Hello and welcome!
September is the time when things pick up again after the leisure of the summer. So, this has been a busy month, with lots of activities I’d like to share with you.
My month began with a trip to Portugal, which was on the way to Rome for the canonizations of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati. I still have contacts with people from my Portuguese parish in Washington from 50 years ago, so I am asked to do many weddings and baptisms in Portugal.
This time, I had the joy of baptizing little Jaime, whose parents and grandparents I married— it’s wonderful to maintain those connections over the generations.
It took place in the Church of St. Isabel, which was just stunning.
It was a pleasure to have Bishop Don Lippert with me. He was also coming to Rome for the canonizations, so he joined me in Portugal. It was the first time he’s been away from Papua New Guinea in a few years, so it was good to see him and be able to spend some time with him.
From there, we went on to Rome.
Of course, the Holy Year is going on, so there were many activities in St. Peter’s Basilica for the pilgrims, and I participated in one of the holy hours.
I ran into Father David Campo, who was there with a group of pilgrims. He’s a military chaplain from the Archdiocese of Boston, whom I ordained a few years ago.
There were huge crowds who had come for the canonization of Blessed Carlo and Blessed Pier Giorgio. It was a great joy to be present to see these two models for young Catholics become saints. This was a great moment for the Church, and I thought it was particularly fitting that this was the first canonization Pope Leo presided at.
Of course, Carlo Acutis’s mother was there. (It’s not often the mother of the saint is there for the canonization!) And I was hoping to get a chance to meet her, but as you can see in the photo, the poor woman was completely surrounded by reporters. But I thought it would be interesting for people to see what she was going through.
Of course, the canonizations drew people from all over the world to Rome, and many of them had Boston connections. One of them was Father Louis Merosne, a young priest who works in Haiti and is originally from Boston. He was in Rome with a group of pilgrims that included his sister-in-law and his nephew.
When he felt called to the priesthood, he went to Haiti and was ordained there. He’s now the director of the cathedral of St. Anne in Bishop Dumas’s diocese of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne. I was able to have Mass with them and show them around St. Peter’s.
I had dinner with Father Dan Hennessey, who was also there with a group, and we had dinner with Bishop Ali Herrera and met with the staff of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Nolan, the CEO of Eversource, were in Rome for the canonization as well. They are very close friends and strong supporters of the archdiocese, so I was happy to run into them in Rome.
On September 9, I came back to Massachusetts to attend the fundraiser for St. Anne Shrine in Fall River, which was chaired by Jeffrey Montigny. The fundraiser was held at Whites of Westport, a big restaurant that belongs to the Lafrance family and is often used for church events in the Diocese of Fall River.
St. Anne’s is a beautiful, monumental church right in the heart of Fall River. In front of it, there’s Kennedy Park, and when people go to Fall River, it’s the first thing they see. Most people, when they come into the city, presume it’s the cathedral because it’s so large and grand. (It’s probably twice as big as the cathedral.)
It was built a century ago by the French immigrants and the Dominican friars. There were, at one point, 40 friars in the monastery there, and they built this so it would be the St. Anne de Beaupré of New England. The church holds probably almost 2,000 people, or close to it.
Besides the church, they started St. Anne’s Hospital and brought in the French Dominican Sisters of the Presentation. They also started a couple of schools and a credit union, which turned into a huge bank.
It’s the largest and most spectacular church in the diocese, but it needs a lot of repairs. So, this wonderful group of laypeople, working with Father Murphy, have dedicated themselves to raising the funds needed, and they’re doing a great job.
When I left Fall River to go to Palm Beach, I had my last Mass there. It happened to be the “Peace Mass,” which was around Columbus Day. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Fátima, and thousands of people came to the procession. There were so many, they could not fit into the church, as large as it is. It was a magnificent celebration with all of the people with candles.
Unbeknownst to me, they televised the Mass, and the people in Palm Beach were watching it. When I went there, they told me how they were all amazed by seeing this church and the celebration, and they said, “We thought you were Harry Potter. It was such a magical place.”
So, I was saddened when I heard the church was having such challenges, but I am very grateful to the committee that is working so hard to restore St. Anne’s to its original splendor and preserve this landmark for the Catholics of Fall River.
It was also good to see some old photos of my time in Fall River. This picture was taken when I went to the shrine for an event in 1994.
The priests there were Father Bergeron and Father Hamel, two of the Franco-American priests in the diocese. Standing next to me, of course, is Msgr. John Olivera, who was my priest secretary and Chancellor of the diocese for such a long time.
On September 11, I came to Boston for the Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner. As always, it was a great success, and it was wonderful to be there with Archbishop Henning, the priests, and so many of the friends and benefactors of the archdiocese.
Once again this year, they showed a beautiful video about the priesthood, which I’d like to share with you:
Because it was 9/11, they had the Firefighters’ Pipe and Drum Corps perform a tribute to first responders. I enjoyed it very much because I have a great love for the bagpipes.
When was growing up, in the park near where we lived, they would play the bagpipes every Saturday night, and I would fall asleep listening to them. (Though it’s really an outdoor instrument, you know!)
Of course, our keynote speaker for the evening was Kevin James, whom many of you may know from the movies or television. He was very funny but also had a wonderful message for our priests. We were so fortunate to have him join us.
It was always a joyful event, and we’re so grateful for the hard work that resulted in such a successful evening.
