WALTHAM -- In the evening of May 2, a member of St. Mary Parish notified the parish priests that the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, located outside St. Charles Borromeo Church on Hall Street, had been damaged.
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BRAINTREE -- Massachusetts is now one of several states where pregnant women can receive telemedicine services from an abortion provider and obtain pills for a medication abortion through the mail, rather than in a clinic -- a method that pro-life physicians and activists say can result in more trauma and complications than a surgical abortion.
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Saturday was the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, so I was pleased to be able to celebrate Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Shrine in Lowell. We were pleased to be joined by Mayor John Leahy and several members of the Lowell Fire and Police departments, who carried the statue of St. Joseph in and out of the church.
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BOSTON -- In a show of solidarity with Asian American communities in the wake of increasing racism, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley celebrated Mass on May 3 in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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LOWELL -- It's not actually Lourdes, France, or the praetorium in Jerusalem, or the hill of Golgotha. But looking up at the scale replica of Our Lady of Lourdes' grotto, lined with a "scala sancta" and Stations of the Cross, and topped with a crucifix that can be seen from a distance, one could easily imagine being in any of those places.
Read moreMy Dear Friends in Christ, Events of recent months have brought to wide public awareness what many of you have experienced for far longer, racism and violence against people of Asian descent, which are increasingly occurring throughout the United States. This is disturbing, unacceptable for our society and contrary to the human dignity that is at the heart of Church teaching.
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HAVERHILL -- Penacook Place, a member of Covenant Health's family of organizations, was honored to recently welcome Merrimack Region Auxiliary Bishop Robert F. Hennessey to bless its new chapel, a sanctuary that came to fruition during the challenges of a pandemic.
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This is the final installment of the series of articles profiling the five men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 22. BRIGHTON -- "If not me, then who?" That was the question that motivated Deacon David Campo in his discernment of the priesthood, and specifically to military chaplaincy.
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BOSTON -- After years of learning clinical skills in Boston's fast-paced medical community, a group of students from Boston College School of Nursing put their knowledge into practice in an environment that was different than they had grown used to -- yet not that far away.
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Last Saturday, I was happy to celebrate the confirmation of another group of local college and university students, here at the cathedral. Ordinarily, we would hold one Mass for all the university students together, but this year we divided them into smaller groups.
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DANVERS -- Despite all the changes and challenges they faced, not even a pandemic could keep the student athletes of St. John's Preparatory High School from participating in their sports during the 2020-2021 academic year.
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This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling the five men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 22. CHESTNUT HILL -- If one thing led Deacon Leonardo Moreira to accept the call to the priesthood, it was gratitude.
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BRIGHTON -- What is fluidity, and why is it so highly valued in the current culture -- particularly in connection to gender? These were some of the questions that Dr. Angela Franks, professor of theology at St. John's Seminary, addressed on April 20 in a webinar presentation entitled "How Fluid Are We? Gender, the Body, and Us."
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On Friday, I traveled to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to be present for the ordination of the new bishop, Bishop Jerome Feudjio. He is the fourth bishop of the Virgin Islands since I left in 1992.
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BOSTON -- On April 15, the Catholic Schools Foundation held its 31st Annual Inner-City Scholarship Fund (ICSF) Gala in a virtual format, raising nearly $4 million for student scholarships and honoring the accomplishments of the archdiocese's Catholic school teachers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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BRAINTREE -- Though masking and social distancing may remain the norm for some time, other aspects of parish activities -- including Masses, social gatherings, and summer events -- may look more normal after Pentecost, if coronavirus statistics continue to trend in a positive direction.
Read moreThe following statement was released by Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley on April 21. The killing of George Floyd has had a traumatic impact on our society. The suffering he endured and the immense loss his family has experienced speaks to us on a very human level.
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This is the third in a series of articles profiling the five men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 22. BRIGHTON -- Deacon Fernando Ayala grew up in El Salvador, the eldest of seven children in a Catholic family. They always went to Sunday Mass and made a weekly Holy Hour, and his father used to quiz him and his siblings with questions about the Scriptures.
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NATICK -- When a group of families founded St. Benedict Classical Academy in 2013, they had no idea it would grow so large that they would have to turn away potential students. Now, with over 160 students and a waiting list, the school is making plans to expand its facilities to meet the demand for enrollment.
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On Saturday evening, I went to St. Lawrence Church in Brookline for the vigil Mass of Divine Mercy Sunday, during which we had the institution of new lectors and acolytes for our Redemptoris Mater Seminary. They had one new acolyte, Javier Padilla, and two lectors, Aaron Sanz and Gustavo Neitzke.
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