Cardinal Seán’s first five years in Boston
Sept 05, 2008
While the focus of this column is on Cardinal Seán’s five-year anniversary in Boston, my working relationship with the cardinal reaches back to the 1970s.
(The Pilot) When I was assigned to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1973, Cardinal Seán was ministering in the Archdiocese of Washington working with Catholic Charities with a particular focus on the Hispanic community. He lived and worked in a section of Washington that was struggling with both poverty and violence. While immigration was not the “hot-button” issue it has now become in the United States, the Church and Cardinal Seán were deeply involved in the pastoral and legal efforts to protect and support the growing communities of Central American immigrants and refugees who were arriving weekly in Washington, often fleeing from the conflicts in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Since those days Cardinal Seán’s assignments have taken him to three other dioceses before coming to Boston. Each presented a different challenge, but I think it is fair to say none really prepared him for the challenge he faced arriving in Boston in 2003. The specific facts of the situation -- a national crisis for American Catholicism and a uniquely intensified version of it in Boston -- have been spelled out many times. While a rehearsal of the facts is not necessary, it is useful to emphasize the fundamental problem he faced embedded in all the financial, legal, and human realities of the archdiocese.
The fundamental challenge was a loss of trust in the Church: a twofold crisis of trust within the ecclesial community and within the wider civil society. Specifying trust as the central challenge he faced illustrates the depth of the pastoral reality that confronted the cardinal. Trust is a precondition of the Church’s ministry. While many professional relationships rely upon trust, it is safe to say none are so deeply entwined with it as the spiritual, moral, and religious ministry of the Church. If trust breaks down, there is an enormous barrier established for the work of the Church.
There are many specific ways to describe the cardinal’s ministry over the last five years, but I believe it is best described as an intensive personal, priestly work of reestablishing trust within the Church between the People of God and the leadership of the Archdiocese of Boston. The effort has encompassed a range of distinct elements. The foundation has been the cardinal’s personal life, spirituality and presence in the office of archbishop. Trust is built on relationships and there was no substitution for his presence as a priest and bishop in the midst of the ecclesial community. Beyond presence there have been the decisions taken: to meet the needs of the survivors of sexual abuse spiritually and financially, to clarify in detail the financial reality of the archdiocese in his transparency initiative, to engage the wealth of talent in the Catholic laity of Boston and, uniquely important, to build the bonds of trust and collaboration with the priests of the archdiocese.
During the last five years, there has been an obvious priority to concentrate on the problems of trust within the Church. The significant progress made in that area only points to the road ahead. This is a long-term, complex and painstakingly difficult challenge. But the external challenge cannot be postponed: the way to the Church is seen and judged in civil society. This is the Church’s work as an advocate for social justice and peace, and the home of educational, charitable, and health care institutions at the service of the wider society. Rebuilding trust in this arena involved constituencies beyond the Catholic community. From his first days in Boston Cardinal Seán has vocally and visibly supported Catholic schools, the work of Catholic Charities, and the ministry of Catholic health care. These institutions “bridge” the space between Church, state, and civil society. The priority necessarily given to building trust pastorally in the Church has not left an abundance of time to focus on the wider ministry of the Church in Boston. But this is an arena where both the social teaching of Catholicism and its fabric of social institutions offers us a chance to place the rich resources of the Gospel at the service of others. Cardinal O’Malley’s ministry in Washington decades ago illustrated how deeply he is committed to this role, and uniquely positioned to fulfill it.
Father J. Bryan Hehir is Secretary for Health care and Social Services of the Archdiocese of Boston.
Cardinal O'Malley reflects on apostolic visit, meeting
May 01, 2008
In an April 23 interview with The Pilot, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, shared his thoughts on the Holy Father’s six-day trip to the United States.
By Antonio Enrique
The Boston Pilot, 4/25/2008
BRIGHTON -- In an April 23 interview with The Pilot,
Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, shared his thoughts on the
Holy Father’s six-day trip to the United States.
Q: How would you summarize the Holy Father’s trip?
A: The Holy Father chose as the theme for his
apostolic visit, “Christ our Hope.” I think he brought
us closer to Christ by his presence and filled our
hearts with hope in Christ’s promises and in our
future as his people.
Q: The consensus in the media is that the Holy
Father’s visit has been a great success for the Church
in the U.S. Are you surprised by that assessment? Were
you expecting instead a more critical attitude in the
secular media?
A: Well, I know some people in the media like to be
very critical of the Church. However, I was confident
that as people saw the Holy Father up close that they
could not help but be impressed by his personality, by
his intelligence, by his obvious holiness. In that
sense I am not surprised that the people were so
disarmed by being able to see him as he really is and
to listen to his words.
Q; It was a busy trip…
A: I was just pleased that the Holy Father seemed to
hold up so well during the trip. It was an exhausting
trip. Many people are commenting how quickly he went
up the steps and his obvious enthusiasm. For an
81-year-old who has not had the greatest health it was
truly a “tour de force.”
Q: Which was your personal interaction with the Holy
Father?
A: I was able to be at a couple of meals -- obviously
in small groups -- at the nunciatures in Washington
and New York. I had the opportunity to speak briefly
with the Holy Father on those occasions. He was very
pleased with the visit and I know he was very moved
with the meeting with the victims. I ate with him in
New York the following day after our meeting in
Washington and there he commented how moving that
experience had been for him.
Q: Can you explain your involvement in that
unannounced meeting in Washington that brought
together the Holy Father with five local victims of
sexual abuse by clergy?
A: After it was announced that the Holy Father was
going to Washington and New York and that Boston was
not included, the bishops of the region joined me in
writing a letter to the Holy Father asking him to
reconsider and talking about the pastoral needs that
we have in New England. Then the response came back
that, given the very taxing nature of the trip, that
they (Vatican officials) really hesitated to add
anything else. So I wrote back again asking if the
Holy Father would meet with victims and after that the
Holy Father responded and asked me to make the
necessary arrangements.
Q: Why was this meeting not part of the official
schedule?
A: We did our best to keep it a very discreet meeting
because we did not want to turn it a media circus and
we were afraid that if people found ahead of time that
that was just what would happen. Also, some of the
survivors who accompanied us wished to remain
anonymous and it would have made it impossible for
them to participate under the public scrutiny. So, I
am just thankful that we were able to carry it off
without becoming public before hand.
I was very grateful to the Holy Father. The many times
he addressed the sexual abuse crisis indicate how
deeply he understands the situation of our Church and
what happens here. He obviously feels a great sorrow
over what has happened and that he is ashamed but, at
the same time, wants to encourage us on the path to
healing and reconciliation.
At the Thursday morning Mass at the Nationals’ stadium
he talked about the need of giving pastoral care to
the victims, and then in the afternoon he gave us a
very concrete example of that in his own encounter
with them.
Q: Why do you think this was a crucial meeting?
A: I think it was important for the victims to feel as
though they had access to the Holy Father. Obviously,
not all victims but someone representing them and in a
small enough group, in a context that it would allow
for a very personal interchange between the Holy
Father and the victims. It was not a formal address;
the Holy Father made his initial comments and then he
spoke with each of the victims individually, he
clasped their hands, he blessed them, he prayed with
them.
I think for the Holy Father, pastorally, it was very
important to experience this. Certainly he has heard
through the bishops and through others the devastation
of sexual abuse but it is another thing to encounter
personally the survivors and to learn first hand of
their suffering and pain.