Next, I went to St. Paul, Minnesota, for the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo on September 13.
The local superior in the States is Father Antonio Lopez, and, of course, Archbishop Hebda was there with us.
Don Massimo, the founder of the Priestly Fraternity, was one of the early followers of Father Guisanni. And 40 years ago, Father Guisanni proposed to him founding an order for priests that come out of the Communion and Liberation movement. A just few years afterward, I met them through Father Lorenzo Albacete, and I was the first bishop to invite them to the States. They took a parish in Fall River, and now they have a parish in Boston, as well. So I’ve been involved with them since almost their beginning.
Last year, I celebrated their ordinations at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and I was very honored to be asked to be part of the 40th anniversary celebration.
The church they staff, St. Peter’s, received many of the stained glass windows and other works of art that we had sent from Boston when they were renovating, and the people there expressed their gratitude to me.
We were very pleased that these beautiful items that people made so many sacrifices to give to the church are still being used in worshiping communities.
While I was there, they brought me to visit a couple of churches in the area nearby, which is right near the Wisconsin border.
One of the churches is where Blessed Solanus Casey, grew up; he was confirmed there, and he worked in that town. So, as you can imagine, they have great devotion to him.
There’s a procession every year in his honor, and they have many relics and icons of him. The young priest in the church gave us a wonderful tour.
Solanus has an extraordinary story. His parents were Irish immigrants who came to America, were married in Boston, and then went to the Midwest, where they were farmers and had a very large family. I believe there were three sons who became priests and one who became a nun.
When Solanus wanted to enter the seminary, he went to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. But when he got there, he realized that all the classes were in German, and they threw him out because he didn’t speak the language. So he went to the Capuchins in Detroit. Their classes were also in German, but the difference is that the Capuchins didn’t throw him out! They pushed him through and ordained him, but they never gave him faculties to preach or to hear confessions. So he lived his whole life as a porter and worked at a soup kitchen in Detroit during the Depression, where they had thousands of people who came in. He was constantly curing people and performing all kinds of miracles.
I still fondly recall being present for his beatification in Detroit. It was a great event, and we look forward to his canonization, which we hope will come soon!
I also visited a German parish there where they had a shrine to Blessed Karl von Habsburg and his wife, Servant of God Empress Zita.
There is an interesting connection between the Capuchins and the Habsburgs: practically all of them are buried in the Capuchin church in Vienna. When a member of the royal family dies, they usually have the Mass in the Stefandom, which is the cathedral, and then take the body in procession to the Capuchin church. When they get there, they knock on the door and the friar says, “Who’s there?” They answer, “It is the emperor, archduke of so-and-so…” and list all of his titles. The friar says, “I don’t know you.” And then they knock again, and he says, “Who is there?” And they say, simply, “Otto (or whatever the name), a poor sinner.” Only then do they open the door and let them in.
On September 20, I had a meeting with the leadership and many of the supporters of the New York Encounter to prepare for the 2026 event.
The New York Encounter is an extraordinary cultural and religious event for young people that they hold every year, modeled after “il Meeting” in Rimini, Italy, where they bring together over a million people. It’s the largest cultural event in Italy. Now they’ve done something similar in New York, and I’ve always been a part of that.
That same weekend, on September 21, I was invited by Cardinal Dolan to participate in the dedication of the new mural in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which represents Our Lady of Knock. The cathedral was dedicated the same year as the apparition in Ireland. 
It’s an extraordinary piece of art in the narthex of St. Patrick’s. They have Our Lady of Knock with St. Joseph, St. John, the angels and the Lamb of God. Then they have many people representing the immigrants coming to New York, first responders, and outstanding Catholic New Yorkers and saints like Dorothy Day and Pierre Toussaint, Mother Cabrini, and Father Felix Varela, whose cause has been introduced. (Father Varela was a Cuban exile and the vicar general of New York. They had wanted to make him a bishop, but the Spanish objected because he was part of the original revolution for independence in Cuba.)
It was a beautiful celebration. At the end of Mass, Dana Scallon sang “Golden Rose Queen of Ireland,” which is a very moving song she wrote herself for John Paul II’s visit to Knock. Cardinal Dolan announced that he wants Dana to sing at his funeral, and I’m putting my name on the list, too!
On September 26, I went to California to speak at the FOCUS Founders Forum in Santa Barbara.
Curtis Martin gave a wonderful talk, and his wife, Michaelann, talked about how they started the movement. They started with just two volunteers. Now there are a thousand FOCUS missionaries in colleges and universities all over the United States doing just wonderful work and making such an extraordinary contribution to the life of our Church.
Their chaplain was Father John Lager, a Capuchin from my province. He’s sort of stepped aside, and the young Jesuit Father Kevin Dyer has taken his place. He is one of the Jesuits whom I ordained a deacon at St. Ignatius years ago, and is doing a wonderful job.
Our novitiate is nearby in Santa Ynez, so I’ve been staying there and having Masses for the novices.
One day, we went to the Capuchin Mission Church in a town called Solvang, which they call “The Danish Capital of America.”
My life has always been sort of touched by the Danes. My first diocese, which was St. Thomas, was for 350 years the Danish West Indies. And then I wrote my thesis on Kierkegaard. Now I come here, and the Capuchin parish is in this Danish town. It was very interesting to make that connection.
Until next time,
Cardinal Seán