Hello and welcome,
As you all know by now, the announcement was made early Monday morning that the Holy Father has selected Archbishop-elect Richard Henning of Providence to be the next Archbishop of Boston.
We have been waiting a long time for the news, and we are very grateful that the Holy Father has not forgotten about us and is sending a very fine pastor to Boston.
As is customary, Archbishop-elect Henning came to Boston that morning to be introduced to the people of the archdiocese.
He had asked if we could begin the day celebrating the 9:00 Mass together at the Pastoral Center, which I thought was a very good idea. My concern was how to get the word out in advance so people would know to attend, but Rocco Palmo took care of that!
Many members of the staff were able to join us, along with the auxiliary bishops and leaders of some of our key ministries. It was an opportunity for us to welcome him, pray for him and invite him to greet some of the people on the staff.
After the Mass, we showed him around the Pastoral Center a little bit, and then, at 10:00, we had the press conference. I was very happy to see there was such interest on the part of the media, with many different outlets in attendance.
As I mentioned in my comments, I can understand Archbishop-elect Henning’s surprise at being moved from Providence after such a short tenure there. But, obviously, the Holy Father believes that he has the attributes that are needed for ministry here in Boston.
We are very anxious to do whatever we can to help the transition be as smooth as possible, and we look forward to his installation, which will be on Oct. 31. I’m sure there will be many comments on the fact that the installation is on Halloween, but the bishop has already declared he has his costume prepared!
I am so grateful that the Lord has left me here as long as he has. It was difficult to come to Boston, but it is also difficult to leave.
The naming of a new archbishop is a moment of joy and renewal in the Church, and I look forward to doing whatever I can to make the new archbishop’s transition as easy as possible. I trust that the Lord will bless his ministry here and that he will find all of the love and support that I have experienced over the last 21 years as the archbishop.
For my part, I am very grateful for the many expressions of prayer and support people have sent me.
As I said at the press conference, I won’t exactly be taking up golf. After the new archbishop comes, I’ll be remaining in residence at the Cathedral Rectory and dividing my time between Boston and the Capuchin community in Washington. I’m sure I’ll also keep busy giving retreats and talks. (For example, I’m already scheduled to give a retreat to the bishops of Barcelona in January.) And, of course, I continue in my responsibilities with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors for the time being. So, I’m sure I’ll keep busy as long as I have health and strength.
From the press conference, I left directly for the airport to fly to Québec for the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention.
There is no direct flight to Québec City, so we went through Montréal, where we ran into Cardinal García Rodríguez of Havana and Dr. Antonio Seña.
We were all waiting for hours because flights that day were terribly delayed. We finally arrived in Québec City at 1:30 a.m. Luckily, the opening Mass wasn’t until 9:30, so I got a little sleep!
This is the second time in my years as a Knight that we’ve had the Supreme Convention in Québec City. This is the 350th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Québec, and that’s why Cardinal Lacroix invited us to return there.
It is such a beautiful city with so much history. In many ways, the Church was almost the founder of that city — between the Jesuits, the Ursuline Sisters and the first bishop, St. François de Laval.
Québec City is one of only two walled cities in North America. The other is St. Augustine, Florida.
The opening Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Lacroix, who gave a beautiful homily.
There were meetings during the day, and then, in the evening, was the States Dinner.
They invited Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the Cardinal Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, to speak.
He spoke about what the Knights are doing to help underwrite the cost of the restoration of the Bernini baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica.
We were also very happy to be joined by Fra’ John Dunlap, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta. It was the first time that a Grand Master had attended the Supreme Convention.
I also gave the keynote in which I spoke about the globalization of indifference.
It was wonderful to be together with thousands of Knights of Columbus gathered for the Supreme Convention, and the membership around the world is now about 2 million.
Of course, most of them are from the U.S., but the numbers around the world continue to grow, especially in countries like the Philippines, Poland and Mexico. And this year, there was a group from Spain because they are looking to start the Knights of Columbus in that country. Seeing that growth is very encouraging.
Until next week,
Cardinal Seán