Q: There was a very moving moment when you handed a
book to the Holy Father with over 1,000 names of
victims…
A: Yes, over 1,000 names, first names, done in
calligraphy and very beautifully and artistically
prepared, with prayers and other reflections
interspersed among the names. It was a way to try to
underline the fact that the meeting was to be
representative of all the victims, not just the ones
who were there, or even the ones whose names appeared
in the book, and also to underscore the dimension of
the problem. The names in the book represent names
that have come to us, of cases that have come to us in
the last 50 years.
It was obvious from the Holy Father’s demeanor that it
was a very poignant moment in the visit.
Q: The pope has spoken on a variety of issues during
this trip. Beyond the pope’s remarks on sexual abuse,
what other themes would you highlight?
A: The call to greater fidelity, and our discipleship
and to interior life. The stress on prayer, the very
deep grasp the Holy Father has of what’s happening in
our world with the conflicts in values and the dangers
of secularization and the dictatorships of relativism
and the need to present the beauty of the Gospel in
its entirety in a convincing and enthusiastic way. The
connection he always makes between our life of faith
and the joy of the Gospel, something that refers to
often. That struck a note particularly with young
people and educators.
Q: As you accompanied the Holy Father at many events,
which was your perception of the American people’s
affection for him?
A: So many people told me that they were watching him
on television and following everything very closely.
I was impressed in New York by the fact that, at one
point, we were caught in the traffic -- they had
closed these roads and we just sat there for 20
minutes -- and the people were getting out of their
cars and talking to each other. But I was very
surprised that people were not angry. I was very
uneasy that this was happening because of the Holy
Father and yet, on the other hand, I was pleased to
see how the people of New York just accepted this.
Even things like that were an indication to me of the
positive attitude that people had towards the visit,
even those who were not, perhaps, Catholic. I had
people approach me in the street and tell me that they
weren’t Catholic but they were so pleased with the
Holy Father’s visit.
Q: What impact do you think this visit will have on
Boston Catholics?
A: The fact that the visit comes in the midst of our
bicentennial year I think it is a great blessing. Even
though the Holy Father did not come to Boston, his
presence in our country in the context of our
bicentennial year should be a great source of
encouragement for us as we struggle with the
challenges that we face and in our attempts to deepen
spiritual renewal particularly in calling people to
greater fidelity and to a life of prayer and to the
Sunday observance which is the centerpiece of our life
as Catholic Christians.
Le cardinal Sean évoque le don du ministère de Benoît XVI
Apr 17, 2008
Le 17 avril 2008 - E.S.M. - Message du cardinal Sean à l'adresse de ses paroissiens : "j'ai écrit une lettre à lire dans toutes les paroisses, invitant nos personnes à réfléchir sur l'importance de ce moment et à réaliser le grand don que le ministère du pape Benoît XVI signifie dans notre église, le ministère de l'unité et de notre catholicité."
Message du cardinal Sean, Archevêque de Boston à l'occasion de la venue du pape aux Etats-Unis
Cette semaine, nous recevons le Saint-Père, le pape Benoît XVI, c'est une occasion historique et joyeuse pour tous les catholiques. Ce sont les paroles du cardinal Sean s'adressant à tous les paroissiens afin qu'il se prépare spirituellement à le visite du Saint-Père. Le cardinal Sean a été créé cardinal le 24 mars 2006 par Benoît XVI et est le sixième archevêque de Boston depuis 30 juillet 2003.
J'ai écrit une lettre à lire dans toutes les paroisses, invitant nos personnes à réfléchir sur l'importance de ce moment et à réaliser le grand don que le ministère du pape signifie dans notre église, le ministère de l'unité et de notre catholicité.
Bien chers Frères et Sœurs dans le Christ,
Tout au long de l'histoire du salut, Dieu a choisi des hommes pour conduire son peuple. Le Seigneur lui-même a assigné un rôle particulier à St. Pierre: après le nom du Christ, c'est le nom de Pierre qui apparaît le plus dans les textes du Nouveau Testament.
Si le témoignage des auteurs chrétiens des premiers siècles, ainsi que celui des martyrs, montre bien le rôle joué par tous les fidèles dans le plan que Dieu à voulu pour son Eglise, c'est Jésus qui dit à Pierre: "Tu es Pierre et sur cette pierre je bâtirai mon Eglise". Et c'est aussi Jésus lui-même qui donne à Simon son nouveau nom, "Pierre", qui appelle l'image du rocher. Le seigneur donne ainsi à Pierre le pouvoir de pardonner les péchés et de faire en sorte qu'il y ait un lien entre ce qu'il décide pour nous sur terre et ce qui advient au Ciel.
Une des choses qui m'a le plus marqué dans ma vie, aura été la visite de la tombe de St. Pierre, sous la basilique Saint-Pierre qui se dresse sur la colline du Vatican. St. Jérôme nous apprend que St. Pierre fut évêque de Rome durant 25 ans avant de finir sa vie, martyrisé par Néron. Pierre avait souhaité être crucifié la tête en bas car, avait-il dit, il ne se sentait pas digne de mourir la tête en haut comme le Christ.
Le Nouveau Testament ne fait pas silence sur les hésitations et la peur de Pierre; mais les Actes des Apôtres précisent ensuite que c'est ce même Pierre qui, malgré ses faiblesses, proclame la résurrection du Christ et fait face avec courage aux défis que doit surmonter la toute jeune Eglise.
Guidé par l'Esprit Saint, Pierre choisit celui qui devra remplacer Judas et poursuit la mission que le Christ lui a demandé d'accomplir. C'est cette mission que l'Eglise assure par la succession apostolique, laquelle se fait de générations en générations par le signe de l'imposition des mains par lequel se transmet la puissance de l'Esprit Saint.
Ainsi le Christ ne nous a-t-il pas laissé orphelins: l'Esprit Saint guide l'Eglise et rend effectif le ministère de Pierre. Le ministère pontifical est bien un cadeau que le Christ nous fait, afin que la catholicité et l'unité de l'Eglise soient assurées pour tous les fidèles à travers le monde.
Dans le Nouveau Testament, St. Luc nous montre comment les premiers chrétiens mettaient les malades au bord des chemins afin que l'ombre de Pierre qui passait par là puisse les atteindre. De la même façon, les catholiques viennent aujourd'hui voir le pape dans lequel ils reconnaissent le Vicaire du Christ. Aller à la rencontre du pape est une façon d'exprimer notre amour pour le Seigneur Jésus qui a donné à son Eglise le ministère de Pierre afin que nous soyons tous guidés et confirmés dans notre foi.
Je vous adresse cette lettre pour vous demander de prier pour le succès de la visite du Saint-Père dans notre pays. Par la même occasion, je vous demande, chers Amis catholiques, d'être très attentifs aux messages que le pape nous adressera. Le Saint-Père n'est pas une star du rock: il est un berger qui représente le Christ. Il est le bon berger qui a reçu du Seigneur l'ordre de nourrir ses brebis. Le pape Benoît XVI va nous donner cette nourriture divine que réclame notre foi.
Puissions-nous accueillir notre Saint-Père avec loyauté et affection. Puisse sa présence au milieu de nous nous aider à faire grandir notre amour du Christ et de nos frères. Puisse sa parole nous aider à devenir des vrais disciples au service de l'Eglise du Seigneur.
