Hello and welcome!
Saturday, we had the joy of ordaining 12 men as permanent deacons at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
It was a very moving celebration and the cathedral was filled.
The new deacons are Deacons Matthew P. Baltier, John David Barry, John H. Beagan Jr., John J. Burkly, Paul G. Coletti, Richard Joseph Cussen, Timothy Francis Donohue, Joseph R. Flocco Jr., Joseph P. Harrington Sr., William Mark Jackson, Kevin P. Martin Jr., and William Roland Proulx.
In my homily I spoke about the important role our deacons play in fulfilling Pope Francis’s call to reach out to the poor, marginalized and far away.
We are so grateful to these 12 men for heeding the Lord’s Call to ordained ministry in the Church and to their wives and families for supporting them in this. We know our new permanent deacons continue to make a very important contribution to the life of the Church.
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Sunday I Joined Our Lady of Grace Parish in Chelsea for the celebration of their 100th anniversary. It was a bilingual celebration because there is a very large Haitian community there. 
There were a number of priests connected to the parish concelebrating, including a number of Redemptorist and Jesuit fathers.
It was a beautiful celebration.
After the Mass, Father Jim Barry had us all go out to the parking lot next to the church to take a picture of the whole parish. It was very nice because at one point they had these things like guns that shot confetti into the air.
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From there I went to St. Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury for the Mass and reception to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Father Raymond Helmick’s ordination. 
Father Raymond is, of course, the brother of the pastor, Msgr. William Helmick. We arrived towards the end of the celebration and were able to spend some time with him.
With Msgr. Bill Helmick and Father Raymond Helmick
His presence in the parish for so long has been very significant. The large turnout at the Mass is an indication of how much the people in the parish love him.
One external manifestation of his contribution to the parish has been the contribution of his artistic talents. He created the parish’s tabernacle and some very stunning mosaics that are in the church.
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Monday, was visited by the superior of the Sisters of Divine Mercy, who are at Saint Ann’s in Neponset. They told me of their plans to open up a retreat center in the archdiocese.
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In the afternoon, I hosted one of our periodic gatherings with priests ordained within the last five years. We always begin our meeting with a holy hour followed by a time of conversation and dinner.
Among the topics we discussed was the Holy Father’s recent interview with Civiltà Cattolica. The priests had some interesting insights into the Holy Father’s comments and it was a very lively discussion. There were a wide range of comments that got the priests to reflect and also to talk about how they were personally reacting to the words of the Holy Father.
We also discussed my upcoming meeting with the Holy Father. I told them that after this first meeting next week, we will have a better sense of exactly what the Holy Father is hoping for from this group. Certainly, a number of topics have come forward. As I have mentioned before, I have been reaching out to my brother cardinals and bishops in the United States and Canada and, in addition, some other religious and lay people have contacted me. I will certainly be taking into account all the recommendations I have heard.
This is an ongoing process and the Holy Father is seeking input from throughout the worldwide Church. One meeting is not going to change everything in the Church, but it will be a start. Certainly, the first order of business will be trying to see what could make the Curia more effective in the service of the Holy Father and the dioceses around the world.
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Tuesday, I was visited by Father Andrew Small, the national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, who was accompanied by Father Rodney Copp, the director of the Pontifical Mission Societies here in the archdiocese.
He came because I was scheduled to be honored at the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen World Mission Dinner that will be held in New York on October 1, the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Patroness of the Missions. Understanding that I could not be present because of my meetings with the Holy Father, he brought the award that was to be presented that evening.
He also brought with him the writing desk that was used by Saint Therese.
It is a small wooden box that she would place on her lap to write on. In fact I have one myself and I like to write that way. As they take the desk around, they ask people to write down their prayer intentions, which are then placed in the box.
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That evening we had the meeting of our Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. We had a very interesting presentation on pastoral planning and there were a number of questions from the Council members.
We then heard reports from the members of the various subcommittees. The last subcommittee report was by Sister Pat Deneen, who spoke about the upcoming Archdiocesan Social Justice Convocation, which will be held Oct. 5 here at the Pastoral Center.
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Wednesday, I went to Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton to celebrate a Mass for Mission Education Day that was being held there with students from our Catholic schools and parish religious education programs. 
World Mission Day is a program of the Missionary Childhood Association that introduces children to the missionary work of the Church and gives them ideas about how they can help support the missions in their schools and parishes.
The children heard talks by Sister Rosemary Hayes, SHCJ and Father Pat Byrne, SVD.
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That night, I was happy to host the 32nd annual Lawn Party at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. 
They had the largest crowd in the event’s history. 
With the Gieselmans and Father Palardy
The dinner chairs were Scott and Mia Gieselman. The evening featured remarks by the rector, Father William Palardy, Mr. Gieselman as well as two seminarians, both of whom were very inspiring. One of them spoke about how he had been in the service and the other was a widower.
The seminary is poised to celebrate the 50th anniversary next year and I complimented Father Palardy for arranging for their patron, Blessed John XXIII, to be canonized as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations! 
Until next week,
Cardinal Seán