Last Friday, the feast of St. Therese, I went to Austin Prep in Reading to celebrate their annual Convocation Mass.

Austin Prep is an Augustinian school, so in addition to the school's chaplain, Father Patrick Armano, we were joined at the Mass by Father Peter Gori, Father Jorge Reyes, and a number of Augustinian Friars from Merrimack College. The headmaster, Jim Hickey, is a member of the Order of Malta, so several of his fellow Knights and Dames were with us, as well.

The Mass was also the occasion to celebrate the arrival of four new sisters from the Daughters of Mary, who will work on the theology faculty and in school ministry. They are members of a Ugandan community with about 800 sisters, who work in different countries in Africa and the United States.

We were very happy to welcome them to their new ministry in Boston.

School and parish anniversary

On Saturday afternoon, I went to St. Columbkille's in Brighton, where they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of their school, the 150th anniversary of their parish in the 1600th anniversary of the birth of St. Columbkille. As I told the people, I thought 150 candles was a lot, but 1600 really does take the cake!

A number of priests who had served in the parish returned for the anniversary celebration.

In my homily, I noted the parish has an altar of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba. I said I was thinking of and praying for the parish during my recent visit to Cuba because it's the only church in the archdiocese, that I'm aware of, that has a shrine to Our Lady of Charity. As I have previously shared, the first public Mass that I celebrated was the feast of Our Lady of Charity with the Cuban community of Washington, D.C. And, last month, I celebrated Mass for the feast at the shrine of Caridad del Cobre in Santiago de Cuba.

The altar is just another indication of St. Columbkille's history as an immigrant community, beginning with the Irish, then the Italians, the Cubans, and, now, other Hispanic communities.

After the Mass, we visited the school, where there was a program where children sang some songs, and there were refreshments for the people.

St. Francis Church, Medford

On Sunday, I went to St. Francis Church in Medford, which is part of the Mary, Queen of Peace Collaborative, for a Mass to celebrate the church's centennial.

Father Paul Sullivan is the pastor there, and, once again, several priests who were from the parish or had been stationed there returned for the celebration.

I'm always very impressed by the beautiful windows in the church that depict many of the events in the life of St. Francis.

Board meeting

Wednesday evening, we had a board meeting of St. John's Seminary. It was our first meeting of the academic year, and it was an occasion to welcome the three new members to the board, John Corcoran, Msgr. Al Kenney, and Brian Healy.

Father Stephen Salocks reported on what is happening in the seminary, and Father Michael MacInnis talked about the seminary's human formation. The school year has begun very well, and they are certainly happy to be freed from many of the restrictions that were in place last year.

It was a very hopeful meeting, and we are grateful for the presence of our new board members.