Pédophilie : l'archevêque de Boston nous répond
Apr 16, 2008
Rome, le 16 avril 2008 - E.S.M. - Le cardinal O'Malley a modifié le mode de gouvernement du diocèse, en faillite après la déplorable gestion de la crise des prêtres pédophiles. Toutefois, il existe une tension entre le communautarisme des uns et le sens de la communion des autres dans une société américaine qui cultive l'individualisme.
Comment avez-vous cherché à résoudre la crise des prêtres pédophiles à Boston ?
Sous la pression des médias, il s'est agi de faire face à la crise en jouant mon rôle d'évêque. Ne rien nier de la vérité, surtout devant les victimes, tout en soutenant fermement les prêtres et les laïcs qui, dans leur quasi-totalité, étaient innocents. J'ai décidé de vendre le palais épiscopal (100 millions de dollars) au Boston College. Ainsi, les dédommagements ont été couverts sans peser sur les finances des paroisses et des écoles. Pour affronter le scandale des abus sexuels, avec tous les catholiques, nous nous sommes purifiés et recentrés sur l'essentiel.
Quel objectif cherchez-vous à atteindre désormais ?
Dans un diocèse de 2 millions de catholiques, avec cinq universités catholiques et 250 000 étudiants en résidence sur les campus, je me concentre sur la formation des laïcs, pour favoriser les vocations, en particulier au sacerdoce et au mariage, et trouver le sens de notre mission afin que chacun participe à la construction de « la civilisation de l'amour ». Pour cela, il a fallu remettre à flot les écoles et les hôpitaux catholiques dont les comptes étaient dans le rouge. Désormais, ils peuvent continuer leur mission sociale et éducative. Avec 1 400 prêtres, le diocèse de Boston est riche en personnes et en moyens que nous partageons amplement.
Quelles sont vos difficultés ?
Alors que nous vivons dans la prospérité et le matérialisme, subsiste un certain sens religieux. Toutefois, il existe une tension entre le communautarisme des uns et le sens de la communion des autres dans une société américaine qui cultive l'individualisme. Bien qu'il ne passe pas par Boston lors de sa visite prochaine, nous attendons beaucoup de Benoît XVI.
Le blog du cardinal O'Malley : www.cardinalseansblog.org Propos recueillis par Vincent Cabanac
Prayer is essential to do the will of God, cardinal says
Dec 22, 2007
“More than Israel has kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept Israel,” Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley said he once read in a synagogue prayer book.
(The Pilot, 12/21/2007) BOSTON -- “What a great truth that is,” he said. “More than we have kept the Sunday Mass obligation, it has kept us as a people focused on God.”
Cardinal O’Malley spoke about “Prayer and Discipleship” in a packed room at the Christ Speaks in the City lecture series Dec. 13.
The lunchtime lectures are held at the Old State House in downtown Boston in an effort to reach out to young adults who work in the city. Sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston’s Vocations Office, they began in the fall of 2006, and each fall and spring feature four speakers. This was the cardinal’s third time speaking as part of the series.
Cardinal O’Malley continued by saying that the Mass is the highpoint of the spiritual life of Catholics. The liturgy contains different kinds of prayer, including adoration, contrition, praise, thanksgiving and petition, he said.
But before people can appreciate the Mass, they must develop an interior life of prayer and bring that to the celebration of the liturgy, he said.
“In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to go to our chamber, shut the door and pray to our Father in secret because it’s not enough if we just participate in the public act of worship,” he said.
Both personal and communal prayer are necessary in order to do the will of God, the cardinal said.
“Without prayer we cannot find the way to the Lord, we cannot understand the truth, we cannot crucify the flesh and its passions and lust, one’s heart cannot be enlightened with the light of Christ, nor can it be united with the Lord,” he said. “None of these things can be effected unless they are preceded by constant prayer.”
Cardinal O’Malley continued, saying that people often mistakenly believe that prayer must be spontaneous or poetic.
“Jesus, in the Gospel, so often prays prayers that he learned as a child from Mary and Joseph,” he said, adding “With a dying person, when you’re praying the Hail Mary, ‘pray for us now and at the hour of our death,’ those words take on such meaning.”
Jesus also gave a model of prayer when he taught the disciples to pray the Our Father. Within that prayer is the heart of all Christian prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” Disciples of the Lord must understand that nothing can be better than God’s will, he said.
Disciples must pray for the Lord’s will, as did Mary when she prayed at the annunciation, “Be it done unto me according to thy word” and Jesus who prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will,” he said.
“We are called to trust in God’s love for us,” the cardinal said.
Followers of Christ must also trust in the Lord’s loving providence, praying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and waiting for tomorrow to ask for tomorrow’s bread, he added.
Cardinal O’Malley related a modern parable for the spiritual life, taken from the movie “Contact.” In that film, scientists are constantly sending out messages to outer space, trying to communicate with any intelligent life. They receive a message back, inviting them to travel into space and meet those aliens.
“We have to be a people that is listening for God, his word in our life, and (is) ready to build that bridge, that spaceship, that will carry us to God. That is the life of prayer.”
Caitlyn O’Keefe, parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Weymouth, works in downtown Boston and said the Christ Speaks lectures give her a sense of inspiration during her busy workweek.
“In the workplace religion and spirituality are sort of taboo,” she said. “This is something I’ve been looking forward to all week. It breaks up my day. It’s another facet to who I am.”
U.S. cardinal draws line with Democratic party
Nov 16, 2007
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, saying the Democratic Party has been persistently hostile to opponents of abortion rights, asserted yesterday that the support of many Catholics for Democratic candidates "borders on scandal."
(The Boston Globe, November 15, 2007) BALTIMORE: In his sharpest comments about the political landscape since he was installed as archbishop of Boston four years ago, O'Malley made clear that, despite his differences with the Republican Party over immigration policy, capital punishment, economic issues, and the war in Iraq, he views abortion as the most important moral issue facing policymakers.
"I think the Democratic Party, which has been in many parts of the country traditionally the party which Catholics have supported, has been extremely insensitive to the church's position, on the gospel of life in particular, and on other moral issues," O'Malley said.
Acknowledging that Catholic voters in Massachusetts generally support Democratic candidates who are in favor of abortion rights, O'Malley said, "I think that, at times, it borders on scandal as far as I'm concerned."
"However, when I challenge people about this, they say, 'Well, bishop, we're not supporting [abortion rights],' " he said. "I think there's a need for people to very actively dissociate themselves from those unacceptable positions, and I think if they did that, then the party would have to change."
O'Malley urged the Democratic Party to be more open to abortion opponents. "My plea with Democratic leaders is always that they make space for prolife politicians, and I have many prolife Democrats come to me and say that they're not making space for them. I think that that is a very serious problem, particularly in a state like Massachusetts, where it is so heavily Democrat."
Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera defended the party, which he called "a big tent party," and he pointed out that there are 104 Catholic Democrats currently serving in Congress, including two who are vocal opponents of abortion rights, Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania and Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio.
O'Malley made his comments in an interview just after the US Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to approve its quadrennial statement offering guidance for Catholic voters, declaring abortion, cloning, and embryonic research to be "intrinsically evil" and warning that support for such acts could endanger a Catholic voter's salvation. The bishops have issued similar documents prior to each presidential election since 1976, but this year decided to place a special emphasis on the importance of opposition to abortion because of concern among some bishops that the issue might get lost in the flurry of statements by the bishops on other topics such as poverty and the environment.
