but He added, “Go and sin no more.”

If we tell people that sex outside of marriage is not a sin, we are deceiving people. If they believe this untruth, a life of virtue becomes all but impossible. Jesus teaches that discipleship implies taking up the cross each day and following Him with love and courage.

It is never easy to deliver a message that calls people to make sacrifices or to do difficult things. Sometimes people want to punish the messenger. For this reason we priests at times find it difficult to articulate the Church’s teaching on sexual morality. We must never deliver the message in a self-righteous way, but rather with compassion and humility. It is important to express the moral teachings of the Church with clarity and fidelity. The Church must be Church. We must teach the truths of the Gospel in season and out of season. These recent times seem to us like it is “out of season,” but for that very reason it is even more urgent to teach the hard words of the Gospel today.

We know that friends and relatives of homosexual Catholics sometimes feel torn between their allegiance to Christ and their concern for their loved ones. I assure them that these goals are not incompatible. As Catholics we profess a firm belief in the dignity of each person and in the eternal destiny to which God calls us. Calling people to embrace the cross of discipleship, to live the commandments and at the same time assuring them that we love them as brothers and sisters can be difficult. Sometimes we are told: “If you do not accept my behavior, you do not love me.” In reality we must communicate the exact opposite: “Because we love you, we cannot accept your behavior.”

God made us to be happy forever. That true and lasting happiness is accessible only by a path of conversion. Each of us has our own struggles in responding to the call to discipleship and holiness. We are not alone. Christ promised to be with us and has given us His Church and Sacraments to help us on the road.

At every Mass we pray that beautiful prayer before the sign of peace: “Lord, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom.” May God grant us that grace of peace and unity.

Devotedly yours in Christ,

Seán P. O’Malley

Archbishop of Boston

- – -

Each year a bishop from Uganda comes to celebrate the Feast of the Ugandan Martyrs at the beginning of June in Waltham. This year it was Bishop Callistus Rubaramira of the diocese of Kabale.

On Tuesday, I was pleased to be able to have dinner with Bishop Rubaramira.

- – -

Last Wednesday, I was able to spend some time with our parish Pastoral Associates who were holding their meeting at our Pastoral Center.

I was happy to have the chance to address them and thank them for the very important work that they perform in our parishes.

It was also an opportunity for me to speak a little bit about my recent Pastoral Letter on Evangelization and the need to continue the initiative of Catholics Come Home in the parishes.

I am grateful to Sister Pat Boyle and to Father David Couturier who were instrumental in providing such an enriching program for them at the Pastoral Center.

We also want to express our thanks to Mary Peterson, a pastoral associate from St. Brigid and Sacred Heart Parishes in Lexington, who worked so hard to prepare the meeting.

- – -

The next day I attended our yearly Presbyteral Convocation held at Lombardo’s in Randolph.

This is always a wonderful opportunity for our priests to come together for a day of fraternity, enrichment and community prayer.

Each year we like to present the men with a talk or workshop that will help enrich their priestly lives or ministries. This year, we heard a series of presentations by Msgr. Jim Moroney on the upcoming changes to the English translation of the Roman Missal.

Msgr. Moroney’s talks were excellent and it was a great success. A number of the priests told me they found it very, very profitable.

He had magnificent Power Point presentations to accompany his talks, into which he incorporated the spirituality and theology of the liturgy along side his explanations of the new translations.

It was very, very well-done and we had over 300 priests there and they had a wonderful experience.

It was a great blessing to have our newly ordained priests there, as well as a few of our military chaplains, including Father Robert Monagle and Father Red Raux, who were able to be back to participate in the day with us.

- – -

On Friday I celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation for some of the inmates at the MCI- Concord.

Deacon Jim Greer, who heads up our prison ministry, assisted at the Mass.

Also with us were the two lay Catechists who prepared the inmates for confirmation. They have been going to the prison there for years and are doing a wonderful job.

It’s a great joy, and to be able to have confirmations in the Pentecost season is so meaningful.

Something I thought was very interesting was this bulletin distributed in the prison by the Order of Malta.

It contains a great deal of information such as spiritual reflections, the Mass readings for the season and information on prayers such as the Stations of the cross.

- – -

On Saturday, I had lunch with the Guild of St. Luke, an organization of Catholic physicians here in the Archdiocese, at the Algonquin Club of Boston.

Dr. Gerald Corcoran and Dr. Helen Jackson organized the event, which included a number of medical students.

It was a wonderful experience and we look forward to the Guild’s annual White Mass in the fall.

- – -

I also had the honor of meeting with the President of Cape Verde, Pedro Pires, who paid us a visit at the Cathedral on Saturday. It is the second time that I have met him, the last time was during a visit he made to the States several years ago. He was accompanied by his wife, the ambassador, and the consul general.

