Hello and welcome!
This past July was a particularly busy month. I’d like to share a bit about it.
The month began in San Francisco, from July 1 to July 3. I was invited to preach and deliver a keynote address at the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit, a liturgy conference organized by the Archdiocese of San Francisco at its seminary, St. Patrick’s in Menlo Park.
At the summit, I celebrated the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin.
The Capuchins invited me to celebrate Mass on Sunday at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. It’s one of the oldest churches in San Francisco, and it features numerous pieces of Franciscan art.
It’s a very beautiful church, and they have a replica of the Portiuncula there, very much like the one we have in Hanover.
The Catholic footprint in San Francisco is enormous. I also visited the Jesuit church, St. Ignatius, at the University of San Francisco, and it’s spectacular; it probably hosts at least 1,500 people.
We also visited the Mission San Francisco de Asís, popularly known as Mission Dolores —the mission that the city of San Francisco is named after — and went there on the feast day of St. Junípero Serra.
While I was there, I went to visit my sister and her family and stayed with the friars.
I also saw a Waymo self-driving car. I’d never seen one before; I didn’t have enough courage to go into it.
On July 7th, I attended the funeral Mass of Capuchin Friar Brian Newman in Pittsburgh.
He had spent many years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. When he went there over 50 years ago, nobody knew whether they would come home at all. That had not been established. It was a very challenging mission, particularly at the beginning, so the men who went were very generous and wonderful missionaries.
Then, back in Boston on July 9th, I had a visit from Maureen Heil.
Maureen has done an excellent job with the Office of the Propagation of the Faith and has supported missionaries all over the world. It’s truly remarkable to see the relationships that she has built up with so many of the missionary bishops. The one that she brought to see me was Bishop Raymond Wickramasinghe from Sri Lanka. Bishop Raymond happened to be with me at the Synod on Synodality. I enjoyed greeting him again.
I went back to Pittsburgh on July 18th for the profession of Brother Joseph. He was professed in our church in Pittsburgh, where I did my profession 60 years ago this month.
Celebrating Brother Joseph’s profession
With missionaries from Papua New Guinea, Brother Ray, Fr.Cyril and Sister Agnes. Fr. Cyril baptised sister Agnes in Mendi, New Guinea.
For 150 years, the friars of my province have been making their vows and ordinations there, so it’s always a very uplifting experience to go back.
The Capuchin brothers from Bavaria made all the statues and the altars. I was trying to figure out why they chose the different saints there. On the altar, there’s St. Lawrence the Deacon, and of course, that section of Pittsburgh is called Lawrenceville. Then they had St. Raphael; the Germans had a great devotion to St. Raphael, particularly as a protector of immigrants.
At the same time, I was glad to see that 14 or 15 new novices arrived at the novitiate. They wear a different habit; they have a scapular in the front called the caparon.
Flags represent the three countries of our capuchin province of Saint Augustine
On July 21st, Msgr. Steve Avila and retired Maronite Chorbishop Michael Thomas came for lunch. It was so good to see them. Bishop Thomas is from New Bedford; his family is very active in the Maronite parish there, Our Lady of Purgatory—a rather original name! He was the Vicar General of the Eparchy of Saint Maron for many years and founded two parishes in Florida. It was a great joy to reconnect with him and Father Steve Avila, who had been my priest secretary for many years in Fall River.
The next day, I attended the funeral for Mr. James Cusak, the father of Father Anthony Cusak.
I attended the Mass at Gate of Heaven Church in South Boston, which is one of our most beautiful churches. Father Anthony, of course, celebrated the Mass for his father and gave a very beautiful reflection on his father’s life.
On July 26th, I attended St. Ann Parish in Hoboken, New Jersey, for the 115th anniversary of their Festa.
It was the church of Italian immigrants from Salerno, and the Capuchin friars who staffed the parish were from the province of Florence. Interestingly enough, it was Frank Sinatra’s parish!
With Fr. Roberto, the capuchin provincial, Fr. Robert, the definitor general, and Fr. Martin the pastor of Saint Annes in Hoboken
Ministers of the altar with the statue of Saint Anne
At St. Ann’s, they have the Società Sant’Anna, and I mentioned to them that we also have these societies in our Italian parishes, which have been around for over 100 years. They have always been building blocks in the community, promoting family, faith, and culture in a very significant way.
After the celebration, the friars announced we were being taken to the airport with a police escort. Very embarrassing, yes, but we got there very quickly. I was kind of amused by it.
Very close to the church is Weehawken, where the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr took place, resulting in Hamilton’s death.
Apparently, it was a popular place for duels. One of the men who was in a duel there was Commodore Oliver Perry, who won a crucial naval battle in Lake Erie, near the island where I spent all of my summers as a child. His duel did not result in death. The man who had challenged him shot and did not hit him. So, then, he just shot up in the air, and that was the end. That was one way to end a duel bloodlessly.
While in the area they brought me to admire New York’s skyline.
My last trip this month was to Washington for the annual Immigration Mass at Sacred Heart Shrine on July 27th.
Fr. Emilio and Fr. Luke
I talked to the people in the parish about my experience of working there as a young priest. When I started, we had only one Spanish Mass; now there are four. I also started the Haitian Mass there, but now there are also Vietnamese and Brazilian Masses, all in the same parish. During the riots after the death of Martin Luther King, we had over 300 people whose homes had been burned down living in the basement.
While in Washington, I also had the opportunity to visit with Sister Maria Rosa, of the Spanish sisters, the Hermanas de la Caridad de Santa Ana, with whom I worked closely at the Centro Católico during those days. She celebrated her 101st birthday. She sings like an angel, and for 101, she’s as sharp as a tack.
Finally, I would like to mention Deacon Rafael de los Reyes, who has just passed away.
Since I was at the St. Ann’s festival, I couldn’t attend his funeral. When I was a brother, I made the Cursillo with him. He had been on the Cuban basketball team, and when the team was going to Russia, they stopped in Ireland. Some Irish kids came up and said to him, “What is Cuba like?” and with Cuban military personnel nearby, Rafael said, “Oh, it’s the paradise of the workers. It’s wonderful, and President Fidel is doing a wonderful job.” And then the soldiers walked away, and he turned to the kids and said, “It’s all a lie. I want to stay here. Help me.” So they called a policeman, who called Dublin. The people in the government said, “You take him to jail, lock him in a cell and don’t open the door until the plane takes off.” He came to America and was one of the first candidates in the diaconate program I had at the Centro Católico. In those days, the Cursillo made such a contribution to a time when there were very few priests working with Hispanic immigrants, and the ministry they did in many places was the salvation of the Church.
Until next time,
Cardinal Seán