Greetings, Our leaders in the House of Representatives courageously passed the Stupak Amendment in their version of the health care bill, but the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment did not prevail in the Senate’s version of the legislation. Of course, that was a great disappointment to us. We still hope and pray that some accommodation can be reached so that abortions will not receive taxpayer funding and there will be adequate conscience protection. This is of paramount importance to the Church. I ask you all to pray very hard and continue to contact your senators. - – - In spite of a minor illness last week, I was able to maintain a busy schedule. On Friday, I visited with Cistercian Abbot Matthew Nguyen Ba Linh from the Abbey of Our Lady of Divine Grace in Vung Tau City, Vietnam. We have two Cistercian seminarians from Vietnam who are studying at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. Their superior came to visit them.   With Abbot Matthew Nguyen Ba Linh (standing next to me); Father Peter Dat Vu, his secretary;  and Father Leo Manglaviti, the Director of Pre-Theology at Blessed John XXIII He is visiting the United States in an effort to raise funds to build an abbey in Vietnam. He showed me these photos of the church there, the monks at prayer and also a plan of the extension they are hoping to be able to build to accommodate their many vocations. It’s encouraging to see that the contemplative life is flourishing, even in a Communist country like Vietnam. We know that there are many vocations there, and we are happy to be educating some of their men. I was very impressed by the size and the youthfulness of the community. We certainly are anxious to encourage them in their endeavors to establish full monastic life in Vietnam. - – - That evening, I was the main speaker at the fifth and final event of the God of This City Tour that was held at the Cathedral. The tour was a five-night event held in various parishes in each region of our archdiocese. Each evening offered our young people the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confession, take part in Eucharistic Adoration, and praise God through prayer and contemporary worship music. The tour was organized by LIFT Ministries, who did a phenomenal job with it. There were 500 or 600 young people there for the final night. It was an evening of song, reflection, and adoration with an Advent theme. There was great enthusiasm. I addressed them for about an hour and spoke about St. John the Baptist and being a witness in the Church. It was a wonderfully successful program at all the parishes they visited over the course of the week. - – - Unfortunately on Saturday, due to a cold, I was confined to quarters. We had some important events that day that Bishop Hennessey stood in for me, including the Women Affirming Life Mass and breakfast, the 50th anniversary of Incarnation Parish in Melrose, and St. John’s Seminary’s 125th anniversary gala celebration, which featured Christmas lessons and carols and a special recognition of Archbishop Al Hughes, a former rector there. Though I wasn’t able to attend I wanted to share a couple photos of the seminary celebration with you:   - – - On Sunday, I celebrated a Mass at Northeastern University. The president, Dr. Joseph Aoun, was represented by the CFO of Northeastern, Jack McCarthy, who is on our finance council. Members of the Brotherhood of Hope, including Father Phillip Merdinger, were there. Following the Mass, there was a reception and I had a chance to take a tour of the Catholic Center. There are many music majors from neighboring universities who are part of the music program. It was absolutely stunning. The Mass was very well attended. They have a very vibrant student ministry there. - – - On Monday I had the opportunity to greet the pastors who reached their goal in this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal at the Pastoral Center. For us, the Annual Appeal is the lifeline for our central administration, ministries, and works of mercy.   This was a recognition of the pastors who have gone beyond goal to show our gratitude for their outstanding efforts on the part of this very crucial endeavor for the archdiocese. - – - Tuesday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I went to the Montrose School in Medfield. They moved there recently, after being located at St. Patrick’s in Natick for many years. They have built a new school by taking over an old women’s hat factory. They have a bright, lovely facility with a very nice chapel. It is an all-girls school. Many of the girls’ parents and grandparents attended. The head of school, Dr. Karen Bohlin, is a numerary of Opus Dei. Many people from Opus Dei are involved in this private, Catholic school. It is not exclusively for Opus Dei members, but they’re the ones who have been the motor force in establishing the school. In the chapel, a portrait of St. Josemaria Escriva, their founder, is displayed. They have an extraordinary choir. They did a number of beautiful Latin motifs. Then they did some songs afterwards as part of the reception. They presented me with a gift of a sweatshirt - – - Steve Perla and Father Joseph Corpora, CSC, and Bruce Kaneb from ACE Consulting. This is part of The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program for recruiting Hispanics for Catholic schools. They wanted to speak to me about the program. We did have a campaign within the last few months here in Boston where 60 Hispanic students were recruited for our Catholic schools. Notre Dame is trying to promote this nationwide. - – - On Wednesday, it had been my hope to attend the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that Archbishop Dolan was celebrating to mark the 30th anniversary memorial for Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well enough to make the trip.   