Hello and welcome!
We are very pleased that Brother Tino, who is now one of our superiors in Rome, is back in Boston for a visit. Brother Tino was, of course, very instrumental in setting up the Teen Center at St. Peter’s in Dorchester and did wonderful work with the Cape Verdean community there.
So, on Friday, Msgr. Kevin O’Leary, Father Bob Kickham and Bishop Paul Schmitz accompanied me to enjoy a meal that Brother Tino prepared at our San Lorenzo Friary in Jamaica Plain. It’s always enjoyable to get together with him and the friars.
Saturday, I gathered with the local members of Communion and Liberation at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for a Mass to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of CL.
Of course, here in Boston, we are very blessed to have many members of Communion and Liberation. We also have the Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo working in our parishes, as well as the Memores Domini, who are the consecrated laypeople of CL.
Every year CL holds a weeklong gathering in Italy with over a million people, known as “il Meeting,” and here in the United States, they hold a similar gathering called The New York Encounter. In my homily, I spoke about how important CL and these types of events are for the Church’s outreach to young people and involving them in the life of faith and discipleship.
After the Mass, we had a gathering with the families, and a wonderful choir performed polyphonic music for us.
The charism of Msgr. Giussani is making a remarkable contribution to the life of the Church in Boston. So, it was a special joy to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth with them, and we look forward to seeing them again soon when they conclude their Good Friday Stations of the Cross at the cathedral.
Saturday evening, we went for a lovely birthday celebration for Father Jonathan Gaspar at his parish, St. Mary’s in Brookline.
We were very pleased to be there, along with a small group of his priest friends, to wish Father Jonathan a happy birthday.
Sunday, I had the joy of celebrating the incardination Mass of Fathers Cristiano Barbosa and Michael MacInnis at St. John’s Seminary. The Mass was held at the seminary because both of these priests have been working on the faculty there. 
We have been blessed by their ministry in the archdiocese for several years. They are two wonderful priests who are already contributing much to the life of our Church and our priestly fraternity here in the Archdiocese of Boston. So, it was a joy to make official their participation in our local presbyterate.
Monday, I met via Zoom with the leadership of ANSH, the Asociación Nacional de Sacerdotes Hispanos (National Association of Hispanic Priests). Their president is Father Juan Molina, who previously served with Catholic Relief Services and as director for the Church in Latin America at the USCCB.
The meeting was held to plan their upcoming national conference, which will be held in Boston this fall. They will have a Mass at the cathedral and visit some of our Hispanic parishes in the archdiocese. We are very happy to welcome them, and we hope that many of our own Hispanic priests will be able to be a part of that event.
The organization was started when I was a young priest. At that point, most of the priests were from Spain, but I think now the largest single group would be from Columbia. We are very grateful for the priests who come from other countries to help us to minister to our Hispanic Catholics in the United States. They give wonderful support to our Hispanic ministry throughout the country. So, we are very pleased they are coming to Boston.
Tuesday morning, we had a virtual meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The members, of course, hail from throughout the world, and it was very interesting to get their reports of the different things that are happening in their regions, particularly with the situation in Ukraine.
One member, Professor Ernesto Caffo, is representing the Pontifical Commission in Poland right now. He is in Warsaw meeting with the different NGOs and agencies working with refugees from Ukraine, particularly children, to make sure that safeguarding issues are taken into account. Over 1 million of the more than 3 million people who have fled Ukraine are children, and many of them are unaccompanied. Of course, the great worry is that they might be exploited, trafficked, or taken advantage of in some other way.
The beautiful thing is that, unlike some other situations where refugees end up in camps, the Polish people are taking Ukrainian refugees into their homes. That’s an extraordinary thing to see. However, there are still child protection issues that need to be dealt with. So, our commission is cooperating with the United Nations and other organizations trying to bring some order to what is happening, and we are working to be of service to promote best practices in the area of child protection.
Another member, Professor Benyam Mezmur of Ethiopia, is on the U.N. Committee for the Rights of the Child, and he was also telling us how dire the situation is. I think we are all aware of the horrific plight of refugees who have had to flee Ukraine, and it certainly is something our commission is very concerned about.
Then, in the afternoon, I participated in a workshop sponsored by the commission for the bishops of a region of Brazil. One of our members from Brazil, Nelson Dos Santos, was present in person, and the rest of us addressed the bishops via Zoom.
That evening, I went to St. John’s Seminary for one of our St. Andrew Dinners. We hold these gatherings for high school-aged young men from our parishes to talk to them about priestly vocations. We had about 55 young men with us this time, and they came for a holy hour, vespers and dinner. Then, they had small group meetings with the seminarians, and I addressed the whole group on the theme of vocations.
It’s always wonderful when seminarians are able to witness to their own vocations to these young men. We are very grateful to the seminary for hosting us and, of course, to the Vocations Office for making all the arrangements.
Thursday was, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. And although I was unable to be present, we were very pleased that we were finally able to have something of a “post-pandemic” St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
We are very grateful to Bishop Mark O’Connell, who celebrated the Mass, and to Father Chris O’Connor, who preached the homily. Of course, Msgr. O’Leary prepares everything well, and it’s always a great way to celebrate the patronal feast of our archdiocese.
I was able to speak to the young men from Catholic Memorial on St. Patrick’s Day to thank them personally for their presence at the cathedral. Catholic Memorial is one of the few schools in the archdiocese that has a program to teach the Irish language and culture, and their students are always an important part of our celebration at the cathedral. 
Students served as acolytes for the Mass and led readings and Prayers of the Faithful in Gaelic and English. We are grateful to Dr. Peter Folan, Head of School, who also served as a lector, and Ms. Mary Concannon, Guidance and World Languages Faculty, for accompanying the students and providing for their participation at the Mass. 
One of the people that I received St. Patrick’s Day greetings from was Msgr. Felix Ojimba, who lived with us at the cathedral for many years. He is from Nigeria and reminded me that St. Patrick is also the patron saint of that country — just another reminder that St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated throughout the world!
Until next week,
Cardinal Seán