Happy New Year to all!
As we begin 2026, I would like to share with you some of the events and liturgies with wich I ended 2025.
My first event came on December 1st, when I celebrated the funeral Mass for Barbara Roche at St. Christine’s in Marshfield. Archbishop Henning was also there and concelebrated with us.
Barbara and her husband Pat, who died a few years ago, have been very close friends of the archdiocese and great supporters of the mission of the Church in so many ways. After a very long and beautiful life, she was called home to God. Father Tom Walsh, who had been her pastor and a very close friend of the family, gave a very lovely homily and reflection.
Then, on December 3rd, Mother Olga and her sisters came for a visit at the cathedral. Originally, it was supposed to have been on December 1st, which is the feast of St. Charles de Foucauld, one of the patrons of her community. So we postponed it, but we had a Mass that culminated with a blessing with the relic of St. Charles de Foucauld. Afterward, we had lunch and were able to catch up.
It was wonderful to hear about the extraordinary work that they’re doing — the hundreds of people they take communion to every weekend in the nursing homes and so many other situations where the sisters are present to families and people in moments of suffering and loss. Their joyful presence is always a great grace, and I was happy that we were able to celebrate the feast of their founder together.
On December 4th and 5th, I traveled to New York for the installation of Bishop Mark O’Connell as the new Bishop of Albany.
On the eve of the installation, there was a Vespers ceremony in the cathedral. Archbishop Al Hughes gave a beautiful homily.
It is a spectacular cathedral—a Keely cathedral like our own in Boston. Patrick Keely built about 700 churches and around 20 cathedrals, from Boston to Chicago.
I was glad that we had that opportunity at least to visit the cathedral, since the installation ceremony the following day was held in a parish church. The cathedral is beautiful, but they have very limited parking, and there’s no lower church to allow for vesting for the different groups.
The installation Mass was held with the Nuncio and the Metropolitan, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and many other bishops, priests, and laity. 
Bishop Mark gave a beautiful homily.
They actually took the cathedra, the bishop’s throne, to the parish church. So he was enthroned in the official seat of the Diocese of Albany.
One thing you can’t see from the photos is how bitterly cold it was outside. It was two degrees below zero, but I was happy there was a nice atrium at the hotel with big skylights, which was quite a contrast with the polar weather outside.
On December 6th, the feast of St. Nicholas, we held the annual Women Affirming Life Mass and Breakfast at the Pastoral Center.
In my homily, I reflected on the role of martyrs, which literally means “witnesses.” And I said our task is to carry the Gospel of Life forward and help people embrace the value of life in the face of modern challenges.
It is alarming to see polls showing a majority of Americans saying they do not want to have children, or the increase in physician-assisted suicide in Canada. We see a diminishment of the sacredness of life in our society. I told them that Women Affirming Life have that mission to be witnesses, and the fact that they are women speaking to women makes the message even more powerful.
At the Mass, we also remembered Mary Elizabeth De Winter, a pro-life advocate from Needham who passed away in July.
Her daughter, Mary Ellen, shared the history of how her mother helped to found American University Women for Life over 40 years ago after realizing the American Association of University Women had a strong pro-abortion stance.
The next day, December 7th, I went to the North End to celebrate the Vigil Mass of the Immaculate Conception at St. Leonard’s. The Franciscans there are the Province of the Immaculate Conception, so it was their patronal feast. 
They also had a relic that had come from Assisi, part of the cord of St. Francis. So that brought a lot of Franciscans to the celebration.
The relic had been brought by Father Michael della Penna, who is a Conventual Franciscan. Then we had a number of the OFMs and myself, a Capuchin. And Father Antonio Nardoianni, the former pastor, was visiting. It was nice to have him there as well.
On December 11th, I participated in a Communion and Liberation event on the life of Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete at St. Clement Shrine in the Back Bay.
It was part of the Albacete Forum. There were a lot of young people there, some who were just learning about CL and being exposed to Msgr. Albacete for the first time.
