BRAINTREE -- When Archbishop Richard G. Henning looks out at the sea, he thinks of the words from the beginning of the Book of Genesis: "The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." "I just find it a place where it's easy to pray, easy to sense the presence of God, the truth of the infinite," the archbishop said in a video produced by the Archdiocese of Boston available at evangelizeboston.com/into-the-deep.
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BRAINTREE -- Every time Father Bill Joy visited a new country with Catholic Relief Services, the locals always wanted to know two things: If he knew the pope, and if he knew Michael Jordan. Father Joy, who is currently the archdiocese's episcopal vicar for clergy and assistant vicar for administration, served as director of church affairs for CRS, the charitable arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, from 1986 to 1993. He estimates he visited almost 30 countries during those years, mostly in Africa.
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LAWRENCE -- The rules of the Girls Empowerment Club at Bellesini Academy in Lawrence are helpfully explained by two colorful contracts written in marker, one for the sixth graders and one for the seventh graders.
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HULL -- At the end of Mass at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Hull on June 8, Pentecost Sunday, Pastor Father Scott Euvrard made an announcement honoring the contributions of an individual that dutifully served him for 11 years.
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CAMBRIDGE -- St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish in Cambridge was filled with hundreds of faithful of all ages who had come to consecrate themselves to Jesus through Mary on the evening of May 31, the feast of the Visitation.
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BOSTON -- Catholic Charities Boston raised over $1.5 million at its annual Spring Celebration, held on May 28 at the Fairmount Copley Plaza in Boston. The $1.5 million fundraising total, an increase from last year, comes at a time when the Trump administration is withholding federal funding for Catholic Charities' ministries.
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WESTWOOD -- Archbishop Richard G. Henning and Archdiocese of Boston Superintendent of Catholic Schools Eileen McLaughlin laid out a vision for the future of the archdiocese's Catholic schools at "I Believe in Catholic Education," a forum held at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood on June 3. Officials from the Catholic Schools Office, as well as officials and pastors from individual schools in the archdiocese, attended.
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Every athlete begins somewhere; for many, that is competing on their elementary school teams. Undoubtedly, most athletes competing in this month's NBA finals began their careers at a very young age. This experience not only taught them the rules of the game but enriched their character and virtues as well.
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BOSTON -- Fifty years of priesthood have gone by quickly for Father Charles Higgins. When he was ordained to the priesthood in 1975, walking down the aisle of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, he said to himself: "Lord, this is in your hands now, and I'll just be your servant."
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BRAINTREE -- With her soft wispy hair and pink dress covered in white polka dots, Therese Giard has become an international media sensation overnight. She's none the wiser. Seven-month-old Therese, the youngest daughter of Aaron and Diana Giard of Haverhill, was blessed by Pope Leo XIV before his inaugural Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on May 18. Photos of the pope blessing Therese were printed in newspapers throughout Rome and featured on the local news back in Massachusetts. Therese is crying in the photo, but Aaron Giard told The Pilot that she was content during the rest of her time in Rome.
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BOSTON -- It's not often that you go to an underground concert and somebody pulls out a lute. For classically-trained lutenist Charles Iner, however, it's a common occurrence. The Boston-based musician is used to performing small concerts in living rooms and basements. It's the natural home of the lute, a staple instrument in the domestic secular music of Renaissance Europe. In England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, such close-knit musical gatherings took on a new role: Accompanying the worship of Catholics who had to pray and attend Mass in secret due to persecution from the Protestant royals.
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BRAINTREE -- It's hard for Ken Hackett to think of the greatest challenge he experienced during his many years of service with Catholic Relief Services, including 18 as its president. There was the 1984-85 famine in Ethiopia, where Hackett saw the emaciated bodies of children "laid out like cords of wood." There was the Rwandan genocide, the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and countless wars, natural disasters, famines, and humanitarian crises in between. To him, no one crisis was more difficult than the other.
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BRAINTREE -- During Corpus Christi weekend, June 21 and 22, Archbishop Richard G. Henning will lead the first eucharistic procession by sea in the history of the Archdiocese of Boston. In honor of the feast, the archbishop will bring the Blessed Sacrament by boat down the North Shore to 11 towns, cities, and Boston neighborhoods for Mass, prayer, and adoration.
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Following is the currently scheduled timeline for Archbishop Richard Henning's eucharistic procession by sea down the coast of the North Shore to Boston Harbor, June 21-22. Arrival times are estimates. Check EvangelizeBoston.com/into-the-deep and Facbook.com/BostonCatholic for updates.
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BOSTON -- The six young men, dressed in crisp suits, carried the silver casket up the winding staircase of St. Anthony Shrine in Downtown Boston. When they reached the top of the stairs, the young men, students at Boston College High School in Dorchester, gently lowered the casket onto the catafalque and wheeled it into the chapel to the sound of "On Eagle's Wings." Franciscan Father Paul Keenan sprinkled holy water atop the casket, and the young men carefully laid the pall upon it. Inside the casket was the body of a man the students had never met. They did not even know his name until they were called to volunteer at his funeral Mass on April 7. Still, there were tears in their eyes.