"The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many," the bishops declared in the document, called Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
O'Malley, who marches annually in an antiabortion rally, said the document was clearer than it has been in some previous years.
"In the past, there was always the fear that we were considering sort of the smorgasbord of issues, but without any prioritizing, or giving the impression that all issues are of equal value, and I think the emphasis on trying to help people form conscience is very, very important," he said. "The church is not trying to impose Catholic doctrine on the world, but we are trying to invite our people to take seriously their obligation to vote in a way that respects the moral law, the natural law, and takes into account the common good, care for the poor, and particularly the gospel of life, which is always the center of Catholic social teaching."
O'Malley's predecessors as archbishop of Boston were also staunchly antiabortion. Cardinal Bernard F. Law called a news conference to criticize a Republican governor, William F. Weld, for his support for abortion rights, and Law had the lieutenant governor at the time, Paul Cellucci, also a Republican, disinvited from a Catholic high school for the same reason; Law also blasted Geraldine A. Ferraro, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1984, for her support of abortion rights. Law's predecessor, Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros, in 1980 tried unsuccessfully to persuade Catholics to vote against two Democratic congressional candidates, Barney Frank and Jim Shannon, because of their support for abortion rights.
O'Malley has publicly spoken out on a handful of other issues, most prominently as a critic of same-sex marriage, which was legalized in Massachusetts despite strenuous efforts to block it by Catholic bishops and other conservative religious leaders. O'Malley has waded somewhat more quietly into other political issues, appearing at a rally for immigrant rights, and blogging about his opposition to casino gambling.
Catholics make up about one-fifth of the American electorate, and although they have traditionally voted Democratic, in recent election cycles they have been more evenly divided between the two major parties nationally.
The bishops' conference did not endorse a candidate or political party - doing so would endanger its tax-exempt status - and said the document was not a voter guide, but rather a summary of Catholic teaching. The bishops have had differences with the Republican Party, too, in particular because of support among many GOP officials for capital punishment and the Iraq war; in the statement approved yesterday, the bishops declared, "no party and too few candidates fully share the church's comprehensive commitment to the life and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death."
The document declares that "as Catholics we are not single-issue voters," but says, "a candidate's position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support."
Traditionally, the document has been mailed to all parishes in the United States; this year, to save money, the cash-strapped bishops' conference will e-mail the document to parishes and post it on a website, www.usccb.org/faithfulcitizenship. The document was supported by 221 of the 226 bishops who voted yesterday.
(boston.com, July 15, 2007) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is facing a sharp reduction in the number of active priests over the next several years and will have to dramatically change the way it staffs parishes or face another round of church closings, a committee appointed by Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has declared.
In a 13-page report recently delivered to priests, the committee said that the number of active priests -- those who are not retired or sick -- will drop to 292, from 500, within eight years. That is primarily because nearly 30 percent of the priests now working in parishes are over age 65.
"If no proactive diocesan-wide planning approach, guided by the archbishop [O'Malley], is undertaken, the archdiocese faces a continuing series of parish closings resulting especially from staffing limitations and financial problems," the report says. "It will also face the hurt and anger accompanying such closings."
O'Malley has already closed 62 parishes, starting in 2004, in an effort to address a decline in the number of priests and worshipers and a financial crunch, and many of those closings were controversial; a handful of the closed parishes are still occupied by protesters, and several civil suits and canon law challenges prompted by the closings are pending.
O'Malley's predecessor, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, had closed 42 parishes between 1994 and 2003.
PDF PDF: Pastoral Planning Committee report
RELATED STORY: Archdiocese of LA may pay victims $650 million
The committee, made up of priests and laypeople, declares in urgent tones that the archdiocese must consider steps already taken by many other dioceses around the country, including greater collaboration between priests in neighboring parishes and a greater use of deacons and lay ministers for pastoral care and business managers for financial matters. And the document sug gests some measures that are sure to be controversial, such as allowing parishes to declare that there will be no funerals on certain days of the week, or allowing parishes to hold Communion services, rather than Masses, because the church's rules do not require a priest for Communion services.
The report encourages O'Malley to embrace a "culture of planning" in the archdiocese, and to get Catholics talking about the implications of the clergy shortage.
The document does not mention two solutions advocated by some liberals, but barred by the Vatican: eliminating the requirement for priest celibacy or allowing the ordination of women.
The report also does not address the possibility that the number of priests ordained under the current rules might increase, either as result of prayer and recruitment, as O'Malley has suggested, or as a result of importing more seminarians and priests from foreign countries.
The document notes that instead of closing parishes, other dioceses facing clergy shortages have assigned pastors to more than one parish.
Others have used lay "pastoral administrators" to oversee parishes, or have attempted some form of "coordinated ministry" in which worship services and other programs are shared by several parishes.
A spokesman for the archdiocese, Terrence C. Donilon , praised the committee but noted that none of its recommendations has been endorsed by O'Malley.
The committee is one of three established by the cardinal to examine challenges facing the archdiocese; the others are examining the state of marriage in the archdiocese, and the transmission of faith.
"The study that has been prepared is merely a draft report with a long-term eye towards the future care of the archdiocese," Donilon said. "Its findings and recommendations are under review. No decisions have been made with regards to the recommendations in this report and none are imminent."
Donilon said the "interest in vocations" in the archdiocese is increasing, but "we know we are faced with dwindling numbers of clergy and we are addressing that."
"We would be acting irresponsibly if we did not take an aggressive -- but thoughtful -- look at the issues before us," Donilon said. "But I want to stress, we are not operating from the same playbook as years past. We are not planning Reconfiguration 2. It is not in the game plan."
A priest who has read the plan said there is no appetite among diocesan priests for another round of church closings, but there is a recognition that the archdiocese must do something to address the dwindling number of clergy.
"The most recent closing experience was one that made people feel as though parishes were being voted off the island -- it was a very sobering experience and it caused so much unrest, it would be crazy to think about that as a solution going forward," said Monsignor Paul V. Garrity , pastor of St. Mary parish in Lynn. "If we adopt that notion that we're going to close parishes because we don't have priests, we ought to just close the whole operation down."
But Garrity also praised the report, saying it calls attention to trends that have been widely known but little discussed.
"This is the first time the archdiocese officially has put down on paper what a lot of people have been talking about for years -- the number of priests has been declining for decades," Garrity said. "Boston is slow to change and recognize the realities, but other parts of the country people have already experienced these things. At some point, we have to say, what do we want to be doing, what are the priorities, and who do we have to do that with?"
Post Secreto
Jun 30, 2007
Until its formal announcement on Thursday, the Wednesday briefing on the motu proprio was called and held "sub secreto" -- i.e. under the pontifical secret.
(whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com, June 29, 2007) However, in the first public comments of any participant at the gathering, the Bloggin' Eminence speaks... and confirms details aired here over recent days:
From Cleveland I flew to Rome at the request of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to participate in a meeting discussing the Holy Father’s Moto Proprio about the use of the older form of the Latin Mass. There were about 25 bishops there, including the president of Ecclesia Dei Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Cardinal Francis Arinze, several heads of bishops’ conferences as well as some cardinals and other residential bishops.
They shared with us the Moto Proprio and the Holy Father’s letter explaining it. We also had an opportunity to read the Latin document. We each commented on that, and then the Holy Father came in and shared some of his thoughts with us. The Holy Father is obviously most concerned about trying to bring about reconciliation in the Church. There are about 600,000 Catholics who are participating in the liturgies of the Society of St. Pius X, along with about 400 priest[s]....
