BOSTON -- The Mass celebrated by Archbishop Richard G. Henning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Nov. 16 served a dual purpose.

In any other year, it simply would have been the annual Mass of Thanksgiving for Catholic Appeal donors. This year, it was also a chance for the archdiocese to say goodbye to Vicar General Bishop Mark O'Connell, who will be installed as Bishop of Albany, New York, on Dec. 5.

"Bishop Mark has always been a champion of the appeal, and knows directly its impact," said Archdiocese of Boston Chief Philanthropy Officer Gavan Mooney before Mass.

Mooney thanked the donors for supporting ministries that "provide real and tangible evidence that our faith is very much alive."

"Your participation has an extraordinary impact on thousands of lives touched by your passion and generosity," he said.

He said that Boston has one of the most successful annual appeals in the U.S.

"This is a testament to our pastors, to you people of the Archdiocese of Boston who understand and embrace the responsibility to care not only for their local parish but our larger church," he said.

Bishop O'Connell concelebrated the Mass and delivered the homily. Present at Mass were two of his new coworkers in Albany: Father Bob Longobucco, who will be his vicar general; and his diocesan COO, Bonnie Shippee.

In his homily, Bishop O'Connell said his grandfather, an Irish immigrant and veteran of World War I, traveled the Boston-Albany railway every day for his job as a mail sorter.

"I bet he did not guess that his grandson would be the Bishop of Albany," he said.

He pointed out that he was preaching in the same cathedral where he had been ordained to the priesthood in 1990. That day's reading, the part of the Gospel of Luke where Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, was one that Bishop O'Connell said he has preached many times.

"The days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down," Jesus says in the Gospel.

The reading made Bishop O'Connell reflect on his own time in Boston, when the archdiocese was ravaged by the clergy sexual abuse scandal and the closure and merger of many parishes.

"Some of those times, it seemed like the temple of the Archdiocese of Boston was being destroyed in our midst, torn down stone by stone," he said.

The reading also made him think about the many national tragedies, loss of faith, and societal divisions the U.S. has endured in the 21st century.

"There are many times that this reading has pointed the way to following Jesus," he said. "In the midst of destruction, in the midst of chaos all around us, he leads us home. We are the sheep that listen to his voice."

His own journey has taken him to Albany, where he will be challenged with repairing a diocese plagued by two crises: Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits; and hundreds of employees of St. Clare's Hospital in Schenectady suing the diocese for $35 million in unpaid pensions. He said that the "battle scars" of his time in Boston will help him in his new diocese.

"There, I will bring hope of recovery, that I have marveled at here in the Archdiocese of Boston, and which gives me the foundation to have certainty that this is God's will in Albany," he said.

He said he expects that he will learn many new things in Albany and be inspired by the faith he finds there.

"There, I will continue to find my joy in the mysterious ways of the Lord," he said. "If I am called into question, the Gospel today instructs me that I will not prepare my answer ahead of time, but always speak with my heart, trusting in God."

He said he was grateful to have been a parishioner, seminarian, deacon, priest, and bishop in Boston.

"The people of this archdiocese have inspired me and supported me all these years, for I am called to something new," he said. "And eagerly, eagerly, I say 'Yes, Lord. For you, Lord, are in all places.'"

After Mass, Archbishop Henning thanked God for the gift of Bishop O'Connell's ministry.

"This will always be your home," he said, "but we feel the loss of your departure, because we have seen in you a minister of the Gospel who has been humble and full of joy."

He called O'Connell "a man of great personal generosity" and "a careful steward of the resources of the church."

"We send you with our gratitude, with our joy, and with our love," he said.

He also thanked the Catholic Appeal donors.

"We could not execute or do our mission without your generosity, without your participation," he said. "It means the world to us."

He pointed to the witness of those who built the Cathedral of the Holy Cross 150 years ago. Facing poverty and persecution, Boston's historic Catholics made sacrifices in order to create "poetry in stone."

"I look out now and see you sitting in the pews of this great church," he said, "and I see a new generation worthy of that character, worthy of that mission, coworkers with me and with the Lord himself, for the healing that lets us reconcile with the world. Together, we are one."