BOSTON -- Shadi Lopez discovered her "calling" while studying in Catholic schools. The daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, Lopez graduated from East Boston Central Catholic School in 2015 and from St. Joseph Prep in 2019. She and her sister Daniela, who will begin attending Malden Catholic this fall, could not have attended Catholic schools if not for scholarships from the Catholic Schools Foundation.
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QUINCY -- Gabe Bresnahan was 14 years old when he first saw a child being born. He was in the community of St. Rock, Haiti, where he and his father, Dr. Stephen Bresnahan, would often volunteer with the St. Rock Haiti Foundation. The SRHF was founded in 2002 to provide healthcare, education, job training, food, clean water, and economic opportunity to the people of St. Rock. While in Haiti, Gabe befriended Father Peter Casey, then-pastor of St. Agatha Parish in Milton, who also regularly volunteered in Haiti with the foundation.
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Ryan, a Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, was one of 151 people who received Cheverus Awards in 2023. The annual archdiocesan awards honor those who have dedicated their lives to serving the Catholic Church in Boston. Ryan attended the November 2023 Cheverus Awards ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, where Cardinal O'Malley mentioned her in his homily -- along with the fact that she was 101 years old. Ryan had heard that Cardinal O'Malley "never mentions people" like that, so she was "shocked" to hear him say her name.
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This is the eighth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. BRIGHTON -- "Music has the power to uplift our souls," says Deacon Christopher Letizia, a 32-year-old seminarian at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, "to bring us into that spiritual realm of peace. Music has the power to enhance our prayer and make it better. And singing pleases God."
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"I believe I am fortunate to call myself a student at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School. The opportunities our school has afforded me are almost beyond my comprehension. I love NDCR completely! We are a school that makes dreams come true!" These are the passionate words of a senior student reflecting on her time at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School (NDCR). She will soon graduate from NDCR and become part of an alum network whose foundations have been laid over the last 20 years.
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Last Friday, I was pleased to attend a luncheon at the Harvard Club celebrating the 40th anniversary of Ray Flynn's election as mayor of Boston. I was invited to give a blessing and make some remarks. When I became bishop of Fall River 31 years ago, Ray Flynn was already in office. I had met him a number of times, and at one point, he wrote a fanciful novel in which the Irish bishop of Fall River was elected pope. I accused him of writing science fiction! I told him that, in revenge, I was going to write a book about a basketball-playing mayor of Boston who became the president of the United States -- but I'm still working on it!
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BRAINTREE -- For Father Bob Connors, the traffic was awful, but it was worth it. On April 8, Father Connors, episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Boston's South Region, and thousands of others traveled north to see the total solar eclipse, the first to pass over North America since 2017 and the last until 2044. The round trip from Boston to Colebrook, New Hampshire, was 400 miles in order to see an event that lasted just over three minutes. To Father Connors, those three minutes felt like a prayer.
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BOSTON -- For Justin Solis, being confirmed in the Catholic Church was "a journey of self-discovery" that began when he was working on a farm on Long Island. Solis, a 20-year-old political science and environmental studies student at Tufts University, was raised Catholic in upstate New York. He was baptized and received First Communion, but stopped attending religious education classes when he was in third grade.
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BOSTON -- At first glance, St. John School, located in the heart of Boston's North End, looks like any other historic Catholic school. The school was founded in 1895 and is currently located in a red brick building that was once a warehouse. Rose Kennedy attended school there, across the street from where she was born. Inside, St. John School is a labyrinth of classrooms and passageways, representing over a century of construction and renovation. There's always something new to discover -- when workers recently tore down a wall, they found a long-hidden girls' staircase. When Barbara Mikolajczak became St. John School's director of technology and innovation in 2020, she would get lost frequently.
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FOXBOROUGH -- As millions of people were viewing the solar eclipse that stretched across the U.S. on April 8, Father Ed Riley thought of "the beauty of God's plan." Father Riley, spiritual director of the World Apostolate of Fatima, compares the eclipse to Jesus and Mary. Like the sun allowing the moon to pass in front of it, Jesus "let his mother be seen and known, and many hearts come to her before they come to him."
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This is the seventh article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. BRAINTREE -- He is now on his way to being ordained a priest, but once upon a time, Deacon Matthew Harrington was "a pretty-bored second grader" attending Mass with his family at St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody.
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On Holy Thursday, I was visited by Jennifer Hooper, the incoming head of the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. She will begin her new role on July 1, as Mother Rogers completes her term after 35 years leading the school.
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Hundreds of worshippers gathered with Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the celebration of the Easter Triduum liturgies March 28-30. The Triduum consists of Holy Thursday, when Christ washed the feet of his Apostles and instituted the Eucharist; Good Friday, the day of Jesus' crucifixion and death for the sins of the world; and Easter, which begins with the Easter Vigil on the night of Holy Saturday and in which the church celebrates Christ's Resurrection from the dead.