The Holy Father was very clear that the ordinary form of celebrating the Mass will be the new rite, the Norvus Ordo. But by making the Latin Mass more available, the Holy Father is hoping to convince those disaffected Catholics that it is time for them to return to full union with the Catholic Church.
So the Holy Father’s motivation for this decision is pastoral. He does not want this to be seen as establishing two different Roman Rites, but rather one Roman Rite celebrated with different forms. The Moto Propio is his latest attempt at reconciliation.
In my comments at the meeting I told my brother bishops that in the United States the number of people who participate in the Latin Mass even with permission is very low. Additionally, according to the research that I did, there are only 18 priories of the Society of St. Pius X in the entire country. Therefore this document will not result in a great deal of change for the Catholics in the U.S. Indeed, interest in the Latin Mass is particularly low here in New England.
In our archdiocese, the permission to celebrate the Latin Mass has been in place for several years, and I granted permission when I was in Fall River for a Mass down on the Cape. The archdiocesan Mass is now at Immaculate Mary of Lourdes Parish in Newton. It is well attended, and if the need arises for an extension of that we would, of course, address it.
This issue of the Latin Mass is not urgent for our country, however I think they wanted us to be part of the conversation so that we would be able to understand what the situation is in countries where the numbers are very significant. For example, in Brazil there is an entire diocese of 30,000 people that has already been reconciled to the Church.
In a photo of the participants posted by the Boston prelate (who wore his Capuchin habit to the session), you'll note who's standing directly at Benedict's side.
Vocation of marriage vocation is in crisis
Jun 27, 2007
The vocation of marriage is in crisis, said a U.S. cardinal in launching a major campaign to promote it as an institution in society.
BRIGHTON, Mass. (Catholic Online, 6/26/2007) – The “The Future Depends on Love.” prayer and educational campaign for strengthening the vocation of marriage was launched by the Archdiocese of Boston and the other three Massachusetts dioceses – Fall River, Springfield and Worcester – on June 22, the feast of St. Thomas More, who, according to organizers, cherished the vocation of marriage.
The effort to promote the traditional marriage bond between a man and a woman began eight days after the Massachusetts legislature voted to deny Massachusetts voters their right to vote on a marriage amendment.
The legislature voted 151-45 on June 14 to reject a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. At least one-fourth – or 50 – of the legislators had to affirm the proposed amendment for it to be placed before voters on the 2008 ballot.
A reported more than 170,000 Massachusetts citizens had signed petitions urging that the matter be placed on the ballot.
“The vocation of marriage is in crisis,” said Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, in a letter sent to pastors last week.
He pointed to “more than a 60 percent decline in the number of marriages recorded in the archdiocese” in the last 20 years, from 12,274 in 1986 to 4,519 last year.
The campaign, he said, is among other national and local efforts in which “the church has been responding to the many challenges faced by married couples. It was developed from the archdiocesan Committee on Marriage formed more than 18 months ago to provide recommendations to respond to the needs of engaged and married couples.
He added that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is in the midst of a multi-year National Pastoral Initiative on Marriage.
Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell called for support for married couples in a letter released to all priests in the diocese June 6, pointing to the power of prayer to enrich the lives of those living out their sacrament.
“Statistics across the country indicate that the number of weddings each year is declining in relation to those eligible to marry,” Bishop McDonnell said. “There is no question parishes across the country have seen the number of Catholic wedding ceremonies go down. The society in which we live does not look favorably, as once was the case, on the lifelong commitment between husband and wife.”
The bishop said a prayer card with a prayer available in multiple languages has been produced for parishioners throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pray each day for married couples.
“Many couples pray for their children, their relatives, special family intentions, for extended family members, but sometimes forget themselves,” he wrote. “This prayer is meant to help them pray for the living out of their marriage commitment in God’s love and it is meant for others to pray for them as well.”
According to Kari Colella, coordinator for marriage ministries for the Archdiocese of Boston, the initiative “seeks to guide parishes, clergy and lay members in praying for and promoting the vocation of marriage.”
The promotion effort includes: the distribution of marriage prayer in each parish; the praying of the marriage prayer in weekday and Sunday liturgies in each parish each day; the encouraging parishioners to pray the prayer daily; and, the incorporation of support for traditional marriage in preaching, when appropriate, and in bulletin announcements. It will also include an educational component that will begin in parishes throughout the state in the fall.
“We pray,” Colella said, that the effort “opens hearts and minds to the vocation of marriage as central in our Catholic experience.”
- - -
Following is the “Vocation of Marriage Prayer,” released by Massachusetts dioceses:
Heavenly father, through the intercession of the holy family,
Help us treasure the gift of marriage that reflects the love of Christ for the church, where the self-giving love of husband and wife unites them more perfectly and cooperates in your plan for new life created in your image.
Help us support men and women in their vocation of marriage, especially in difficult times when they join their sufferings to the cross.
Help us uphold the institution of marriage in our society as the place where love is nurtured and family life begins.
Help us acknowledge that our future depends on this love and on your providential care for us. Amen.
Cardinal invites pope to Boston to help heal scandal wounds
Jun 10, 2007
Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the city during the pontiff's planned U.S. trip next year, a gesture O'Malley believes would help mend wounds from the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
(Associated Press, June 10, 2007) O'Malley said he has invited the pope to visit the heavily Catholic city next year, which marks the bicentennial of the Boston Archdiocese. The pope is already planning to make a trip to the United Nations in New York, and O'Malley hopes he can stop in Boston during the same trip. O'Malley said an appearance by the pope could help heal some of the lingering wounds for the city at the heart of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
"Given everything Boston has been through, having the Holy Father come, I think, would be a great joy and a sense of affirmation to us as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of our church," O'Malley told the Boston Sunday Globe.
Boston is the fourth largest diocese in the country, with an estimated 2 million Catholics. The Vatican has confirmed plans by the pope to visit the United Nations in 2008, but hasn't set a date for the trip. Demand for the pope is great, with other areas in the country and Canada requesting he make a visit.
Cardinal O’Malley invites pope to Boston
Jun 03, 2007
Cardinal Sean O’Malley is hoping for a special guest next year to help the city celebrate the bicentennial of the Boston Archdiocese: Pope Benedict XVI.
(Associated Press, June 3, 2007) BOSTON - O’Malley said he’s invited the pope to visit the heavily Catholic city next year. The pope is already planning to make a trip to the United Nations in New York and O’Malley hopes he can stop in Boston during the same trip.
There’s another reason why O’Malley hopes to persuade the leader of the Catholic Church to visit Boston.
O’Malley said an appearance by the pope could help heal some of the lingering wounds for the city at the heart of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
"Given everything Boston has been through, having the Holy Father come, I think, would be a great joy and a sense of affirmation to us as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of our church," O’Malley told the Boston Sunday Globe.
The last - and only - time a pope has visited Boston was in 1979 when Pope John Paul II celebrated mass for more than 400,000 people in the pouring rain on Boston Common.
Boston is the fourth largest diocese in the country with an estimated 2 million Catholics.
The Vatican has confirmed plans by the pope to visit the United Nations in 2008, but hasn’t set a date for the trip. Demand for the pope is great, with other areas in the country and Canada requesting he make a visit.
Visiting Boston could bring both opportunities and perils for the pope.
