Welcome back!
I am sure you enjoyed last week’s guest blog by newly ordained Father Gabriel Hanley.
This week, on Monday, I traveled to St. Joseph Cathedral in Burlington, Vermont, for the ordination of Bishop John Joseph McDermott.
He is replacing Archbishop Chris Coyne, who has been recently named the Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut. Bishop Coyne was a Boston priest. He was in Rome for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, to receive the pallium from Pope Francis. He was one of the two co-consecrator bishops along with Bishop Sal Matano who had been the bishop of Burlington before him. It was a beautiful ceremony.
Bishop McDermott is a Burlington priest who has served in various assignments in the diocese since his ordination in 1989. Since 2012, he has been the diocese’s Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.
You can watch my homily here:
Tuesday, I celebrated the funeral Mass for Father James Rafferty at St. Paul’s in Hingham, where he had been the pastor for 18 years and was so beloved.
Many members of his family and parishioners gathered for his funeral Mass.
That night, I had Mass with the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth and their founder, Mother Olga. They had just received the document from the Holy See making them a Public Association of the Faithful, so we had a Mass and dinner at the cathedral to mark that event.
It was the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a very auspicious day. It was also the 15th anniversary of their founding the first House of Discernment, as I asked her to set up the community. She started Nazareth House at BU in 2009 and the foundation of the order took place in 2011. If you want to learn more about them, Mother Olga prepared a history of their origins, which makes for very interesting reading.
The next day, we came to Indianapolis to participate in the Eucharistic Congress. Many people on the plane were also coming to the Eucharistic Congress, including Bishop Robert Reed, who was with us.
On Wednesday night, there was an opening procession and talks by the nuncio and Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who has been so involved in organizing this wonderful event.
Thursday morning, I had the Spanish Mass. I was joined by the nuncio, many priests and bishops, and a huge contingent of Hispanic participants in the Eucharistic Congress.
Deacon Franklin Mejia from Boston assisted me at the Mass
At noon, we had a luncheon sponsored by the Papal Foundation, of which I’m the chairman. The Papal Foundation has helped with some of the expenses of the Eucharistic Congress. It was a way of thanking people and acquainting more people with the work of the Papal Foundation.
It’s been a very successful 10th Eucharistic Congress. They’re already talking about when this should be done again. It’s been 83 years since we had a Eucharistic Congress in the United States, and the participants’ enthusiasm is palpable. I just hope that the rest of the country, our fellow Catholics, are aware of this event.
Organizers planned four pilgrimages starting in different parts of the country. Father Roger Landry, a priest from the diocese of Fall River, participated in the two-month pilgrimage and recently wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “A 6,500-Mile Walk With Christ.”
I heard that in many of the towns on the different itineraries, processions with the Blessed Sacrament were held. This was a great opportunity to evangelize and witness the centrality of the Eucharist in our Catholic faith.
Until my next post.
In Christ
Cardinal Seán