Last Friday, I was still making my way back to Boston from Paraguay, so I was unable to celebrate our St. Patrick's Day Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

But I'm happy to say that the festivities at the cathedral went on without me. Bishop Reed celebrated the Mass, and I was also happy to hear they had a good representation from the whole community, including many of our first responders from the Boston Police and Fire Departments.

And, of course, they had the blessing of the shamrocks!



Mass in Bethany Chapel

On Sunday, I celebrated a Mass in Bethany Chapel at the Pastoral Center to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, the first of the Pontifical Mission Societies. We are so grateful to Maureen Heil for all her hard work in preparing this wonderful celebration.

For the celebration, we were joined by a number of priests, including our archdiocesan priest director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Father Gerry Osterman; Msgr. Kieran Harrington, the U.S. national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies; and Father Patrick Byrne from Ireland, former international secretary general for the Missionary Childhood Association.

It was a wonderful celebration, and at the conclusion of the Mass, we honored Aubrey Anderson, a fifth-grader from St. Christine Parish in Marshfield.

After hearing about the work of the Missionary Childhood Association in one of her religious education classes, she went home inspired to raise money for the missions. Through chores, odd jobs, and asking neighbors for contributions, she managed to raise over $250 -- quite an impressive feat for a young lady of her age!

After the Mass, we went upstairs for a luncheon, where we heard remarks by Msgr. Harrington, Father Byrne, and myself.



Trip to Washington, DC

On Monday, I traveled to Washington for a board meeting of the Catholic University of America.

I also attended a meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism.

Danielle Brown heads that office and has visited Boston and spoken at St. John's Seminary. She is just an extraordinary individual who has a great capacity to communicate the Church's teaching in this area, which is so important for us given the problems we face in our country.



Lecture at Catholic University

While I was in Washington, I also gave the annual James H. Provost Memorial Lecture at Catholic University's School of Canon Law. This year was particularly special because they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the School of Canon Law.

In my address, I spoke about the challenges of immigration in our Church and in our country.

I was a little concerned that no one would show up to hear a lecture at 4:00 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. But I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived and realized several hundred people had shown up!