President Pires recently completed ten years in office and he wanted to visit the Cape Verdean community in America once more.

We discussed the activities and presence of the Cape Verdean community here in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and also spoke about the Church in Cape Verde. There is a very close collaboration between the Church and the whole community there. The president is knowledgeable about the Church and he was anxious to share some of his thoughts.

- – -

For the feast of Pentecost, I was pleased to be able to celebrate Confirmations at the Cathedral for the Brazilian Community in the archdiocese.

In all, there were about 200 being confirmed. It was a very joyful and spirit-filled celebration. Father Eduardo Marques, the coordinator for the Brazilian Apostolate, concelebrated with me and the cathedral was filled.

We are also so grateful to Sister Elisete Sigmor who does so much in the Brazilian Apostolate.

- – -

On Monday, I visited with the Sloane family at the headquarters of Century Bank. Marshall and Barbara Sloane were great hosts and it was my pleasure to meet many of the workers there.

With Barry, Barbara and Marshall Sloane

I chuckled when we drove into the parking lot and saw they had a big electric sign that said “Welcome Cardinal Seán O’Malley.”

They had a lunch and they invited all of their workers to go to lunch and to meet the archbishop. The Sloanes have been very supportive of the archdiocese and I was happy to be able to accept their invitation.

With Marshall and Barbara Sloane, Linda Sloane Kay, Paul Evangelista and Brian Feeney

- – -

On Tuesday I announced to our Pastoral Center Staff that Msgr. Robert Deeley will succeed Father Richard Erikson as our new Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia on September 1.

Msgr. Deeley

First of all, I would like to say how very grateful we are to Fr. Rich for the five years of extraordinary service that he gave to the people of the archdiocese as Vicar General — times of so many challenges and difficulties. Yet, he carried out his responsibilities with such grace and a priestly spirit.

Fr. Erikson

He is now going to take a sabbatical in Rome at the North American College. He told us at the staff meeting that he has only spent three days in Rome in his life, so it will be a wonderful opportunity for him to experience the sense of Christendom there, the universality of the Church, and the Holy Father’s ministry. I know he is looking forward to it.

Of course, we are also grateful to Msgr. Deeley who has accepted to step into this responsibility in September when Father Rich leaves. Msgr. Deeley has very generously served in Rome at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, but I know that he will be very happy to return to Boston.

- – -

I would also like to express a word of congratulations to Archbishop Cyrille Bustros who was just named the Metropolitan of Beirut and Jbeil, Lebanon. I would like to assure him of my prayers as he begins his new responsibilities in Beirut.

I would also like to congratulate Bishop Nicholas Samra who will succeed him as the new Eparch of Newton.

- – -

And finally, if we are giving out congratulations, perhaps no one is more deserving than our own Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins!

As some of you may have heard, I placed a friendly wager on the championship with Archbishop Miller of Vancouver. I am pleased to report that Archbishop Miller has already sent his donation to Catholic Charities of Boston along with the following letter:

Dear Cardinal Sean:

While I’d prefer this were under happier circumstances for the City of Vancouver, I’m very pleased to send this cheque for $100 to be used for the needs of Catholic Charities of Boston.

The important work of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Boston is well known, and I pray this donation will advance your efforts in some small way.

Meanwhile, I hope the friendly nature of our competition serves as an example to our fair cities in the healing of physical and emotional bruises accumulated during competition. Sports are an opportunity to bring people together in good-natured rivalry, and we look forward to meeting again next year!

Be assured of my fraternal affection and prayers.

+J. Michael Miller

Archbishop of Vancouver

Again, congratulations to the entire Bruins organization for a well earned victory!

Until next week,

Cardinal Seán

This week I published a pastoral letter, A New Pentecost: Inviting All To Follow Jesus on evangelization. I am issuing this letter to coincide with the great Feast of Pentecost, which marks the beginning of the Church’s apostolic missionary outreach after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.

It is a way for us to emphasize the fact that the Catholics Come Home initiative is not just about the television commercials, but urging all the members of the Catholic community into the missionary endeavor of evangelization, to be a welcoming and inviting Church and to spread the Gospel in a very purposeful way.

I encourage you all to read this important pastoral letter, which I am including at the end of this post.

- – -

Once again Boston is connected to the process of canonization, as we were in the process of St. Edith Stein and Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. Last week, we opened the cause of sainthood here in the archdiocese for Father Joseph Muzquiz.

Father Muzquiz was a close collaborator with the founder of Opus Dei, St. Jose Maria Escriva, and was instrumental in bringing the ministry of Opus Dei to several places in the Americas, including the United States.

During his life Father Muzquiz travelled a great deal, but he spent his final years in Boston and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury.

