St. Patrick Parish

Hello and welcome! As I mentioned last week, I was in Rome for meetings of the C9 Council of Cardinals.  Before I left, I was very happy to have the opportunity to sign an agreement of cooperation between the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of […]

Hello and welcome! Friday, I met with Father Nicolae Pretorian, a Romanian Orthodox priest who has been working and teaching in Greece and is now going to be pursuing doctoral studies at Boston College.  He referred to us by Metropolitan Methodios and came to greet me. He is an expert in church-state relations, so it […]

Hello and welcome! On Monday, I was visited by the Portuguese Ambassador to The United States, Francisco Duarte Lopes, and the Consul General in Boston, Tiago Araújo. The ambassador had been in the Boston area for several days, visiting different groups and programs related to the Portuguese language and culture, and Monday was his last […]

Hello and welcome! As I mentioned last week, I was very happy to take part in the Life Fest gathering, sponsored by the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus. Despite the fact that there was considerable snow by Washington, D.C. standards, about 6,000 young people were able to gather for that event, which […]

Hello and welcome! As some of you may have read, this week, we are announcing a change to age for the Sacrament of Confirmation for the archdiocese.  For the last four years, there has been a great deal of discussion about the best pastoral approach to the confirmation age.  A committee began considering this issue […]

Hello and welcome! Each year, on the day before the City of Quincy inaugurates their elected officials, they hold a special Mass for the city.  This year, I was invited to celebrate the Mass, which took place last Thursday at Sacred Heart Church.  It was a beautiful celebration. It was a very full church, and […]

Happy New Year to all! Last Friday, I joined Bishop Hennessey and about a dozen local priests at St. Brigid’s in South Boston for a celebration of Father Bob Casey’s birthday. It was a nice opportunity for the priests to get together and socialize during this very busy season. Each year on New Year’s Eve, […]

Hello and welcome! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  Mine was very joy-filled. Regular readers will remember that last week, I shared pictures of the young people from the Cathedral Parish religious education program rehearsing their Christmas pageant.  Well, they presented it last Saturday evening. Every year, the community organizes Las Posadas.  This […]

Hello and welcome! This year, as part of our Advent celebrations, we had a Culture of Life Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross organized by the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Daughters of Americas and Sylvia Fernandez del Castillo, the head of our Pro-Life Office. Of course, the great figure of Advent is […]

Hello and welcome! Because this is the 800th anniversary of the crèche that St. Francis of Assisi created at Greccio, the Vatican Nativity this year is a replica of that first crèche. The Incarnation and Jesus Christ coming in poverty at Bethlehem were very important parts of St. Francis’s spirituality.  So, St. Francis wanted to […]