This week, I am visiting Papua New Guinea to 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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!”

- – -

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

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

- – -

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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’