We pray that the inspiration of his life and holiness will have an impact on the lives of the people here in Boston who knew of him and were beneficiaries of his ministry. We look forward to hearing more about the process as it goes forward.

- – -

On Thursday I went to Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy Lower Mills Campus where Peter and Carolyn Lynch received the school’s annual Founder’s Award.

With Peter and Carolyn Lynch and Jack and Eileen Connors, who present the Founder’s Award

Also during the evening the Yawkey Foundation Teaching Award was presented to five teachers: Kathleen Duggan, Lisa Warshafsky, Kathleen Shaughnessey, Linda Roach and Mary Swanton.

I am sure all the teachers are doing great things, but that evening we had the chance to witness the extraordinary work Mary Swanton is doing first hand as the choir and musical director. As part of the program one group of children sang and another had their violins.

This is just one indication of the great progress they have made in introducing many cultural aspects to the education of Pope John Paul II Academy.

Carolyn and Peter Lynch have raised over a 100 million dollars for scholarships for inner-city school children and their commitment to Catholic education has been of an extraordinary benefit to the Catholics of the Archdiocese. We’re very grateful to them and very pleased that they were given the Founders Award.

- – -

On Friday I went to Merrimack College to attend the Mystical Body Mystical Voice liturgy conference that explained upcoming changes in the English translation of the Roman Missal. Everyone was pleased with the event that was very well-attended.

The speakers, Father Douglas Martis and Christopher Carstens, got very high marks for their talks!

I was at the mid-day prayer celebration and addressed the group and thanked them for being teachers of prayer in their parishes. I underscored what an important opportunity this is for all of us to reintroduce Catholic people to the centrality of the Sunday Eucharist in our lives.

- – -

On Saturday morning we had the funeral Mass for Father Jim Lyons at St. Francis Parish in Dracut. Father Michael Lawlor gave a beautiful homily.

Father Lyons was a very beloved priest of the Archdiocese and the outpouring of affection toward him was very evident. A number of people were there, relatives and former parishioners, and many of his fellow priests.

I did take a picture of the window there, because we were within the Pentecost Novena and I was struck by the beauty of it.

- – -

Then in the afternoon there was a confirmation ceremony in the Extraordinary Form at the Cathedral. They were parishioners from the cathedral, as well as from St. Adelaide’s. In all, there were about 20 confirmed.

In the Extraordinary Form, confirmation is not celebrated within the Mass, so it was celebrated before they had their regular Mass.

When I was confirmed, we had benediction rather than a Mass. Our confirmations were traditionally held in the evenings and, since the eucharistic fast was observed from midnight on, you didn’t want have the children fasting all day.

But they did a Mass following the confirmation ceremony that Father Raymond Van De Moortell celebrated. He often helps out with the Mass at the cathedral with the Extraordinary Form. The choir did an outstanding job with the music both for the confirmation ceremony and the Mass itself.

It was a very lovely celebration.

- – -

Also on Saturday I visited Sancta Maria House, a shelter for women very close by the Cathedral, which has been there almost 40 years. It was Mary McHale and other members of the Legion of Mary who founded the house. It’s supported entirely by private donations, they get no public funds.

Each year, they serve to about 3,000 homeless women. They are also very active in working to get people off the streets and helping them to find jobs.

They have a beautiful home there for the women, the put something like 14 women up for the night. They supply them with clothes and toiletries. And they have volunteers that come in each night and come spend the night, supervising the house.

Many of the women who have gone through the program of Sancta Maria have returned as volunteers and very supportive of the program there.

It’s a very beautiful work inspired by the Legion of Mary. The Legion of Mary is a very important lay movement founded in Ireland by Frank Duff. When I was growing up it had big influence on my own life and I was very happy to visit Sancta Maria House and bless the house and the garden and to pray with them the Legion of Mary prayers.

- – -

On Sunday I went to St. John the Evangelist Parish in Canton for their 50^th anniversary, and I celebrated Mass there with Father Michael F. McLellan.

- – -

This year was the 35^th Anniversary of St. Elizabeth’s Comprehensive Addiction Program (known as SECAP) at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. So I was pleased to be able to attend the celebration marking the occasion on Tuesday.

During the program, State Senator Steve Tolman gave a very inspiring address.

I was also pleased to see the new president of St. Elizabeth’s, John Polanowicz, there.

Deirdre Houtmeyers and Dr. Barbara Herbert are very involved with this program that been providing care for people with alcohol and drug addictions for so many years.

Congratulations to all those involved with the SECAP program. Clearly a great number of lives have been changed for the better, and some surely saved, because of your important work.

- – -

On Tuesday, I attended an ecumenical gathering at Boston University for the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, prior to the Episcopal City Mission’s Annual Meeting.

