Articles of Faith

this is michael's test

Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, still smiling after receiving the red hat that made him a cardinal Friday, is wrapping up his trip to Rome with a series of celebrations. This morning he and the 14 other new cardinals will greet well-wishers at an audience hosted by Pope Benedict XVI in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican; at midday O'Malley is to lunch with a group of pilgrims from Fall River, and in the evening he will say Mass for and have dinner with his fellow Capuchin friars.

He returns to Boston tomorrow (Tuesday), facing a number of serious ongoing challenges, but with some plans to address them. He is anticipating significant staff changes -- the replacement of some of his auxiliary bishops -- that could come any day now. He has promised full disclosure of the archdiocese's finances, and expects to make that presentation, along with a proposed reorganization to balance the budget, in mid-April. He has scheduled three Masses to thank those who have wished him well on his elevation. And the week of April 9 to 16, Holy Week on the Christian calendar, he will preside at liturgies commemorating the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.

His spirits seem high, but he says he is aware that the last week was just a brief respite from the challenges at home, which include lawsuits and protests over clergy abuse and parish closings, a shortage of funds, a dwindling priesthood, and a large number of baptized Catholics who are alienated from the hierarchy and/or the Catholic church itself because of the crisis, the controversies, and disagreements about the church's teachings on the roles of women and gays. As O'Malley opened a Mass yesterday (Sunday) at the North American College here, he joked, "When we were processing into the consistory, I saw all the flowers and thought, 'It's just like an Irish wake. Everybody shows up and says nice things about you, even though it's not true'.''

I talked with him briefly Sunday afternoon, just after he said Mass and posed for photographs with visiting Knights and Dames of Malta, Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre, friends, and relatives. Here's a portion of our conversation:

Q. What's on your plate when you get home?
A. The first order of business will be getting ready for Holy Week. We also have visits to the regions. And shortly after Holy Week we will have the transparency report for the diocese, and some of the plans for fiscal recovery and reorganization will be presented at that time. That's the immediate agenda.

Q. How do you go about translating the goodwill from this week into something more lasting?
A. I'm not sure about that. I'm hoping that what's being done with the schools, and reorganization and so forth, will help Catholics to have a sense of recovery. I think the work on schools, if it's significant, is going to make a real difference in Catholic education in the long run.

Q. Your spirits seem very high this week.
A. Being here in Rome, and being among members of my family and friends, it's a joyful occasion...a very happy occasion.

Q. You go back, knowing that the challenges of the diocese don't go away just because of this week.
A. They certainly won't, but I'm hoping that people will have a greater sense of hope, and a realization of our connectedness with the larger church. I think that in the midst of our crisis, the death of Pope John Paul II was a pause, a time when people reconnected, and I think this consistory is also a moment when people become reconnected with the bulk of the church throughout the world. Those experiences are spiritually uplifting for us, and energizing.

(Cardinal O'Malley at Communion Sunday with his stepmother, Claire, and his sister, Mary.)
(Photos by David Ryan.)

As for your faithful blogger (me!), I'm heading back to Boston today, and at least until I can get back into the newsroom, this blog will be on hiatus.

The blog has been an experiment, for me and for the Globe, and we're going to talk about whether it would make sense to have something like this be part of our ongoing coverage of religion.

I've heard from many of you over the last week, and am grateful for the feedback. Some of you have loved the style and the content, others have been unhappy with various elements of the report, or broadly with its focus on a ceremonial event. As we mull over what to do next, I'd welcome hearing from more of you -- send me your thoughts, suggestions, advice or requests, and, of course, your tips and story ideas. My e-mail, as always, is mpaulson@globe.com.

Ciao.

I have to admit, Cardinal O'Malley's new titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, is a blogger's dream.

First of all, it's directly, and I mean directly, across the street from Santa Susanna, the church that belonged to the last three cardinal-archbishops of Boston, but that O'Malley can't have because it now belongs to Cardinal Bernard F. Law for life.

Second of all, it's featured prominently in Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "Angels and Demons,'' and is a popular spot on the "Angels and Demons" theme-tours that now show tourists Roman sites mentioned in the book.

Let me stipulate up front: the church is completely lovely. It was closed when photographer David Ryan and I stopped by yesterday at midday, but the cheerful rector, Rev. Stefano Guernelli, was kind enough to let us in anyway. The church is more like a chapel, with pews that might be able to seat 100 worshipers, and every surface is covered in baroque painting and sculpture. The most famous object, and the one that intrigued Dan Brown because it is often viewed as sexually charged, is Bernini's sculpture of St. Theresa of Avila in Ecstasy.

The church is overseen by Discalced Carmelite friars -- who, given their sudden Boston connection, proudly pointed out that there are at least four houses of Carmelites in the Boston archdiocese. A few of the enterprising friars took it upon themselves to just show up at the apostolic palace on Friday so they could introduce themselves to O'Malley and give him a guidebook to the church; on Saturday the cardinal repaid the favor, stopping by to visit a few hours after we were there.