In 2002 the clergy sexual abuse scandal first came to light in Boston, forcing the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law after hundreds of people came forward and said they had been sexually abused by priests when they were children.
The Boston Archdiocese has been struggling to fix its reputation and finances ever since.
"If Benedict decides one thing he wants to do it to give a gesture of pastoral sensitivity with regard to the crisis, the obvious best place to go would be Boston," said John L. Allen, a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and author of "The Rise of Benedict XVI."
"On the other hand, there would be some voices among the American bishops and at the Vatican, who would be concerned about putting the pope in a hornet’s nest," he added.
Cardinal briefs deacons on initiatives at convocation
Mar 30, 2007
Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley updated permanent deacons on his plans for three major initiatives in the archdiocese in the coming year at their annual convocation held March 24 at St. John’s Seminary.
(The Boston Pilot, 3/30/2007) BRIGHTON -- The first new program is the rollout of the Renew curriculum throughout the archdiocese, the cardinal said. Renew is a three-year adult faith formation program used in other parts of the country, but will be tailored for the needs of the Boston Archdiocese. Here the program will pay special attention to healing wounds left from the priest abuse scandal.
By educating Catholics in their faith, the Church will better prepare them to resist the attacks and attempts to have the Church defined by its opponents, he said.
The program will be available in all of the languages spoken in the archdiocese, he said.
The cardinal said he learned about the program and was impressed by the success of Renew at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he taught and is now on the board of directors.
His experiences at CUA convinced the cardinal that Renew will be vital to campus ministries, he said. “There are 250,000 university students in Boston. We really hope this is a chance to evangelize and reach out to them.”
It is critical to reach out to adolescents and young adults, he said. “We must mentor them in the faith and inspire them to discipleship.”
The deacons will play a vital role in bringing Renew into local communities, he said. “We will depend on the deacons and other leaders in the parishes. We are anxious for the deacons and their wives to contribute.”
The cardinal said he hopes Renew will bring inactive Catholics back to the Church.
The second priority for the next year is to reverse the damage done to the sacrament and institution of marriage by popular culture and politicians trying to define it, he said.
“There has been a 60 percent decrease in marriages nationwide,” he said. “And I am sure we here in Boston are out in front -- we’re on the cutting edge on un-marriage.”
The crisis in marriage stems from the shift in the popular perception of its role in society, he said. “We are moving away from child-centered marriage to an arrangement between adults.”
Because so many deacons are living a married life as a vocation, they are in a privileged position to speak out for married life and share its virtues with other Catholics, he said.
The cardinal said he appointed a committee to examine the state of marriage and March 23 he received their report with detailed recommendations, especially on marriage preparation, that he will share and discuss in the coming weeks.
“I am very pleased with the hard work and ideas from that committee. They came up with wonderful ideas I look forward to sharing with you,” he said.
The third priority is the need for pastoral planning, he said. As the number of priests decreases, the archdiocese needs to prepare for greater roles for deacons and laity.
The cardinal said he has commissioned a study of the situation and will bring the deacons into the discussion when it is complete.
“The involvement of all of you is so important,” he said.
Responding to a question from the audience, the cardinal took the opportunity to review the archdiocesan finances.
“Today, the situation is better,” he said.
“I joked with the friars when I came here that I thought I knew the definition of poverty was to own nothing. Now, I understand poverty is owing hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The cardinal said the archdiocese has settled 600 cases from the priest abuse scandal with the proceeds from the sale of property and other assets and insurance.
The archdiocese has endowed St. John’s Seminary, turned around the Catholic hospitals so they are eligible to join a national alliance of Catholic hospitals, and shored up pension funds for the clergy and lay workers.
The cardinal said he remained committed to transparency and will continue to publish a complete financial report.
U.S. needs 'more humane' policy on immigration
Mar 17, 2007
After federal immigration officials spirited away to Texas nearly half of the 327 people arrested in a March 6 raid on a New Bedford handbag and backpack factory, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston called for "some kind of comprehensive immigration reform."
BOSTON, Mass. (CNS, 3/16/2007) – "While immigration reform is urgent, the needs of the women and children in New Bedford are desperate," Cardinal O'Malley said in the March 15 Boston Globe in an opinion piece titled "A more humane immigration policy."
According to news reports, Massachusetts officials, including Gov. Deval Patrick, were angered that before caseworkers from the state Department of Social Services were allowed to speak to detainees to determine whether any of those arrested had left children behind at home or school, almost half of the detainees were flown to Texas March 8. Federal officials refused to share with the state a list of those detained, and have refused requests by the state to halt additional flights.
"I hope our first priority is the families who were impacted, not a search for the villains," Cardinal O'Malley said.
"It is the case that most of the these families are 'illegals,' people who do not have the proper legal documents to be in the United States," he said. "But before they are 'illegal,' they are human -- women and men with families, hopes and dreams, a determination to find a better life for their children. Their humanity, human dignity and – most of all – their children have the first claim on our conscience as Americans."
Cardinal O'Malley did not propose elements of current immigration policy that need to be improved, but he pointed out the shortcomings that were evident following the raid.
"In order to be released from custody, those arrested in New Bedford had to assert that they were 'the sole caretaker' of their children," the cardinal said. "Mothers can be separated from their children, and perhaps deported, as long as there would be a caretaker for the children remaining in Massachusetts.
"Immigration law and policy are complex, but a test of 'sole caretaker or parent' as the determinant of being able to remain united with one's children fails the test of humane response."
Cardinal O'Malley added, "The concrete, crying needs of the most vulnerable people impacted by this raid must be addressed before we set out to fix the system."
The majority of those taken into custody in the March 6 raid were Guatemalans, Mexicans and Hondurans, along with a few Brazilians and some Portuguese and Salvadorans, according to a lawyer for the Catholic Social Services office in Fall River.
Most of those who were rounded up were women who operated sewing machines. The sweep also revealed sweatshop conditions in the factory.
After the raid about 200 women were transported to Fort Devens in Ayer for questioning; about 60 were later let go after they were found to be eligible for release.
"These events provide another example of why some form of comprehensive immigration reform is needed. President George W. Bush has called for it, Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have worked for it, but the objective has been mired in political rhetoric and obstructive tactics at several levels of the political process," Cardinal O'Malley said in his Globe opinion piece.
The failure to create a new immigration policy "that recognizes the realities of interdependence will multiply human tragedies," he said.
Cardinal’s Christmas Message
Dec 23, 2006
Only a couple of days until Christmas, we all ask ourselves: “Is there anyone I forgot?” We want to give gifts to family, friends and loved ones as well as to those whose kindness and service we appreciate.
(The Boston Pilot, 12/22/2006) Some people are hard to buy gifts for. They seem to have everything they need or want. Still, we struggle to get the perfect gift. The question we all need to ask is, “What am I giving to the One whose birthday we are celebrating?” We undoubtedly think that Jesus is in the “has-everything-category.” But at Christmas, Our God makes Himself small and vulnerable so that we need not be afraid to draw near, so that we realize that He has come in poverty and simplicity to teach us about love and about what really matters. Does Jesus want something from me? Yes, He does. That’s why He came into the world. He seeks our friendship. He calls us to be disciples and friends.
Our gift to the Lord must be our friendship. Friendship is not inexpensive. It demands sacrifices of time, energy and resources. Friends become friends by communicating, by talking, by getting to know each other.