The gathering was hosted by the local Episcopal Bishop Thomas Shaw and two of his suffragan bishops, Bishop Bud Cederholm and Bishop Gayle Harris.

Among the many people there to meet Bishop Jefferts Schori were Bishop Margaret Payne of New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Dr. Mary Elizabeth Moore, who is dean of the BU School of Theology; and Rev. Jack Johnson and Rev. Joel Anderle of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.

I also invited Bishop Arthur Kennedy to accompany me to the gathering. Bishop Kennedy is a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue. In fact, he recently returned from a meeting of the dialogue at an ecumenical monastery in Bose in the north of Italy, so I was very happy that he was able to be present.

- – -

At the Boston College club there was a farewell dinner for Monsignor Cornelius McRae who is taking on a new post as spiritual director at Casa Santa Maria, which is the graduate house for the North American College in Rome. He had worked in Rome before and will be a very important addition to their staff. Many bishops have expressed their gratitude for our willingness to send Monsignor McRae there.

There he will work with another former rector of Blessed Pope John seminary, Monsignor Francis Kelley. We wish him many blessings and happiness and good health in this new ministry which is important contribution to the life of the Church.

- – -

On Wednesday morning, I met with Father Bob Monagle who is a chaplain in the Air Force and a Boston priest, who has been deployed a number of times and is now going to be stationed in a military base in Turkey.

I was very pleased to have a chance to see him and hear a little bit about his ministry

- – -

At noon, I celebrated the 25^th anniversary Mass for some of our jubilarian priests here at the Pastoral Center.

Bishop Christopher Coyne, recently installed as the auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, is a member of that class, as well.

It is always important for us to mark these anniversaries to express our gratitude for the faithful service of these priests. These 13 priests represent 325 years of service, thousands of Masses, thousands of people’s lives touched by their ministry. It is also a call to a greater appreciation and gratitude for the gift of the priesthood that allows the ministry of the Good Shepherd to be visible in a very striking way.

Congratulations to all our jubilarians!

- – -

Finally, in the afternoon, I met with a group of doctors, researchers and parish representatives working on a new program called CRUZA to promote cancer screening and awareness in the Latino community through the parishes.

CRUZA is a partnership of the Gaston Institute of UMass Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Center.

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Latinos, yet many in the immigrant community don’t receive the important information and screening they need to help prevent this.

The idea behind CRUZA is to bring education programs to people though the churches, which for many immigrants, is the center of community life.

It was wonderful to meet the representatives of this organization and hear about their plans and we look forward to working with them.

- – -

Finally, as I mentioned, I conclude this post with the text of my Pastoral Letter, A New Pentecost: Inviting All To Follow Jesus. 

A blessed Pentecost to you all!

A New Pentecost: Inviting All To Follow Jesus

Pastoral Letter on Evangelization

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap.

June 12, 2011 – Pentecost Sunday

Dearly beloved in Christ,

Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church because it is the day the members of Christ’s Church were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to boldly proclaim the Gospel, which means Good News. [i] Three thousand were baptized on Pentecost. From that day forward, the followers of Jesus began to fulfill the command to make disciples of all nations, through baptism and apostolic work. Without Pentecost, the Christ event would have remained imprisoned in history. Pentecost is the moment of empowering. The disciples are called to live in Christ’s Spirit and do His works. We are called to do so ourselves today.

1. Pentecost: The Beginning of the Church’s Evangelization Outreach

Pentecost is born out of an intense experience of prayer in union with Mary and with Peter. The experience of Pentecost is one of unity and joy that transcends all ethnic and linguistic differences and is an expression of God’s universal love.

We remember particularly how the disciples were gathered in fear and confusion as they hid in the Upper Room. At that moment, they lacked a sense of outward mission and purpose. Christ then sent the Holy Spirit to them and a great transformation occurred.

The disciples were transformed. Courage replaced fear, as eleven of the twelve Apostles would ultimately die a martyr’s death. Understanding replaced confusion, and they gained a deep sense of purpose: they realized their experience of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection was truly Good News and it needed to be shared. Their focus turned outward toward all those they were called to evangelize. They never returned to the Upper Room again!

The disciples began living the Church’s Great Commission from Christ: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” [ii] The early Christians were conscious of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit as the source of holiness, gifts of grace, and apostolic zeal.

2. The New Evangelization & Our Catholics Come Home Initiative

There are over one billion Catholics in the world today and we are indebted to the first disciples, and those who followed them, for handing on the faith to each subsequent generation, sometimes in very challenging circumstances and often at the cost of their own lives. We are entrusted today with that same Great Commission the first disciples received.