"The friars were very, very friendly, and I was very moved by the fact that young St. Theresa (of Lisieux) had actually gone to that church and prayed there,'' he said, referring to Theresa of Lisieux, a 19th Century Carmelite nun who is now a popular saint often called the Little Flower. "Of course, the baroque statues and paintings are magnificent. They have a nice shrine to St. Francis there too.''

I asked O'Malley whether he had read "Angels and Demons," or Brown's even bigger bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code.'' To my surprise, the cardinal has read both novels -- he says they were sent to him by his sister. He said the plots are "outrageous," in terms of their fictionalizing of Christian history, and the endings poor -- "I wouldn't give them an A as literature,'' he said, but he was obviously intrigued to know what all the fuss was about. (The U.S. bishops' conference has actually posted a web site debunking "The Da Vinci Code,'' in anticipation of the May 19 release of the film.)

I then asked the cardinal what he made of the "Angels and Demons" connection to his new church, and this was his response:

"I think it's silly,'' he said. "But if it brings people to see the church, hopefully, being in a holy place, and in a place that is beautiful, hopefully it will be a religious experience for them. For us as Catholics, we believe that the beauty of the church, and the church music, is a way of lifting our minds to God's beauty.''

(I have not actually read "Angels and Demons" -- "The Da Vinci Code" was enough for me -- but in my effort to be a responsible beat reporter, today I swung by la Feltrinelli, an Italian bookstore with an English-language section, to pick up a copy, and I plan to read it on the flight back to Boston.)

At some point, O'Malley will have to return to Rome to formally take possession of the church, as the ritual is known, and then he will be responsible for protecting its finances and spiritual life in some way, although not for overseeing it on a day-to-day basis. He said he doesn't know when the possession-taking will be, but that it might be September, or the next time he needs to be back in town. The ceremony is usually accompanied by pomp and parties; it's not clear how O'Malley, who isn't much for that sort of thing, might modify that tradition.

(Rev. Stefano Guernelli in the sanctuary.)

Have you seen the Globe today?
Overview: Pope sees expanded role for cardinals
Sidebar: O'Malley's newest ring depicts crucifixion
Sidebar: Masses scheduled
Graphics, photos and more: Boston.com coverage

Also, in today's Worcester Telegram, an op-ed piece about O'Malley's elevation by David J. O'Brien, a professor of Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross

The news is out: the new leadership at the embattled Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Newton will be a team ministry (I didn't think they did those anymore?) between the Rev. John E. Sassani and the Rev. Joseph Keil, starting April 18.

I first broke the news of Sassani's assignment Thursday on this blog; he is the administrator at St. Theresa Church in Sherborn, director of the office of spiritual development at the archdiocese, and had served as a liaison between the protesters occupying St. Anselm Church in Sudbury and the archdiocese. Sassani had previously lived and worked at both Our Lady's and a parish it had absorbed, St. Jean's. I met him very early during my time on this beat, and found him to be thoughtful and clear-spoken and warm; obviously, the situation in Newton is a very tough assignment.

Keil, ordained in 2001, is a less familiar face, at least to me. He is currently serving in his first assignment, as the parochial vicar at St. Agatha Church in Milton, and that church announces his new posting in the bulletin this weekend.

The team will attempt to end a period of extraordinary turmoil at the Newton parish, which had been one of the largest and most vibrant in the archdiocese until the archdiocese demanded the resignation of the 12-year pastor, the Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, over disputed allegations of financial wrongdoing. Cuenin is now the Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University; his friend and parochial vicar, the Rev. Paul Kilroy, is being transferred to St. Joseph Church in Medford effective April 5 (See the St. Joseph's bulletin for that development). Cuenin had been succeeded by the Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, but the baggage of Coyne's time as archdiocesan spokesman during the abuse crisis, and the unhappiness at the parish over Cuenin's ouster, caused Coyne to resign after just four months. Coyne said in this weekend's bulletin that he will stay at Our Lady's until April 24 to help with the transition, and that he is awaiting his next assignment.

I'm sure Cardinal O'Malley never thought it would come to this.

At 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, just a day after he became a cardinal, he found himself standing in a lovely Roman courtyard, surrounded by serious journalists from Boston, showing off a ring.

The ring, of course, was the news of the day -- this was the day the 15 new cardinals were given gold bands by Pope Benedict XVI to symbolize their bond with the papacy.

And, seeking to keep you informed, dear readers, we insisted on seeing the goods.

O'Malley clearly thought the scene was a bit ridiculous, but, in keeping with his new openness, he cheerfullly held it out, up, took it off, put it on, explained its history, its imagery, how it felt, how it fit, and so on.

Turns out that these rings are sort of designed by the pope, in the sense that the pope gets to choose the image on the outside, which in this case is a modern depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, with Mary and John at his sides. The ring also includes the papal seal on the inside.

