Arrivederci Roma

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.