The day of Pentecost was the first outreach. Through the New Evangelization that Blessed John Paul II called the Church to embrace, we are reaching out again to those who have drifted away from the Church. Like the original disciples, we too rely on the power and grace of the Holy Spirit for our efforts. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized this mission during his Apostolic Journey to the United States in 2008 when he called for “a new Pentecost for the Church in America” during his homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. [iii]

In that homily, Pope Benedict commented on the stained glass windows. When we look at them from outside, the Holy Father said, they seem dark and dreary, but inside the church the windows are splendid with light and color, and a beauty that teaches the mysteries of faith. One can only really appreciate the beauty of the Church from the inside. The Church is a gift to mankind, which has been brought into being according to the eternal plan of God. Her mission is to continue Christ’s work of salvation. The Church is at the service of our authentic freedom by opening a window onto God and the eternal. The Church takes us beyond the limitations of this world; it points to the depths of God’s love for us. We must never tire of inviting people to come into the Church, to discover the beauty and light inside. Part of our mission is to build up the body of Christ, the Church, by being an inviting and welcoming community.

We are conscious of the fact that many Catholics here in the Archdiocese of Boston do not join us regularly for the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist. Much like the disciples on that first Pentecost, we see friends and relatives who are not deeply connected with our Church family. For that reason, I initiated the Catholics Come Home outreach effort this past Lent. The central element of this initiative was the broadcasting of inspiring television messages about the roots of our faith, the power of Christ’s forgiveness and the peace and joy that comes from a return to worshipping together. Pastors are reporting that individuals are returning to Mass and the sacraments after seeing these commercials. We are encouraged by pastors who have been sharing that many people are inquiring about entering the Church through RCIA or returning to the Church. God’s grace is allowing our initiative to bear fruit.

Yet, as beautiful and effective as the televised messages are, they make up only a part of what must become a sustained campaign of outreach and welcome. During the Lenten season, parishes across the archdiocese undertook strategies to invite and welcome Catholics back. Greeters were stationed at the doors of churches at Sunday Masses, priests made themselves more available for Confession, posters and banners welcomed people who were new or returning, and pastors sent letters to parishioners who had been away. Practicing Catholics were encouraged to share with their relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers the many ways that their faith enriches their lives. I am very grateful for these efforts, especially because they have served to reinvigorate the faith of parishioners throughout our parishes.

We are now in the post-television phase of this campaign, but we cannot relax our efforts to invite and welcome people back. In the same spirit of confidence and optimism that characterized this Lenten initiative, I ask you to continue to pray for those who are away from the Church, that their hearts may be opened to respond positively to our invitation. Continue to invite them to return home, reminding them that God has placed a longing for Him in their hearts and explaining that the community of faith suffers from their absence. Through one-on-one and parish-based initiatives, continue to listen to their questions and concerns and to ease their feeling of estrangement, born of years, maybe even decades, away from the life of the Church. Please share with them your own story of living the faith.

3. Evangelization Starts with Each Catholic’s Ongoing Conversion

We can only share what we have received. In preparing to evangelize, we are called to conversion, which means continually to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ individually and as a Church. The Good News nurtures us, makes us grow, and renews us in holiness as God’s people.[iv]

Conversion is ongoing in the hearts of believers and it consists in knowing not just about Jesus, but in actually knowing Jesus. It comes about through the power of the Holy Spirit who gives us the grace to invite Jesus into our lives, to put on the mind of Christ by rejecting sin, and to accept the call to be ever more faithful disciples of Christ in the Church. It is a fruit that comes from prayerful dialogue with Christ our Redeemer. Unless we undergo such a conversion, we have not truly accepted the Gospel.[v]

We know that people experience conversion in many ways. Some experience a “sudden, shattering insight that brings rapid transformation. Some experience a gradual growth over many years. Others undergo conversion as they take part in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults — the usual way adults become members of the Church today. Many experience conversion through the ordinary relationships of family and friends. Others have experienced it through the formation received from Catholic schools and religious education programs. Still others have experienced ongoing conversion in renewals, ecumenical encounters, retreats, parish missions, or through some of the great spiritual movements that have blessed Church life today.”[vi]

Personal conversion for each of us will involve different steps depending on our relationship to Jesus and his Church. “For those who practice and live our Catholic faith, it is a call to ongoing growth and renewed conversion. For those who have accepted it only in name, it is a call to re-evangelization. For those who have stopped practicing our faith, it is a call to reconciliation. For children, it is a call to be formed into disciples through the family’s faith life and religious education. For other Christians, it is an invitation to know the fullness of our message. For those who have no faith, it is an invitation to know Christ Jesus and thus experience a change to new life with Christ and his Church.”[vii]

One college student who entered the Church this Easter gave a beautiful testimony of her own conversion. “I have grown to recognize God’s presence in all people and all things, and I consistently find myself joyfully surprised by the action of His grace in my life and in the larger world. God’s light has infused and informed my perspective so deeply that I cannot fathom a life without it, and through my entrance into the Catholic Church, I hope to live my life as one unbroken gaze upon the face of God, and respond to our universal call to holiness.”[viii] This young woman’s encounter with the Gospel left her with a different vision of what life is and a new paradigm for how to live it. Her faith, well-nurtured, lively and deep, will make her a great witness to the truth of the Gospel. By her testimony, she is already a great evangelizer!

