BOSTON -- Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley presented 150 Cheverus Award Medals to laity, deacons, and religious for service to the church in Boston during a prayer service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Nov. 26, the feast of Christ the King.
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BOSTON -- Young students across the Boston Archdiocese were encouraged to show off their artistic talent and take part in the Catholic School's Foundation's annual Christmas card competition.
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DANVERS -- "You've started something on death row." Xaverian Brother Jim Connolly heard those words from the warden of the maximum-security South Carolina prison where he served as chaplain. Most death row inmates were not Catholic, but when the Protestant chaplain could not hold Sunday service, Brother Jim had to fill in. For that day's service, Brother Jim recounted the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and listened to the inmates as they responded to it.
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WAYLAND -- Before he became pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Wayland, Father David O'Leary was a chaplain and professor of comparative religion at Tufts University. While there, he noticed that his non-Catholic students were confused by the role of saints in the Catholic Church.
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As I do every year on Thanksgiving week, I am posting my blog a couple of days early so I can spend time with my family for the holiday. Following the meeting of the bishops' conference last week, I traveled to Pittsburgh for the celebration of our Capuchin Province's 150th anniversary. When our Province of St. Augustine started, most of the members were lay brothers, which was very typical of the way things were in Germany -- there were more brothers than priests. [ . . .]
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Israel's war against Hamas, which began when the terrorist group launched a surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7, continued to rage throughout October and November before an extended truce began this week, though fighting is expected to resume.
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BOSTON -- When he was a young priest, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley celebrated the funeral Mass of a woman with Down syndrome. After the funeral, the woman's mother shared her story with him. She said that when her daughter was born, she was angry at God.
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DORCHESTER -- Beth Chambers, vice president of basic needs at Catholic Charities Boston, considers it a Thanksgiving miracle. For 24 years, Catholic Charities has partnered with United Way of Mass. Bay to distribute free Thanksgiving meals to those in need throughout the Archdiocese of Boston. It seemed as though they wouldn't have enough turkeys for everybody -- until they received a call from the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The society had purchased 1,400 more turkeys than it needed, and it was wondering if Catholic Charities had any use for them.
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WALTHAM -- On Nov. 18, the 15 members of the St. Jude Parish G.K. Chesterton Society held their monthly meeting, gathered at a long wooden table in Jake n JOES Sports Grille in Waltham. While those around them eagerly awaited the start of the Bruins game, Father Jeremy St. Martin and his fellow Chestertonians, as they are called, discussed the work of the renowned English Catholic author and philosopher who lived from 1874 to 1936.
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DORCHESTER -- It may come as a surprise, but New England Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones is as comfortable handling a sheep brain as he is handling a pigskin. Jones dissected sheep organs, played tag with robots, and participated in eight other "STEM activation stations" during STEM Night at St. John Paul II Catholic Academy Lower Mills Campus in Dorchester on Oct. 17. Several of the "activation stations" will become permanent fixtures of the school, thanks to a donation of $50,000 in training and equipment provided by Jones's Next Step Foundation.
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BRAINTREE -- In January 2010, 19-year-old Worcester native Britney Gengel went on a humanitarian trip with her college to help orphanages in Haiti. While on the trip, she texted her parents, Len and Cherylann Gengel, to say that she loved Haiti and wanted to start her own orphanage there.
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In 1847, Father John McElroy, a Jesuit priest, on his way to serve as chaplain for soldiers during the Mexican-American War, stopped in Cincinnati to rest. While there, he celebrated Mass for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and visited their convent schools. When he was sent to Boston the following year to find a house for the Jesuits, he remembered the sisters' work in Cincinnati. He wrote to Bishop John Purcell of Cincinnati to ask for any available Sisters of Notre Dame to take over the school at St. Mary Parish in the North End of Boston.
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Last Thursday morning, I attended the wake of Margaret Rora, the mother of Father Michael Rora. I was pleased to be able to be there and offer some prayers and tender my condolences to Father Michael, his dad, and the rest of the family.
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