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PLYMOUTH -- In February of 2021, St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Plymouth had a choice: tutors or diapers. At the time, then-pastoral associate Ann Cussen suggested that Mary Queen of Martyrs Parish, which St. Kateri is a part of, go into the community and see what residents needed. The church contacted a nearby housing development and found that Plymouth's children were in dire need of two resources: tutors and diapers. Tutoring wasn't possible then due to the pandemic, so the church decided to provide diapers to local families in need. Since 2021, the St. Kateri diaper pantry has distributed over 54,000 diapers to individual families and local groups, such as Friends of the Unborn.
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On May 14, a special anniversary celebration took place at St. Mary Parish in Holliston, marking a significant milestone for the WINGS (Women in God's Spirit) ministry in the Archdiocese of Boston -- 25 years of women deepening their relationship with God and one another.
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On May 20, 2025, Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, CSSR, was welcomed to the splendid Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Providence and installed as the diocese's 10th bishop. He had been named to the statewide diocese by the late Pope Francis on April 8, about two weeks prior to the pope's death. His was the first installation of bishop in the U.S. since the election and installation of Pope Leo XIV. The new auxiliary of the Archdiocese for the Military Services of the United States of America, Bishop Gregg M. Caggianelli was the first bishop ordained following Pope Leo's election. With his ordination on May 9, 2025, he was not only the first bishop ordained in the U.S. in the new papacy, but in the world.
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BOSTON -- As Father Mateus Martin lay prostrate on the floor before the altar of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with his fellow ordinands for the priesthood, one thought went through his mind: "I am not worthy."
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BRIGHTON -- Karen Drake enrolled in St. John's Seminary's Theological Institute because she wanted to "search for truth." "Search for a deeper understanding of God and to build up my faith and to be able to defend my faith," she explained.
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BOSTON -- The Cathedral of the Holy Cross was near capacity when Archbishop Richard G. Henning celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 14. The Mass and its attendees showed the linguistic and cultural diversity of the archdiocese. The Prayers of the Faithful were read in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Swahili, and Korean. Archbishop Henning delivered his homily in English and Spanish, and Bishop Cristiano Barbosa delivered his own remarks in Portuguese.
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METHUEN -- On May 19, Vicar General Bishop Mark W. O'Connell did something that he hasn't done in 25 years: mow a lawn with a push mower. "I didn't have the same strength I had as a 20-year-old," he said, "but I could do it in straight lines."
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MEDFORD -- Jesus peeked out from behind the closed curtains to see the hundreds of chattering students of St. Raphael School in Medford who had filled the parish hall to watch his passion. Jesus was Jeremiah Quattrini, a seventh grader at St. Raphael's. On Holy Thursday, April 17, he and his classmates performed a tableau vivant passion play for the school, continuing a tradition that has lasted over 25 years.
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BRAINTREE -- The Archdiocese of Boston announced May 17 that Msgr. Francis Strahan, former pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Framingham, has been cleared of civil and canonical allegations of sexual abuse of a minor and will return to public ministry.
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BOSTON -- As Pope Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as the church's 267th successor of St. Peter on the evening of May 8, he was visibly emotional as he greeted the crowds, addressing in Spanish the people of Chiclayo, Peru, whom he called "a faithful people, who accompanied their bishop, shared their faith, and have given so, so much to continue being the faithful church of Jesus Christ."
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BRAINTREE -- "A North American bishop with a South American soul." That was how Father Simon Cadwallader described Pope Leo XIV, who made history on May 8 by becoming the first pope from the U.S. Born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his ministry as a missionary and bishop in Peru, where Father Cadwallader is the regional superior of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle. The St. James Society was founded by Cardinal Richard Cushing to evangelize in Latin America. Boston priests set up mission houses in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, where the society became closely acquainted with Pope Leo XIV.
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Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley issued the following statement on his personal blog, cardinalseansblog.org, following the election of Pope Leo XIV, May 8. The whole Church rejoices and gives thanks for the gift God has given to the Church in Pope Leo XIV, a missionary from the Augustinian Order. He served in Peru, a country where scores of Boston priests have also been missionaries since the days of Cardinal Cushing, who founded the Society of St. James. Pope Leo XIV has chosen a name widely associated with the social justice legacy of Pope Leo XIII, who was pontiff at a time of epic upheaval in the world, the time of the industrial revolution, the beginning of Marxism, and widespread immigration. The new Pope's rich pastoral experience in Latin America and as leader of an international religious community, and the years spent in Rome, will all provide valuable preparation for his new ministry as Pope.
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BRAINTREE -- While Augustinian Father Peter Gori was in the middle of celebrating a funeral Mass on May 8, he received some disquieting news from the funeral director. "There's white smoke," the director whispered to him.
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