4. The Primary Mission of Our Church

Evangelization must be the first focus of our Church. Then, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which result from living and sharing the Gospel, will transform the culture around us. We have the mission “to repair the world,” what the Jews call Tikkun olam.

Evangelization includes working for justice and caring for the material needs of others. In a scene from the Epic commercial prepared for our Catholics Come Home campaign in Boston, the pastor of a suburban parish is shown handing food to a homeless man sitting on the steps of a church. The scene reminds us that the work of sharing the Gospel message places very practical demands on us. There is a direct consequence of witnessing to Christ our Savior and seeking justice. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers with regard to their basic human needs and the protection of their dignity; if we really love Christ, we will help them. [ix]

The scene in Epic has allegorical meaning as well. It reminds us that so many in our archdiocese are starving for spiritual food. They seek longingly for hope and meaning — in their families, their work, their social and political lives — just as the hungry seek for bread. They may be traveling past our churches; indeed, they may be sitting just outside the doors. All we need to do is reach out to them with a word or gesture to assure them that we want to ease their spiritual and physical need.

Within the Archdiocese of Boston, we have many excellent ministries focused on practicing the corporal works of mercy (those that care for bodily and material needs). Parishioners are very involved in feeding the hungry, providing clothes and shelter, visiting the sick and prisoners. This is an inspiring part of how we witness to living our Catholic faith and it is why we are involved in Catholic Charities, Saint Vincent de Paul, Catholic Relief Services, health care, orphanages, meal centers, food pantries, shelters and cemeteries.

I pray that each of us in our Catholic community will also practice the spiritual works of mercy (those that care for the soul) with as much fervor. Together as one Catholic family, we can do more to teach the uninformed, counsel the doubtful, help people turn from sinful to virtuous behavior, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses willingly, comfort the afflicted and pray for the living and the dead. Evangelization is a central way we incorporate the spiritual works of mercy into our lives and the activities of our parishes.

5. The Meaning of Evangelization

Evangelization involves handing on the faith to our own families; in other words, becoming mentors in this way of life to a new generation of disciples. As Saint Paul reminds us with passion, we are all called to be “ambassadors of Christ.”[x]

I hope, through our efforts, that together we will restore the word “evangelization” to its proper meaning. It means simply to share the Gospel, the Good News, through word and deed. That is why the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are called “Evangelists.”

Over time the word “evangelization” has developed negative connotations for some and been misunderstood to be an aggressive or manipulative form of proselytism. Catholic evangelization is never proselytism. Evangelization always seeks to propose our faith and never to impose it. It is always respectful of human dignity and authentic freedom.

The Church exists to evangelize, to share the Good News with all people. We are called to do many things in the Church, but our primary mandate given by Jesus and powered by the Holy Spirit is to evangelize. Correspondingly, every Catholic is asked to make it his or her own responsibility to reach out and encourage others to join with us in Christ’s family, the Church.

There are three ways to evangelize. We witness, which is the simple living of our faith through our good actions and virtuous deeds. We share our faith in an explicit way, typically by describing how God is working in our lives. We invite others to experience Christ’s saving love by walking with us in our Catholic Church.

Evangelization is most effective when actions come first. It is said that Saint Francis of Assisi often taught the friars to “preach always, and sometimes use words.” Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, evangelization happens “by the way we live God’s love in our daily life; by the love, example, and support people give each other; by the ways parents pass faith on to their children; in our life as Church, through the proclamation of the Word and the wholehearted celebration of the saving deeds of Jesus; in renewal efforts of local and national scope; in the care we show to those most in need; and in the ways we go about our work, share with our neighbors, and treat the stranger. In daily life, family members evangelize each other; men and women, their future spouses; and workers, their fellow employees, by the simple lives of faith they lead. Through the ordinary patterns of our Catholic life, the Holy Spirit brings about conversion and a new life in Christ.”[xi]

6. Parishes: Centers of Evangelization

If the Church exists to evangelize, the parish is the chief venue where that activity must take place. Our parishes must be true centers of evangelization.