Archbishop Sheen’s cause for canonization has been introduced. It was my privilege to have served Mass for him many times when I was a child. He would come to our parish every year because our pastor, Msgr. Charlie McBride, had been his assistant in the Propagation of the Faith, and they were very close friends. It was always an important event in the life of the parish when Bishop Sheen arrived. The other Masses would be completely empty and it would be standing room only at the Mass he celebrated during the week. There were three daily Masses but the people would all find out which Mass Bishop Sheen was going to say. Bishop Sheen would preach every day, which in those days was not done. As many of you may remember, in the old liturgy, the priests used to preach only on Sundays. So, it was almost like having a mission in the parish every time that he would visit. He was just such an extraordinary individual, and the work that he did on behalf of the missions as well as evangelization in the United States was astonishing. Thousands of people entered the Church through him. His television program did more to dispel anti-Catholicism than any other effort that the Church has ever been able to muster. He is certainly a very, very important figure in the history of American Catholicism. He was a man who had such great love for the Church, for the priesthood, and for the missions. He was a man of extraordinary piety and it was my privilege to have had an opportunity to know him personally and now to help in his cause of canonization as a member of the Episcopal Board of Advisors of The Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation, which is the official promoter of the Cause. In 1975, I invited him to speak to the priests in Washington at a seminar I organized on preaching social justice. The two speakers that I got for the seminar where then-Father Avery Dulles and Bishop Sheen. We must have had 500 priests come for it and we filled Harke Theater. Both of them gave extraordinary talks, but of course, Bishop Sheen has sort of a dramatic way of speaking. The priests must have given him something like a ten-minute standing ovation. That was the last time I saw him alive. He certainly was a bigger than life figure in the history of the Church in the United States! - Cardinal Seán Tags: Main Comments 04 Dec The Feast of St. Andrew with the Greek Orthodox Tags: Main Comments Hello, once again! If you stopped by to read last week’s blog, you know that I posted that entry a couple days earlier than usual. Like many of you, I traveled to be with my family for Thanksgiving, which is always a very special event in our lives as Americans. It was a great joy to be able to be with my family in Florida this year. On Thanksgiving morning, we celebrated Mass for the family at the local parish, St. Richard’s. Afterwards, about 50 of us gathered at my cousin’s house — the Mulligans — for Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, we had turkey with all the trimmings, and many, many pies! It certainly was a splendid evening and a wonderful chance to see everybody at once. The following day, they took me to a magnificent concert in Fort Lauderdale given by Andrea Bocelli. He was accompanied by an orchestra from Miami and sang with a choir and a couple of other vocalists during the show, which was in two parts. The first part was classical music and the second part was a Christmas selection. What a powerful and beautiful voice Andrea Bocelli has! The audience wouldn’t let him go — he came back and gave four encores. I understand that he began his singing career in the parish choir, and he is a devout Catholic. It was a great joy to be able to see him personally and to hear him. Andrea Bocelli performing for the pope in 2005 - – - By Sunday, I was back in Boston for a celebration of the Feast of St. Andrew with our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters. Each year, we have an exchange of delegations on the Patronal Feast of each Church, which mimics what the Holy Father and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople do.   The icon of St. Andrew being carried in procession The five loaves are a symbol of St. Andrew. St. Andrew was the one who told Jesus “Look there is a boy here with five loaves and two fish…” at the miraculous feeding of the 5,000   This year, Cardinal Kasper was in Constantinople representing the Holy Father on the feast of St. Andrew; then, for the Feast of St. Peter, either the Ecumenical Patriarch or his representative will be in Rome. Here, on the Feast of St. Peter, Metropolitan Methodios always comes to one of our churches. This year, on the eve of the Feast of St. Andrew, we went for vespers at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis. We were able to be with Father Edward O’Flaherty, Father David Michael, and Dr. Vito Nicastro, of the archdiocese’s Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, who were also representing us. There was also Professor Vives, who has taught in the Greek Orthodox seminary for many, many years. Their vespers services are very moving. They are much like ours, but with longer readings and