Hello and welcome!
Friday, I hosted a gathering and reception for those people who, over the last year, have made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to learn more about the Domus Jerusalem project, of which I am the president.
It was very nice to see many of the pilgrims again. There was a presentation on the progress of the Domus Jerusalem and we commented on the fact that the Holy Father will be visiting the Holy Land in May and how important that part of the world is for believers. We are very anxious to have the presence of the Church strengthened there, and this project is one way of accomplishing that goal, by having this center of Catholic life in the very heart of Jerusalem.
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Saturday, we were blessed to have the ordination of nine new transitional deacons who, God willing, will be ordained to the priesthood in May. It is the largest class we’ve had in a number of years and included men from all three of our seminaries — St. John’s, Blessed John XXIII and Redemptoris Mater. 
This ordination was also significant because we ordained the man who will be the first Brazilian priest ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston, Steven Clemence who attends the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. In a diocese where there are 200,000 Brazilians, the ordination of a future Brazilian priest is a great blessing. 
In this class we also ordained a new Korean transitional deacon from St. John’s Seminary, Jiwon Yoon. He will be our second Korean priest ordained for the archdiocese. 
As I pointed out in my homily, the very first deacons were ordained to be able to serve the diversity of the Church and this, of course, is still happening. We are Catholic, and we need to be able to provide for all the communities that make up our Church.
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That afternoon, Father Sean Maher of St. Mary’s in Melrose stopped by the Cathedral with a group of children from his parish school. 
I was glad to give them a little tour of the cathedral.
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That night, I left for New York to attend the 2014 New York Encounter sponsored by Communion and Liberation.
The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Viganò celebrated the Mass Sunday morning and then Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete and myself had a dialogue there on the stage.
It was a very informal conversation about our shared experiences and about the new Holy Father. Of course, Msgr. Lorenzo was as entertaining as ever!
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Sunday night, I went directly from New York to Washington D.C., to be there for the March for Life. And, thank goodness I left when I did because, as those who followed the events of the March know, the weather turned very bad on the day before the March.
Arriving early allowed me to spend some time with the friars at the monastery and on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, I went for a walk. 
It was 60 degrees and sunny, which made it hard to believe that we were really in for a snowstorm the next day and temperatures in the single digits — which is almost unheard of in Washington. Well, as we know, the predictions were all too correct.
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Every year, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities celebrates a Mass the day before the March with pro-life leaders from throughout the country, including directors of diocesan pro-life offices, some state Catholic Conference directors and leaders of different pro-life movements such as Project Rachel. 
Archbishop Joseph Naumann and Washington Auxiliary Bishop Martin Holley concelebrated with me, along with a number of priests.
The Mass is held at the Franciscan Monastery. For those who have never been to Washington, the Franciscan province that takes care of places in the Holy Land has a monastery in Washington D.C. with many aspects that are replicas of sacred sites in the Holy Land. So much so that, when I went to the Holy Land for the first time on retreat with 30 priests from Fall River, they asked me what I thought of it and I said to them, “It was wonderful. It was just like the Franciscan Monastery in Washington!” Before visiting the Holy Land, I had no idea how well they had replicated places such as Bethlehem, Calvary and Nazareth.
Afterwards there was a reception for the leaders. 
At the reception we presented a video on the U.S. Bishops’ Call to Prayer.
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As chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, I was also the main celebrant and homilist at the Vigil Mass for Life held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the evening before the March.
They estimate that, between the upper and lower churches, the Mass was attended by about 10,000 people. So, despite all the challenges of the weather, the pilgrims were there in large numbers to witness to their pro-life commitment.
In my homily, I mentioned the story of a window in a church in Nantucket depicting the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the words of the Gospel “Go and Sin No More” but when opened reads “Go and Sin More”. Just to prove the story is true, I thought I’d share a picture of that window with you:
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The following morning, we gathered at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, the Capuchin parish on 16th St., for a Mass with all the different groups of Boston attending the March for Life. 
Father Moises, who is the pastor there, was a parishioner of mine at the parish many years ago, and he is always very gracious to host us and provide lunch for many of the pilgrims.
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Following the Mass, we went down to the National Mall to join the rally before the March for Life.
I made an appearance on the stage briefly to greet the leaders from the various Orthodox Churches who, this year, delivered the opening prayer.
Then I joined our group from the archdiocese on the March. It was sunny but very cold. I think it was about 6 degrees when we were walking, but despite the cold and the snow we had about 1,000 people who came from Boston to attend the March – seminarians, parishioners and students.
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That evening, back at Capuchin College, Mother Olga and the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth who were in town for the March had dinner with the Friars. One of the friars, Brother Jonathan was celebrating his birthday and so the sisters sang some songs for him. 
They were very cleverly written songs, sung to the tune of songs from Sound of Music. It made for a very nice evening to thaw out after the March.
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Finally, I want to conclude this week by inviting all of you to join me Saturday January 25 at 2 p.m. for an Ecumenical Prayer Service for Martyrs that will be held at Mission Church in Boston.
The service is co-organized by our Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Community of Sant’Egidio and is held the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to remember Christians throughout the world who have given their lives for their faith over the past year.
As the Holy Father has said, “In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a Bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox. Their blood is mixed. To those who kill we are Christians. We are united in blood…”.
We will be joined by many of our Catholic groups, ethnic communities and rites, as well as representatives from numerous Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, and historically Black churches. I hope you will join us as well!
Until next week,
Cardinal Seán