BOSTON -- Archbishop Richard G. Henning celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day Mass as archbishop of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston on March 17, the feast day of the Archdiocese of Boston's patron saint.

The Mass also served as a celebration of Boston's Irish Catholic culture. The archbishop was joined in the Mass's opening procession by members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Order of Malta, and students in Catholic Memorial High School's Irish Studies Program. Irish Studies teacher Mary Concannon proclaimed the second reading in Irish, and her students read the prayers of the faithful in English and Irish. Irish hymns were sung throughout Mass, with music provided by tenor Ciaran Nagle, violinist Tara Novak, and Dan Meyers on uilleann pipes, whistle, and percussion.

Notables in attendance included Catholic Memorial High School President Peter Folan; former Boston Mayor and U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn; his son, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, joined by City Council members Erin Murphy and Tania Fernandes Anderson; Boston Fire Commissioner Paul Burke; Boston Police Commissioner Michael A. Cox; and other leaders of the Boston Fire and Police Departments.

"I'm so grateful for that representation, because I know that you are those who honor God while serving others," Archbishop Henning told first responders in his remarks after Mass. "And sometimes, you have to serve us when we're not all that lovable."

The homily was given by Father Sean Maher, an Ireland native and pastor of St. J's Collaborative, which serves Groton, Townsend, and Pepperell. Father Maher said that those towns, with their open fields where cattle graze, remind him of his home country.

"The Lord God has continued to bless us with shepherds, and we are blessed that, today, our new shepherd Archbishop Henning is with us, and we pray that his heart increasingly becomes that shepherd's heart," he said.

Father Maher said that in St. Patrick's youth, he was like many young people in Catholic schools and faith formation programs today -- he had a sense of his Catholic faith, but didn't fully embrace it. But that changed when he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and enslaved in Ireland. He would pray 100 times a day, even as he was forced to work in cold and rainy conditions -- not unlike the weather in Boston that morning, Father Maher noted.

"He spent time with the Lord, and little by little, the Lord is forming him to become like Christ himself in prayer," Father Maher said. "He probably had already learned the words of the Lord's own prayer, and he came to live in them and practice them particularly."

He said that, to St. Patrick, the most important words of the Lord's Prayer were "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Father Maher encouraged the firefighters and police officers in the assembly to do their jobs with "a shepherd's heart," and hoped that victims of crime and fire would be able to forgive the way that St. Patrick did.

"Forgiveness is a path to freedom," he said. "Forgiveness allows space for all the good that the Lord wants to be in our heart, to take root in it. And so, when Patrick was ready, the Lord speaks to him and gives him a path out of captivity and back to the civilized world."

St. Patrick was called back to the place where he was once tormented and enslaved so he could preach the Gospel to those who had treated him so cruelly. Instead of seeking revenge, he forgave them and converted them.

"Little by little, the people do embrace that word of the Lord," Father Maher said. "And like St. Patrick, they, too, developed shepherd's hearts. And over time, as the shepherd brought faith to Ireland, they go back to re-evangelize Europe. And even like St. Patrick, who at the time went to the ends of the Earth, they, too, went to the ends of the Earth."

Archbishop Henning wished everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day and said that the city's police officers and firefighters would always be in his prayers. Himself the son of a New York City firefighter, he joked about the "Irish dilemma:" Whether a young Irish American man should become a priest, a policeman, or a firefighter when he grows up.

After Mass there was the traditional blessing of the shamrocks, followed by a reception in the cathedral basement with live music, Irish soda bread, and shamrock-shaped cookies.