The parish is the place where most Catholics experience the Church. It has, on the local level, the same commitments as the universal Church, with the celebration of God’s Word and the Eucharist as its center of worship. Evangelization inevitably involves the parish community because, ultimately, we are inviting people to the Eucharist, to the table of the Lord. When an individual evangelizes, one-to-one, he or she should have the Good News and the Eucharist as the ultimate message.[xii] Pope Paul VI said that evangelization is always tied to the Eucharistic celebration of the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ. “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.”[xiii]

An evangelizing spirit must touch every dimension of Catholic parish life. Welcome, acceptance, the invitation to conversion and renewal, reconciliation and peace must characterize the whole tenor of parish life — beginning with Sunday worship. Every element of the parish should respond to the evangelical imperative—priests and religious, lay persons, staff, ministers, organizations, social clubs, parochial schools, and parish religious education programs. Otherwise, evangelization is reduced to something a few people do as their particular ministry—rather than the reason for the parish’s existence and the objective of its apostolic work. The spirit of conversion, highlighted in the liturgy and particularly in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, should radiate through all the ministries so that the call to conversion is experienced and celebrated as part of each parishioner’s life of faith.[xiv]

At this time, I ask that pastors, parish pastoral councils and parish evangelization teams re-commit themselves to advancing their understanding of their parish’s mission in a way that develops concrete evangelizing activities. In this effort, the Parish Evangelization Guide recently issued by the Secretariat for Faith Formation & Evangelization, will be a useful beginning. I know that you will continue to rely on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in order to respond more effectively to Catholics returning to the faith. As you know, continued emphasis on receiving the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, Bible study, the study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and encouraging ecclesial movements are a few proven ways in which you can continue to foster conversion and renewal of the faith among adults.

It is critical to emphasize that the work of evangelization cannot succeed if it is seen as the work of clergy and parish staff alone. Every one of us by our baptism and confirmation is called by Jesus to participation in this mission. Jesus is waiting for us to be willing to serve as an instrument to help Him lead others to joy, peace and love in this life and the next.

7. Pastoral Planning & Evangelization

Since evangelization is a central activity of our parishes, it will be a critical component in pastoral planning in our archdiocese.

There are many ways to identify a healthy, vibrant parish. A reverent and active sacramental life, strong and healthy programs of religious instruction and faith formation for young people and adults, vibrant apostolic and charitable activities rooted in Catholic social teaching, and a culture promoting vocations are some of those signs. However, one of the most important manifestations of vibrant parish life is having the resources and the spirit to evangelize, and particularly to reach out to those who have left the Church. I have asked our Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission and our Pastoral Planning Office to propose strategies to improve the capabilities and resources for parish-centered evangelization activities as we look to strengthen and renew our parishes and archdiocesan outreach ministries.

Some may ask, “Why must we evangelize? Our parish is fine as it is.” We evangelize so that people can know the purpose for which they are made and so that as many as possible will be brought to Christ and ultimately, through Christ’s saving love, to the eternal presence of God in heaven. John’s Gospel recounts Jesus’ words, “I came so that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”[xv] Our love for every person makes us want to extend this invitation on Christ’s behalf.

Paulist Father Robert Rivers has written a provocative book called, From Maintenance to Mission: Evangelization and the Revitalization of the Parish. His premise is that evangelization has the power to bring new unity to the Church in periods of upheaval, and can lead to an experience of reorientation within the Church and a renewed impact on the society in which we live in this new millennium.

Evangelization challenges all baptized Catholics to a conversion to Christ, by living their faith fully, inviting others to faith, and living these Gospel values in the world. It gives us a new lens through which we can view our Catholic faith. This lens is threefold: spiritual renewal, missionary activity, and action for justice in the world.

Many parishes are truly mission-based today and they have fervor for this outreach. Others are maintenance-oriented because their parishioners often have a consumer culture mentality. They come to Church to get something, and they expect the leadership to provide it. All the energy and resources of the parish are oriented to serving the people who are present, rather than reaching out to those who are absent.

We must work to help our parishioners to move beyond being consumers to being disciples who share actively in the mission and the ministry of Jesus. We are called to evangelize out of love for Jesus Christ and of the people who will be graced by what His Kingdom of love, peace and justice will bring to their lives.

This Good News is something we must desire to share. If a doctor had discovered a cure for cancer and said, “Well, I am going to use this only for my family and my close friends,” we would consider that criminal. Not sharing the power of the Gospel and the Sacraments with our neighbor is also criminal. The operative parable is the story of the man who buried the shining gold talent in the ground. This was condemned as an act of cowardice and selfishness.

Our task in our parishes is to foster ongoing conversion, turning consumers into disciples and disciple-makers. We need to prepare men and women who witness to the faith and not send people into the witness protection program. Every Catholic can be a minister of welcome, reconciliation, and understanding to those who have stopped practicing the faith.[xvi]

8. The New Roman Missal: An Opportunity for Evangelization

The changes to the Roman Missal that will be implemented this coming Advent should be seen as an opportunity to refocus our entire Catholic community on the centrality of the Sunday Eucharist. It is an opportune moment to study the liturgy and grow in our understanding of the central mysteries of the faith, making use of Teaching Masses and Family Masses.