I spoke along with John Touhey, who had a very interesting presentation in which he included video clips of some of Lorenzo’s talks.
Having known Lorenzo for so many years, from the time before he went into the seminary, I shared some of my experiences with him and his other extraordinary exploits and ministries. I also talked about how the different failures in his life helped to form him into who he was.
They also had a man read a letter that he had received from Lorenzo, who had been his godfather. He wrote his godchild a very beautiful letter that he was given years later. It was very moving.
On December 12th, we had the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe at the cathedral. They did an enactment where they had the bishop receiving Juan Diego with the roses, but I told him afterward that he was obviously an impostor because Bishop Zumarraga was a Franciscan!
This was a parish event on the feast day itself that I was celebrating. Archbishop Henning had celebrated there earlier during the week as part of a novena throughout the archdiocese, where he had gone to various parishes for their Guadalupe celebrations that really brought together thousands of people. It was a magnificent manifestation of people’s faith and devotion to Our Lady.
On December 14th, we had a Christmas Concert at the cathedral featuring the Copley Singers. We had a full cathedral, and it was very beautiful.
On December 16th, I was at St. Theresa’s in West Roxbury to present the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal from Pope Francis to Barbara Thorp, Tom Hannigan, and Father John Connolly.
This was the first time that we had an opportunity to bring them together, hand them the insignia, and congratulate them and their families for their work in the whole area of safeguarding for decades. This includes the help they gave during the visitation of the Archdiocese of Dublin that we did at the behest of Pope Benedict XVI.
On December 19th, I went to Washington for an event honoring Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre, which took place in the context of the Christmas party they have for the personnel at the Nunciature. He was awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest national recognition, and the French Ambassador was there to bestow the decoration. There was a Mass, and all five of the cardinals with some connection to Washington were there, along with some of Cardinal Pierre’s family.
In his acceptance speech, the Nuncio became emotional. He said that he felt he really did not deserve this medal, but said, “I think my father deserved it.”
His father had also received the Legion of Honor. (In fact, the Nuncio is the third generation in his family to receive it.) His father had been part of the French Resistance, was imprisoned for three years, and then escaped from a Nazi prison to continue his battle against the occupation of France. It was very impressive to hear that dramatic history.
Of course, around Christmas, there’s always lots going on at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and the cathedral is always very beautifully decorated.
We had our annual Christmas Bazaar, which Father Nicanor Vivas organized.
Then we also had our dinner to thank all the cathedral volunteers.
For Christmas Day itself, I had the 11:30 English Mass at the cathedral with the big crowds, and the music was just beautiful.
I also want to share with you a greeting I received from Bishop Donald Lippert over Christmas.
Christmas in Papua New Guinea looks very different than here!
Finally, on December 29th, I went back to Washington to celebrate the funeral Mass for Sister Maria Pilar, one of the Carmelitas de Vedruna who worked with me at the Centro Catolico. They are a Spanish order, originally from Barcelona, but they are international with almost 2,000 sisters all over the world, and I have always been very close to them.
Sister Maria Pilar had been a missionary for a short time in Africa, working with refugees there and then came and worked with us at the center. She ran the youth program, was involved in educational programs, and did a lot of work with families and women in need. After 66 years of consecrated life, she went home to the Lord during this Christmas season.
Afterward, we went to the cemetery, and I took this picture of the tombstone with the names of all the sisters buried there. Practically all of them had worked with me. (You begin to feel a little bit like the last leaf on the tree!)
We had the funeral at the Scalabrinian parish, St. Bernard’s, where they still had all the decorations up from Our Lady of Guadalupe.
I also took pictures of Our Lady of Fatima because the Portuguese community that is there is a group that I started 55 years ago at the Capilla Latina.
A number of people who were in my youth club were coming forward to introduce their grown children and grandchildren!
Until next time,
Cardinal Seán