Last Thursday (11/15), I was visited by Sister Barbara Dawson, Sister Margaret Causey and Sister Barbara Rogers of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The order has about 25 sisters working in the archdiocese. It was a courtesy visit and we spoke a little bit about the ministry of the sisters. Sister Barbara Dawson had been in the missions in Indonesia and she came back to the states to become provincial. The sisters of the Sacred Heart have a network of very fine girl's schools throughout the country. Here in the archdiocese, they run the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. Sister Barbara Rogers is the principal there. I told them that my aunt and cousins were very involved in their schools. In fact, my cousin was the principal of Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami for a number of years.

Online chat

Later that day (11/15), I took part in an online chat on Boston.com. The Globe periodically invites people to conduct a sort of live interview, in which people send questions and you type your responses. I was answering questions for about an hour and I understand there were about 400 people following the discussion. This was a new experience for me -- I had never been in a "chat room" before! I had my misgivings originally, but in retrospect I understand that this is something young Catholics are participating in and it is another way for us to reach them. Obviously, the newspaper has also discovered readership of broadsheets is shrinking and the Internet is the way that people are getting their news and connecting.

Domus Jerusalem project

Then, in the afternoon (11/15) I was visited by Ed Condon to speak about the Domus Jerusalem project. This is an effort begun at the urging of the late-Archbishop Pietro Sambi to build a Catholic center in Jerusalem next to the site of the Garden of Gethsemane and overlooking the Temple Mount. I was asked to be the president of the foundation supporting this effort. God willing, we will have a group of people interested in helping this project visit the Holy Land in the spring, coinciding with the time that I am there on the retreat with our priests.

Installation ceremony

Later that day (11/17) I presided at the annual installation of new members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Northeastern Lieutenancy of the United States. As the grand prior of this lieutenancy it is a privilege to install the new members of the Order. John Monahan is Lieutenant. In all, there were about 40 people who were invested into the order. The Order of the Holy Sepulcher has a wonderful tradition that goes back to the 13th century. They are very supportive of the Christian community and sacred places in the Holy Land and they do very important work to keep the schools, clinics and shrines running in that part of the world. Cardinal Egan was invited to be the keynote speaker at the banquet following the Installation Mass. We were also pleased to be joined by a number of other bishops as well, including several from New England.

Interview with Jon Keller

Wednesday (11/21), I conducted an interview with Jon Keller of WBZ. We spoke on a number of issues including our efforts to defeat the physician assisted suicide ballot initiative and the granting of in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. If you didn't happen to catch it when it aired, you can view it here.

Meeting with pro-life directors

In the afternoon (11/21), I met with the pro-life directors from the New England dioceses. The directors meet twice a year at the Pastoral Center to discuss current pro-life issues and share resources and information on programs they are conducting. Several dioceses have new pro-life directors who were attending their first meeting. I shared with them some reflections on our efforts to defeat Question 2 and its implications nationally and also for the other New England states.