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WINTHROP -- Every Tuesday at St. Michael the Archangel Parish Hall in Winthrop, a crack team of specialists meets to take care of the parish finances. Each member of this elite group has a nickname based on their specialty. Paul "Bag Man" Clauss safeguards the offertory collection. Jim "Fingers" Chicos runs the calculator. Paul "Copycat" Corkum runs the copy machine. Mary Ann "Cash Money" Cash -- well, just look at her surname. Finally, there's Dan "Wiretap" Hickey, the team leader, whose nickname comes from his computer skills. Hickey came up with all of the nicknames, including his own, and gave his fellow parish volunteers green accounting visors with their nicknames on them.
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This is the sixth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. CHESTNUT HILL -- "Why are you so happy?"
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As I do each year for Holy Week, I am posting my blog a day earlier than usual so as to be able to better prepare for and observe the liturgies of the Paschal Triduum. Saturday, I was visited by a group of parishioners from St. Leonard's in the North End, who came accompanied by their pastor, Father Michael Della Penna. They wanted to talk to me about proposed changes in their prayer garden.
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BOSTON -- Whenever he visits St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley says he always discovers something new. The last time Cardinal O'Malley visited St. Peter's, he saw a mosaic in front of the sacristy depicting the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In the Acts of the Apostles, Ananias and Sapphira were a couple who sold their land and promised God that they would give the money to the poor but kept some of it for themselves. As punishment for lying to God, the two were stricken dead. The mosaic was made as a reminder for priests to keep the promises they made to God when they were ordained.
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As the winter sports season came to an end, several Catholic high schools took state titles in basketball and hockey. The Cathedral High School girls basketball team took home the Division 4 State Title championship after beating South Hadley 69-49 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell on Sunday, March 17. Led by Head Coach Clinton Lassiter, the Panthers end the season at 19-4. The championship is the second in a row for the Cathedral High girls team.
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WATERTOWN -- "Alright, we have 20 minutes to prayer!" John Madden announced in the church hall of St. Patrick Parish in Watertown on March 24, Palm Sunday. "Twenty minutes to prayer!" All around Madden, over 40 actors, parishioners of St. Patrick's as well as other Catholic parishes and Christian churches in the area, were getting out of their street clothes and hurriedly donning biblical robes, sandals, and headscarves. They are the St. Patrick's Family Players, and they were preparing to perform "Resurrection," a music drama by the English composer Bryan Jeffery Leech, for the 27th consecutive Easter season.
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BROCKTON -- The senior campus ministry room of Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton contains a PlayStation 4, a mini fridge, a giant Connect 4 set, and a poster depicting Jesus Christ's "Faithbook" profile (he has 2 billion friends and is a member of Red Sox Nation).
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NORTH ANDOVER -- Augustinian Father Peter Gori, pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Andover, likes to walk when he prays, and pray when he walks. He can do both at the labyrinth, a big round patch of medieval European Gothic spirituality that snakes its way through the heart of the Merrimack College campus in North Andover.
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This is the fifth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. BRIGHTON -- Growing up in a small town in El Salvador, Deacon David Pineda, like most children, liked to play pretend. His fantasies, however, were quite different from those of his peers. While other children dreamt of being pirates and astronauts, little Deacon Pineda pretended he was a priest.
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BOSTON -- The Catholic Schools Foundation (CSF) has announced Bill and Jane Mosakowski will match all new and increased contributions up to $500,000 made to the foundation's Building Minds Scholarship Fund.
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Long before 1950, when the Diocese of Worcester became separate from the Diocese of Springfield, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur expanded into the center of Massachusetts to open many Catholic schools. The founding, education, and caregiving were critical to meeting the needs of the growing population. While many of these early institutions have since closed, the impact of the sisters' legacy continues.
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Last Thursday afternoon, I went to Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Methuen for a celebration of the school's 20th anniversary. Notre Dame Cristo Rey, along with Cristo Rey Boston, is one of two Cristo Rey model high schools we have in the archdiocese. Under this model, students go to school four days a week and work at a local business one day a week. This not only gives them experience in the professional world, but their wages offset the cost of their education.
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BOSTON -- The green-clad faithful filled the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for a St. Patrick's Day Mass celebrated by Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley in honor of the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston on March 17, the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
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BOSTON -- To Thomas Hynes, the story of his family is the story of the Irish in Boston. His uncle was John B. Hynes, mayor of Boston from 1950 to 1960, and his cousin was Jack Hynes, the famed television newscaster. The Hynes family didn't always have such prestige. John B. Hynes's father Bernard, and Bernard's brother Thomas, came to Boston from Galway.
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DEDHAM -- As Father Wayne Belschner, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Dedham, set the table in the parish rectory on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, he thought of the "generosity" of Jesus's earthly father.
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This is the fourth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. WESTON -- "Mommy, one day you will call me reverend," Deacon John Tanyi said to his mother when he was seven years old.
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BROCKTON -- Jean Gately, a volunteer sacristan and eucharistic minister at Christ the King Parish in Brockton, tries to do her work carefully and quietly. "It's a solemn time, you know," Gately, 73, told The Pilot in a Jan. 27 interview.
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Last Saturday, while I was still in Rome, I had dinner with Cardinal Adalberto Martinez and Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik. Cardinal Lazzaro studied at St. John's Seminary and is the prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy. Of course, Cardinal Adalberto was one of my priests in the Virgin Islands and is now the archbishop of Asuncion in Paraguay.
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