Hello again!
I hope you all had a blessed and merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Just after my last post at the beginning of the month, we had the consistory at which the Holy Father created 21 new cardinals.
Among the new cardinals was 99-year-old Cardinal Angelo Acerbi. (He is the oldest cardinal ever to be named!) He had been a nuncio for many, many years and is now a resident at the Domus Santa Marta.
He gave the opening talk addressing the Holy Father and spoke very eloquently.
He’s just a wonderful person, and there was great enthusiasm that the Holy Father had named him to the College of Cardinals.
Of course, a consistory always draws many people to Rome, and I was very happy to see the Cardinal Archbishop of Havana Juan García, as well as Felice Gorordo, Antonio Señas, and Mario Paredes.
In the photos of the consistory, you can see Bernini’s newly refurbished baldacchino and Altar of the Chair.
For Christmas, someone sent me a book about Bernini, which was fascinating. I had sort of lost sight of how many of the wonderful monuments and works of art in Rome he had created.
Regular readers will remember that in my October 25th post I shared some photos of Bernini’s elephant obelisk outside the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
This time, I’m adding a photo of the tomb of Pope Alexander VI, who was the great patron of Bernini.
Bernini also, of course, created the famous statue of St. Teresa of Avila in my titular church Santa Maria della Vittoria, the angels carrying the instruments of the Passion on the bridge from Castel Sant’Angelo, as well as the beautiful fountains in the Piazza Navona.
He certainly is one of the most important artists of all time, and we are so pleased that his works in St. Peter’s have been beautifully refurbished with the help of the Knights of Columbus from the United States.
Immediately after the consistory, I left for Washington, D.C., for a gathering of The Papal Foundation.
On December 9, we had our annual dinner at the Willard Hotel in Washington, at which they honored me.
The following day we had our annual meeting at the nunciature in Washington.
Our keynote speaker was Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She gave an excellent talk.
At the nunciature, they have a very nice chapel and a statue of St. Peter that is a replica of the one in St. Peter’s Basilica.
On Saturday, December 14, I was very pleased to celebrate the baptism of little Teresa, the daughter of Deacon Tommy and Nancy, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
The following Monday, December 16, there was a dinner of the Catholic University of America Board of Trustees.
Though I have been on the board of CUA for many, many years, my service has come to an end with my retirement. So, during the dinner, there were many tributes and honors for me, for which I am very grateful.
Also, while I was in Washington, I was very happy to be able to get together for dinner with my good friends, Father Emilio Biosca and Manella and Tony Diez.
On Christmas Day, I celebrated the Spanish Mass at the cathedral for our local community here.
I thought the cathedral was decorated very beautifully this year.
And on the subject of Christmas, in case anyone ever wondered what the Holy Father’s Christmas card looks like, I thought I’d share a picture of this year’s with you:
Then, on Sunday the 29th, I had a Mass for some of the members of Communion and Liberation in Boston, dedicating their new home for the women’s group of the Memores Domini, consecrated lay members of the CL community, in Newton.
It was wonderful to be with them, and we are delighted that we have both a community of men and of women Memores here in the archdiocese.
On December 30, we gathered at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Norwood for the funeral Mass of Msgr. Connie McRae, who passed away on Dec. 19. There were several dozen priests and bishops gathered with the members of Msgr. McRae’s family there at St. Catherine’s, where he had been pastor.
In his long and fruitful ministry, he had been a very successful pastor, the rector of Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, and served as spiritual director at St. John’s Seminary twice and the Pontifical North American College in Rome twice. (I still remember him riding on the cobblestone streets of Rome and his bicycle well into his 70s!)
Archbishop Henning was, of course, the main celebrant, but Archbishop Al Hughes, who had been a very close friend of Connie’s for many decades, gave the homily. Msgr. McRae was a great and beloved priest of the archdiocese, and it was a very moving tribute to him. We are also grateful that Archbishop Hughes was able to be there and give such a heartfelt reflection on Connie’s life.
I also want to remind everyone that we have now officially begun the Jubilee Year “Pilgrims of Hope,” which offers an opportunity for those who embrace it to receive many blessings and graces.
As we begin this special year, please join me in praying the prayer that our Holy Father Pope Francis has given us for this time:
Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.
Amen
Finally, because we have some new (or occasional) readers with us, I want to remind everyone of my new blog schedule. Since the end of October, I have decided to switch from a weekly posting to just the first Friday of every month.
So, I hope you will all return to read my next post on February 7th.
Until next then,
Cardinal Seán