litanies. They also sing the Kyrie Eleison many, many times, which reminds me of the days when that prayer was always part of our Mass. Here is a brief video showing the procession, and you can hear some of the signing:   - – - On Monday, I hosted a meeting with members of our Catholic Schools Office and the presidents of the Catholic colleges in the archdiocese. As I have mentioned in other posts, we have been meeting periodically on  how we can coordinate the efforts to strengthen Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the archdiocese. - – - The following day, I met with the superiors of local religious communities at the Pastoral Center to discuss the apostolic visitation. My intention of bringing them together was, first of all, to assure the sisters that the Church is very grateful for all of the wonderful work of our religious women. They have a glorious history in the United States that has been essential to establishing Catholic education, Catholic health care, and so many other ministries. Of course, I was also anxious to hear their reaction as to how the visitation was going. I encouraged them to participate in and cooperate with the visitations and assured them that the sister in charge of the visitations, Mother Mary Clare Millea, is an extraordinary religious woman who will try to be extremely helpful to the sisters. Mother Clare During our meeting, I shared with them some of my experiences as an apostolic visitator to seminaries. There was a certain nervousness about the seminary visitation at the beginning, but it turned out to be very positive and ultimately strengthened our seminaries. In this case as well, the desired outcome is a study that will help us to strengthen religious life in the United States. There has been such a decline in numbers in the last several decades that, of course, the Holy See is deeply concerned. I assured the sisters that our participation in the visitation is something that will be good for the Church in America and that we should not hesitate to cooperate. For their part, some of the sisters shared with me that the instrument itself was difficult to complete, and I will certainly share that with Sister Clare. However, overall, I think it was a very good meeting and that the sisters had a chance to express their opinions and ask questions. Hopefully, we all left with a greater appreciation of the implications of this visitation. - – - On Monday evening, I attended a gathering of recently ordained priests at St. John the Baptist Parish in Quincy. Several times a year I gather with the priests who have been ordained within the last five years for a Holy Hour followed by a meal and conversation about priestly life. I have always done this in the different dioceses where I have been bishop. These types of gatherings are very important because, statistically, it has been demonstrated that those first five years are difficult for priests. They must learn a new identity and sometimes there have been priests who have abandoned the ministry during this period. These kinds of programs, which support them and bring them together with their bishop, are very valuable and I am very pleased that in Boston we have not lost one young priest. This month, our Director of Vocations, Father Dan Hennessey, joined us as we discussed how priests can be involved in vocation promotion, particularly during this Year for Priests. All of the studies indicate that one of the most important factors in discernment is when a priest suggests to a young man that he consider the possibility of a vocation. I think some priests don’t realize the impact that can have. It was a very good exchange. It is always wonderful to have the time with our newly ordained priests. - – - On Wednesday, I attended the Day of Sanctification for priests held at the Campion Center in Weston. This day of recollection and sanctification for priests was one of the activities in the Year for Priests. The auxiliary bishops periodically organize days of recollection. This one, though, was organized by Father Bill Kelly and the Office of Clergy Support and Ongoing Formation. There were two conferences focusing on the priesthood — one given by Father Peter Grover, an Oblate of the Virgin Mary, and another given by me. We had adoration and confessions during the course of the day.     In all, there was a very fine response with a cross-section of about 50 priests participating. It is always good when we can gather as a presbyterate, particularly in this Year for Priests. - – - Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, the Church enters into the new Liturgical Year with the season of Advent, in which we are called to prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus. Please be assured of my prayers for you during this Advent season! Cardinal Seán Tags: Main Comments

Archive Calendar « December 2009 » Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Recent Posts A week full of events The Feast of St. Andrew with the Greek Orthodox The Cheverus Awards The Bishops’ November Meeting The St. James Society Cushing Awards Remembering the faithful departed The Catechetical Congress Justice Convocation A week of many events The International Priests Retreat

Also Visit:

Pastoral Themes Cardinal's Corner Parishes, Schools & People Offices & Services Faith Resources Ways to Give Back Multimedia Library Being Catholic Events Calendar About the Archdiocese News & Press Employment Catholic Appeal Protecting Children Newsletter Sign-up
All