In the legend often told to children, there is a noble and good monarch who is anxious to get to know his people so he assumes a disguise as a peasant so he can live among his subjects and experience their pains and wants and feel their aspirations. At first glance, the story might seem to parallel Christ’s coming at Christmas. But actually, Christmas is quite different. Our God came not disguised as one of us. He has become one of us. And He does not come into the world to get to know us. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He is our Creator, our Father. He comes into our world so that we can get to know Him and to be His friend. And in discovering who God is, we come to understand who we are and why we are here and what we need to do with our lives.
Christmas is the Birthday of the One who wants to be our best friend. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. Christmas is a moment to renew and deepen our friendship with the Lord. The gift the Lord is waiting for, longing for, is our heart. At Christmas, God makes a gift of Himself to us. All other gifts are as nothing compared to Christ. Every gift, nevertheless, that is given with love reflects the goodness and love of Our God who made Himself homeless so that we could find the way home. Merry Christmas!
Boston cardinal reaches flock with podcasts
Dec 21, 2006
Boston's Cardinal Sean O’Malley is going high-tech. He already has his own blog and now he plans to start podcasting to the masses, beginning with downloadable Christmas messages.
(Irish Examiner, 22 December 2006) The video messages — in English, Spanish and Portuguese — are part of a broader effort by the Boston Archdiocese to embrace new technology as a way to spread the church’s message.
The archdiocese has assigned email addresses to all priests, a handful of whom have resisted using computers and also has an internet and intranet site.
O’Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan friar who has taken a vow of poverty and is a frequent critic of consumer culture, is emerging as an unlikely technology pioneer.
Cardinal to continue blogging experience
Oct 13, 2006
In what was expected to be the last installment his online venture Oct. 1, the cardinal announced that he intends to continue the effort on a weekly basis.
(The Pilot, 10/6/2006) BOSTON -- “With this being my last post from Rome, I am happy to announce to you that I will continue to communicate directly with you through my blog each week when I return to Boston. It’s my hope to make a post once a week, on Friday of each week, starting this coming Friday. So, I invite you back to my blog and look forward to sharing and communicating with you well into the future,” he wrote.
The cardinal launched the Web site, www.cardinalseansblog.org , Sept. 21 as he departed on a 10-day trip to Rome that concluded with his taking possession of his titular church.
Prayer, charity and the joy of forgiveness
Oct 06, 2006
This is the prepared text of the homily delivered by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley at the St. Padre Pio anniversary Mass that took place Sept. 23 2006 at St. Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. The cardinal delivered the homily in Italian.
The saints are the masterpieces of God’s grace. Many saints are hidden from view and remain unknown, but some saints are placed in the world to capture the attention of a society that has forgotten about God.
Malcolm Muggeridge, the head of British television, an agnostic, discovered Mother Teresa pushing a wheelbarrow carrying a dying man infested with maggots to a Hindu temple so that the man might die surrounded by love. She told Muggeridge that the poor were really Christ in a distressing disguise and that her desire was “to do something beautiful for God.” That encounter with a saint, led Malcolm Muggeridge to discover God and to convert to the Catholic faith. Mother Teresa’s heroic love helped Muggeridge glimpse God’s beauty. How many people came to discover God because of an encounter with Padre Pio, at Mass, in the confession, through a letter, or just hearing a report about his life-- Today’s world is obsessed with celebrities, film stars, athletes, millionaires, singers, politicians, television personalities, writers. Padre Pio does not fit any of these categories. In 1971, three years after Padre Pio’s death, Pope Paul VI said to our Capuchin superiors:
“Look what fame he had, what a worldwide following gathered around him! But why? Perhaps because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise? Because he had resources at his disposal? Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was -- it is not easy to say it -- one who bore the wounds of our Lord. He was a man of prayer and suffering.”
Padre Pio, like Mother Teresa, like St. Francis, allows people to glimpse the beauty of holiness, which is a reflection of God’s beauty. People look for happiness in passing beauty, in wealth, in power and in pleasure and are always disappointed. The saints give us hope in the possibility of happiness, the power of love, the eternal beauty of God. I am struck by how quickly the chaplet of the Divine Mercy and the devotion to Padre Pio have spread all over the world. There is such a hunger for God’s mercy in this broken world. Padre Pio, our saint, is a saint of God’s mercy in the confessional. We are told that Padre Pio heard over 1.2 million confessions, including the confession of the young Father Karol Woytyla. How powerful a spiritual experience to say in Christ’s name “I absolve you of your sins” and to raise a wounded hand to bless and console the sinner. Padre Pio’s whole life announces to the world that God loves sinners and rejoices over the one lost sheep that is found.
On the island of Martha’s Vineyard we have a lovely Church, St. Augustine’s. There are in the Church lovely stained glass windows depicting the seven sacraments. The first window one sees on entering the Church is that window representing the Sacrament of Penance. On the window there are the keys symbolizing the power to loose and bind, a priestly stole and the words: “Go and sin no more.” But in the summertime, when it is very hot, they open the windows to allow some air to circulate. However, the part of the window that opens is the part where the word “no” is written. Then what people read on the window is: “Go and sin more.” I never heard of any complaints.
The greatest heresy of the modern age is the denial of sin. We have lost a sense of sin, a sense of the offense it causes to God, the destruction it does to ourselves and our loved ones, the poisonous effects it has on the fabric of society. We are like people with a deadly disease and in complete denial, refusing to admit that we need a physician. We have made such advances in science and technology and have become so blind to the reality of our human nature.
Padre Pio was the great physician of peoples’ souls, like the Cure of Ars, St. Leopold and other great confessors of the Church. He was a living witness of God’s unfailing mercy, of the power the risen Lord gave to His Church when on Easter Sunday He breathed on His Apostles and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit, Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them.”
No cures are as dramatic as the ones Padre Pio performed in the sacristy and confessional in the sacrament of God’s mercy. How much hope, how much grace, how much joy filled the hearts of those thousands of penitents, cured of the snake bite of sin like the Israelites in the desert who gazed on the bronze serpent Moses raised up. Padre Pio helped people to look at the crucified Christ with faith and love and experience the healing power of the cross.
St. Pio’s compassion for sinners finds another expression in compassion for the sick and suffering. The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza is a monument to Padre Pio’s concern for the sick and suffering. He reminds us how one of the signs of the Kingdom of God is that the blind, sick, captives are cared for and the poor have the Good News preached to them. The sick and the sinners who are the protagonists of the Gospel, and the special objects of Jesus’ pastoral love are the reason for this shrine. The ministry of Padre Pio is to manifest God’s unfailing love and mercy for His People, especially for the little ones, the sick and suffering and for poor sinners.
The Rule of St. Francis commands the friars to work but insists they should “not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, which all other temporal things should serve.”
Padre Pio was a man of prayer, a teacher of prayer and a witness of prayer. The 3,000 prayer groups throughout the world show us how his prayer life has been an inspiration for so many. If today we could ask for one grace from this pilgrimage let it be the grace of prayer in our lives.
The saint’s Mass was witnessed by over 10 million people who came to assist at the Eucharist celebrated by this holy priest. One of my favorite quotes of Padre Pio is what he tells us about the Mass: “Every holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvelous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we ourselves do not know…It is easier for the earth to exist without sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”
St. Gregory the Great says: “The present life is but a road by which we advance to our homeland. Because of this, by a secret judgment we are subjected to frequent disturbance so that we do not have more love for the journey than for the destination. The suffering St. Pio experienced in his ill health, in the persecution by the very Church he loved, the trials and setbacks in establishing the hospital, the pain of the stigmata -- all kept before his eyes the pilgrim nature of his vocation. What allowed St. Pio to persevere was the intense prayer life that he lived faithfully. He prayed more in a week than most people pray in a year. The test of authentic prayer is growth in goodness, growth in humanity, greater serenity in living and in facing hardship. Above all genuine contact with God effects a real displacement of self as the center of our existence.
