Hello and welcome!
As I concluded last week, we were still in the midst of the first National Eucharistic Congress in many decades, which was a great success. It brought together many thousands of people from all over the country to celebrate our Catholic faith in the sacrament of the Eucharist. I was very edified by the enthusiasm and faith that was witnessed to by the many thousands of people who gathered for all the activities of the Congress.
We are very proud of the fact that our own Mother Olga Yaqob was one of the keynote speakers, and I like to share the video of her talk with you here:
There is now a great deal of enthusiasm for the idea of having these Eucharistic Congresses at regular intervals to be able to focus Catholics on the centrality of the Eucharist in our faith life. That will be something the bishops’ conference will be discussing further, but I think it’s a wonderful idea, and we certainly got off to a good start with this Eucharistic Congress.
I was at the International Eucharistic Congress that we celebrated in Philadelphia in 1976 as part of the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations. But the last National Eucharistic Congress in the United States was back in the 1940s. So, it’s been a very long time, and we are so grateful to Bishop Cozzens and all the people who worked so hard to make this Congress such a great success.
I also want to share with you these photos that I was sent recently.
After the Spanish Mass, they were anxious to get us over to the place where EWTN was conducting interviews, so they insisted that we ride on this cart. I usually prefer to walk, but it was kind of funny to be whisked around the convention hall!
On the way back from Indianapolis, I passed through Pittsburgh to be present for the ceremony where Brothers Charles Cascino, Ben Duphiney and Jack Gianetti, three of our Capuchin novices who have completed their novitiate, made their first vows.
I was very happy to be able to be with them.
From Pittsburgh, I returned to Boston for the installation of Father Marcos Enrique as the new pastor of St. Mark’s Parish in Dorchester.
The celebration there was very enthusiastic. The parishioners all know Father Marcos very well, as he’s worked there for a long time.
The Sunday readings had the theme of the Good Shepherd, which I thought was so appropriate for the installation of a new pastor. I also pointed out the fact that they have a Good Shepherd window over the high altar in St. Mark’s.
Tuesday, we were very saddened to hear of the passing of Jack Connors. Jack discovered recently that he had a very serious diagnosis that progressed rapidly. His death was very precipitous, but I was able to visit him in the hospital.
Certainly, he was one of the great larger-than-life figures in the community, a man who supported many different charities and did so much for our Catholic schools. Literally, thousands of our inner-city youth are receiving good Catholic education because of the efforts of Jack Connors.
I’d like to share with you the statement I issued Wednesday morning after receiving the sad news:
Jack Connors has gone to God and left us all with the legacy of a life lived in the service of others. To his wife Eileen, to his four children and their spouses, and his thirteen grandchildren, I extend my prayers and consolation.
The tributes to Jack’s legacy will undoubtedly come from many sources, commending his leadership in the world of commerce, his vision of what a good society should be, and his seemingly endless generosity to others. When I first came as Archbishop of Boston, Jack offered his assistance, a gift which has been of enormous value to the Church and to me personally over the past twenty years.
Jack combined a life of civic leadership and Christian generosity. The generosity was never confined to one area of need or suffering; it was boundless in its content. Jack’s influence could be found across the City of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and in the Church, he served so well.
While his gifts of intelligence and wisdom enhanced the Archdiocese of Boston in multiple ways, it was the education of children which captured his heart and engaged his enormous energy. The founder and the continuing inspiration of the Campaign for Catholic Schools, Jack drew a broad range of talented women and men together in the service of providing quality education for children of all faiths and from all social strata of our civil society.
He is widely praised for his commitment and leadership involving many important organizations that serve the common good. Here I feel particularly privileged to be able to acknowledge his impact on Catholic education in an Archdiocese where schools have been the pathway in the past and continuing today for children of citizens and immigrants to become successful members of our society.
Jack brought his widely esteemed business acumen to his life as a citizen and a Catholic. I use this tribute to particularly emphasize his commitment to build a better American society, one marked by social justice and fairness. Jack’s faith and Jesuit education grounded his conviction to honor the human dignity of every person of every faith and every ethnic or racial community which make up the mosaic of the United States. His position and role in Boston offered him the opportunity to enhance human dignity, to foster human equality and to provide a model for others who joined him in so many endeavors across several decades.
We have lost a great friend and a great leader of our common life in Greater Boston, but we are a better community of neighbors, friends, and citizens because he lived and worked among us for so long.
May he rest in peace and may his legacy be continued.
That day, I went to Carlisle for the Funeral Mass of Father Tom Donohoe, who had been a priest for 72 years and pastor until he was 92 years old. He was 97 years old at the time of his death. It was held at St. Irene’s, a church that he had built and where he had been pastor for so many years.
His sister Virginia and many members of his family were with us.
The homily was preached by Father Romain Rurangirwa, a Rwandan priest who had been in residence with Father Donohoe for 12 years. He gave a very eloquent homily.
Finally, next week, on the Feast of the Portiuncula, it will be the 40th anniversary of my ordination as a bishop. That prompted me to pull out some old photos and recall the community and the people who surrounded me at that moment.
The ordination took place at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.
I was ordained by Bishop Edward Harper, the first Bishop of the Virgin Islands. He was a Redemptorist Father who had been a missionary in Puerto Rico and then became the prelate and, later, the first Bishop of St. Thomas.
In the back row of this photo, singing with the Cathedral Choir, you see Sister Louis Marie, a Sister of Charity of Convent Station. She was a Virgin Islander trained in social work, who I later made my Chancellor. She was a wonderful collaborator.
That day brought a very radical change in my life. It was something that I never expected, but I am grateful for the 40 years that I have been able to serve the Church as a bishop in four extraordinary dioceses where I have been able to enjoy the friendship and the testimony of so many outstanding priests, religious, deacons and laypeople who make up our Catholic community.
Until next week,
Cardinal Seán