O'Malley said he was not asked his ring size in advance, but that the ring was open in the back, and could be resized at home. That was a bit of a relief, he said, recalling the time he took off a bishops' ring during Mass to wash his hands, gave it to a seminarian, and the seminarian decided to see what it felt like to wear a bishop's ring, and the ring got stuck on the seminarian's finger!

Anyways, here's the detail, thanks to photographer David Ryan:

The setting for the ring-showing, by the way, was the leafy courtyard of the Casa Santa Maria, a residence in Rome for about 70 American priests studying here. O'Malley, in the most remarkable display yet of the degree to which he has been persuaded that he has to improve his relations with the news media, hosted a reception for Boston-based journalists, with tea sandwiches and drinks and, for every reporter, a rosary.

The cardinal fielded questions for a bit about the ring, and then stayed for about an hour, just chatting informally with reporters about the events of the week, Rome, Boston, and so on. He was funny and charming and seemed reasonably at ease; I even had a conversation with him about Dan Brown, but I have to save something for you for tomorrow, now don't I?

By the way, as you can sort of see in the first photo, the habit is back. O'Malley, having already had enough of the red robes, showed up in his brown hooded Capuchin habit, with knotted white rope belt, dangling rosary, sandals and dark socks. Aside from the ring, the only sign of his new status was atop his head, where he wore the scarlet zucchetto of a prince of the church.

Globe photographer David Ryan got some nice shots of this morning's Mass of the Rings

Here is one of Cardinal O'Malley, up front, and Pope Benedict XVI, in the back, processing through St. Peter's Square at the start of the Mass. The guy with the plume is a Swiss Guard.

And here's a shot, from the roof of the colonnade, that shows rows of bishops, in purple, cardinals, in red, the new cardinals, in white, and then, on the throne at the facade of the basilica, the pope.

Pope Benedict at prayer

and Pope Benedict giving Communion to Cardinal O'Malley's sister, Mary Alexsovich

I've integrated other photos David shot throughout the items below, so even if you've already read them, you might want to scan again for pictures.

Terry Donilon, the cardinal's spokesman, just e-mailed me the schedule of Cardinal O'Malley's first Masses upon his return to Boston. They're to be held around the region to give the cardinal a chance to greet people from different areas of the archdiocese (which covers 144 towns in Eastern Massachusetts); O'Malley says he will talk a bit about his experiences here in Rome in an effort to share it with people who couldn't be here. O'Malley is not much for parties, but the archdiocese is planning a "light reception" after each Mass.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday, April 1
St. Theresa of Avila, West Roxbury
5:30 PM

Sunday, April 9 (Palm Sunday)
St. Catherine of Siena, Norwood
10 AM

Sunday, April 16 (Easter Sunday)
St. Mary of the Assumption, Lawrence
12 noon - Spanish language Mass

Atop the Bernini colonnade this a.m., I ran into the Rev. Robert Reed, the director of Boston Catholic Television, which has been providing heavy coverage of the week's events.

Reed told me that there are about 20 Boston priests in town for the consistory, and a group of them went out last night in Trastevere to talk about how things are going in Boston and the church. He said they had an animated discussion, felt cheered by the positive energy being communicated by Cardinal O'Malley, and rued not having more talks among priests back in the diocese.

"It seems like maybe finally we're going to get our act together,'' he said. "Things have been hard, but the archbishop seems very upbeat, and things are really looking up here.''

Reed and I tried to come up with a list of local priests we've seen in town; we couldn't come up with a complete roster, but here's a partial tally: the Rev. Brian Bachand, who is the cardinal's secretary; Rev. David J. Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly; Auxiliary Bishop John P. Boles, Rev. Robert E. Casey, the pastor of Gate of Heaven in South Boston; Rev. John J. Connolly, rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross; Rev. James R. Flavin, pastor of St. Edith Stein in Brockton; Monsignor William M. Helmick, pastor of St. Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury, and his brother, Rev. Raymond Helmick, a professor of theology at Boston College; Rev. Daniel Hennessey, vocations director; Rev. Brian Kiely, pastor of St. Patrick in Natick; Rev. Jason Makos, who is studying here at the North American College; Rev. Michael Medas, of the deaf apostolate; Rev. Paul B. O'Brien, pastor of St. Patrick in Lawrence; Rev. Kevin J. O'Leary, pastor of St. Peter in Cambridge; Rev. Robert Reed, director of Boston Catholic Television; Rev. John J. Ronaghan, pastor of St. Ann in Wollaston; and Monsignor Dennis F. Sheehan, pastor of St. Paul in Cambridge.

Have You Seen the Globe Today?
Overview: Coverage of the consistory
Sidebar: A look at Cardinal O'Malley's titular parish
Graphics, archives, and more: Boston.com complete coverage

Links to other MSM (mainstream media) coverage
Associated Press
Los Angeles Times

A walk around the blogosphere
Whispers in the Loggia
American Papist

And for the original documents and pictures
The Vatican