It also provides an occasion for parishes to evaluate their current liturgies to make them even more beautiful and meaningful experiences. Our modern culture, so addicted to entertainment, can make it difficult to celebrate the Eucharist in a way that engages modern people. We must first teach people how to pray and encourage them to prepare for the Sunday Mass so that its mysteries will open up to them. The more people realize that Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist and speaks to us in the Word of God proclaimed, the more faithfully and fervently people will participate in Sunday Mass. In the Eucharist, the love of Christ gathers and builds us as living stones into the Church. Without the Eucharist, we remain as pebbles strewn on the beach. Saint Peter described this in his First Letter: “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”[xvii]

Good work is already being done. Study of the Roman Missal and the changes in liturgical responses is leading to more careful liturgical planning and reverent liturgical practice in many parishes and chaplaincies; these revisions will bring about a renewed sense of the sacred.

9 . New Church Movements and Communities

After the Second Vatican Council, the Church has witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the blossoming of new movements and ecclesial communities. They bring great vitality to the life of the Church. They are a sign of great hope for the Church in the new millennium.

The Church in every generation is both old and new. Throughout the centuries we have seen the great blessing of so many new religious orders, reform movements and lay associations that responded to the needs of a particular era.  Today, many of the new movements and communities are showing great success in communicating a deep spirituality to their members in the context of small, close-knit communities. They energize their people to be evangelizers who bring the Good News they have received to those around them. Without those forces of renewal, the Church can sometimes become too focused on maintenance and the internal aspects of pastoral work.

Many of these small groups and communities are already present in the archdiocese: Cursillo, Charismatic Renewal, Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei, Focolare, Communities of Saint Egidio, The Neocatechumenal Way, ARISE, The Legion of Mary and others. Throughout the years I have known them and experienced firsthand the fruits of Christian life that sprout from their activity, including strengthening of family life, openness to life, and vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Some of these groups have been instrumental in my own personal growth in faith. For instance, as a seminarian 44 years ago I experienced the power of a Cursillo retreat. It was in Spanish in Washington D.C. with a collection of Argentine soldiers, undocumented Salvadoran refugees, Cubans, and some Puerto Rican restaurant workers. The weekend forged us into a fraternity, a community of friends, fellow disciples on fire with our love for Christ and our desire to make Him known, loved and served. At the end of the Cursillo weekend, the Rector gave me a Cross and said “Cristo cuenta contigo.” And we answered, “Y yo con Su gracia.” Christ is counting on us. With Christ, with each other and with his grace, we can do it. It strengthened my vocation to the priesthood and helped me understand the need to look for the lost sheep.

Blessed Pope John Paul II was instrumental in discerning the Holy Spirit’s presence in these new movements and communities. In Pentecost of 1998 he met with many of these groups at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican and offered them to the Universal Church as instruments for the New Evangelization. He told them: “In our world, often dominated by a secularized culture which encourages and promotes models of life without God, the faith of many is sorely tested, and is frequently stifled and dies. Thus we see an urgent need for powerful proclamation and solid, in-depth Christian formation. There is so much need today for mature Christian personalities, conscious of their baptismal identity, of their vocation and mission in the world! There is great need for living Christian communities! And here are the movements and the new ecclesial communities: they are the response, given by the Holy Spirit, to this critical challenge at the end of the millennium. You are this providential response.”[xviii]

We need to find ways to support their efforts and welcome them in our churches as they strive to provide individuals with a personal experience of the love of God, not only to those already practicing their faith but also to those who are away from the Church or have never met Christ.

10. Immediate Steps

Pastors, in consultation with their parish pastoral councils and staffs, will need to strategize on how best to evangelize in their local circumstances. Like Pentecost, the process must be steeped in prayer and the desire to be led by the Holy Spirit. The outreach that needs to be done will require planning and training. Some parishes may want to establish evangelization teams and pastoral zones within the parish for the purpose of outreach. Those involved would benefit from reading Go and Make Disciples, a document from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has recommended goals, strategies and tactics for the work of evangelization.

Faith formation is central to the task of evangelization. Training evangelizers to visit homes, to contact the families of children in religious education programs and youth ministry, and to be involved in outreach and welcoming must be part of the process. The RCIA programs are ways of helping the entire parish have a sense of mission and welcoming.

I encourage all Catholic families to develop a spirituality of the home that renews the practice of regular family prayer. Spouses: pray with one another; parents: pray with your children. Reach out to extended family members and Catholic friends and neighbors, and invite them to attend Mass with you. What a stronger Church we would be if every family was able to help just one other family return to the practice of our faith.