Prayer is not withdrawing from the rest of humanity. It is more like a wedding feast to which we welcome all who cross our path. A strange thing takes place in prayer. There is a mysterious coupling of our own life with the lives of others -- an embrace that includes the whole of humanity. At first prayer stems from a sense of personal neediness. Prayer progressively becomes less a self-centered plea for personal deliverance than a universal cry for help and for the coming of God’s kingdom.
Prayer and suffering transformed the life of Padre Pio and made him a living icon of God’s unfailing mercy and love. Too often we try to follow Jesus at a safe distance, like Peter after he fled from Gethsemane. Padre Pio’s life and teaching encourages us to climb Calvary to join Jesus in the moments of greatest pain and greatest love.
In today’s Gospel, planted at the foot of the cross are these few brave disciples. I am sure that Mary’s faith and courage was a source of strength for all of them. Mary stood at the foot of the cross. At that dramatic moment, before His death Jesus gives us a gift, His most precious possession, His Mother. Behold your mother. Mary is now not only Jesus’ Mother. She is also our Mother.
For Padre Pio, as for St. Francis, the cross was his book, the book where he read the greatest love story in history. Padre Pio lived his life planted at the foot of the cross in the company of Mary.
Mary full of grace, the costly grace of discipleship, the grace that allowed Mary to renew her fiat, her yes to the Lord even in the face of the cross. There by the cross is our Mother, Our Lady of Grace.
Recently Our Holy Father Pope Benedict said, “He who believes is not alone.” Here we have a host of witnesses. We stand before the beloved cross of Our Blessed Savior, we stand with Our Mother, Our Lady of Grace, and Padre Pio. We are not alone. When the Apostles came down from Tabor, they carried in their hearts a glimpse of God’s Glory. When you return to your homes, share with your families and neighbors the graces of this pilgrimage and the message of our beloved Padre Pio: Prayer, charity and the joy of forgiveness.
Boston cardinal starts new Vatican blog
Sept 25, 2006
Looking to marry the Roman Catholic Church's 2,000-year-history with the modern world's technological bent, Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley on Thursday became the first U.S. cardinal to launch a blog.
BOSTON (Reuters, Sep 21, 2006) - O'Malley, 62, who wears the plain brown habit and rope belt of his Capuchin order, said he had timed the launch to coincide with a trip to Rome.
"While this is a new venture for me, and for the Archdiocese, I am eager to take advantage of the latest technology and mode of communication to share with Catholics of the Archdiocese my experiences as I return to Rome," O'Malley wrote on his Web log, at (http://www.cardinalseansblog.org).
O'Malley was named to head the troubled Boston archdiocese in 2003 after his predecessor resigned amid charges the church had covered up cases of priests being accused of paedophilia. O'Malley has faced the challenge of restoring public trust after a scandal that cost the archdiocese more than $150 million and led to the closure of some 60 churches.
Blogs, relatively informal, frequently updated Web sites that tend to dwell on the experiences of a single person, have gained in popularity among Web viewers over the past five years. The estimated millions of blogs in existence are known as the "blogosphere."
It is a relatively new practice for clergy to write blogs. While O'Malley is not the first Catholic leader to do so, he is the highest-ranking, a church official said.
"It's definitely a new phenomenon," said Bill Ryan, spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. "I have not heard of any cardinal doing this."
June 28 State House Press Conference on Marriage Amendment - Cardinal O´Malley remarks
Jul 12, 2006
In February of 2004, religious leaders in Massachusetts signed a statement supporting the proposed constitutional amendment to safeguard the traditional definition of marriage.
(rcab.org, June 29, 2006) Among the signers were leaders of the four Roman Catholic dioceses, the Black Ministerial Alliance, Orthodox Churches, various Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopalian communities, Jewish congregations, the Islamic Council of New England and Vision New England Churches. The signers of the statement represent over 3,000 congregations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
This is neither a Catholic nor a sectarian issue, it is a human issue. For thousands of years the institution of marriage, geared toward the rearing of children, has been the cornerstone of human society. Where marriage is weakened, the social cost is enormous. We have a duty to pass on a strong institution of marriage for the good of future generations. To redefine marriage as merely an arrangement among adults undermines the family and will have serious consequence in the future.
Marriage is by its very nature oriented toward having children and raising them in a family. The complementary characteristics of a mother and a father contribute so much to the development of healthy and well-adjusted children. Many families without the advantage of a stable loving union of husband and wife, such as single parents and grandparents raising children, do an admirable job. Yet most people are quick to recognize that the optimal venue for children is to be born and raised in a family where the father and mother are in a permanent, loving commitment. This reality deserves to be protected by the State.
Last fall a petition drive for the constitutional amendment obtained 170,000 signatures - the highest number of signatures in the history of initiative petitions. We are asking the legislature to allow the citizens of our state to vote on this crucial institution.
Regrettably, this is a very divisive issue. So much polarization has been precipitated by the Supreme Judicial Court, which by one vote has threatened the oldest and most foundational of human institutions. We urge the legislature to let everyone's voice be heard. Let the people vote.
Cardinal, governor join to urge Massachusetts vote on marriage amendment
Jul 01, 2006
Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley joined with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and local pro-family leaders in a June 28 press conference urging state legislators to allow a "fair vote" on a bid to amend the state constitution to protect marriage.
Boston, Jun. 29 (CWNews.com) - Massachusetts is the only state in the US in which same-sex unions can be accorded the full legal status of marriage. The petition drive is aimed to reverse a 2004 ruling by the highest court of Massachusetts, which required local officials to furnish marriage licenses for homosexual couples.
State legislators are scheduled to meet on July 12 in a constitutional convention, at which they will consider a citizen petition, signed by over 170,000 Massachusetts voters, calling for a referendum on the proposed constitutional amendment. If 25% of the legislators approve the measure during constitutional conventions in two consecutive years, the proposed amendment would be placed on the ballot for a statewide referendum in 2008.
However, opponents of the marriage-protection amendment have said that they may seek to avoid a vote during the legislators' session on July 12. In 2002, a previous petition drive was thwarted when the legislature adjourned the constitutional convention without voting on the measure. The state's Supreme Judicial Court later ruled unanimously that the legislators were obligated by law to vote on the petition, but voters had no way to enforce that decision.
In his statement to the June 28 press conference in Boston, Cardinal O'Malley said: "The debate over the meaning of marriage should not be limited to government officials. The magnitude of this issue calls for full participation by the citizens of the Commonwealth."
Governor Romney agreed that legislators should allow the voters of Massachusetts to decide the issue. The decision on July 12, he said, "will not be a vote for or against gay marriage. No, it will be a vote for or against democracy."
Two other Catholic diocesan bishops-- George Coleman of Fall River and Robert McManus of Worcester-- joined Cardinal O'Malley and a group of other religious and civic leaders at the June 28 event.
Cardinal Seán’s first five years in Boston
Le cardinal Sean évoque le don du ministère de Benoît XVI