I was sent a number of photos in recent days of the Capuchin Pan-American gathering I spoke about last week, some of which are posted on my blog.

During the celebration of Capuchins from the Americas whose causes have been introduced for canonization, we were all invited to go up and speak about a Capuchin who worked in our jurisdiction and was remarkable for his virtue and goodness.

When my turn came, I spoke about Father Pio Gottin, who worked with the Cape Verdeans in Roxbury and throughout the area for many years. He was originally from Turin, Italy, but was a missionary in Cape Verde for many years. Then, Cardinal Medeiros invited him to come to St. Patrick's in Roxbury because the cardinal wanted to establish a ministry to the Cape Verdean community here in the archdiocese. He spent 60 years working among Cape Verdeans here and founded the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

I remember that, after he died, someone gave a statue of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina to Father Waldron, and Father Waldron gave it to the friars because, he said, "I can't put this in the church because all the parishioners will think it's our Padre Pio!"

One of the Vespers services held during our gathering was devoted to Capuchin missionaries who came to the New World. There were almost 4,000 Capuchin missionaries who came to serve the Church in the Americas, and Father Pio would have certainly been one of the outstanding friars among them.

Return to Boston

Following the conference in Brazil, I returned to Boston on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, was the Irish Bishops' national conference, "Toward a Theology of Safeguarding." Two of the organizers were Garrett Sheehan and Teresa Devlin. The Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin and a number of other bishops were with us, as well.

Father Andrew Small represented the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in person, and I delivered a keynote address to the conference virtually.

It was a chance for us to explain to them some of the responsibilities that the Holy Father will be giving the commission and also thank the people of the Church in Ireland for all they have done in promoting safeguarding.

In my remarks, I spoke about my experience as apostolic visitator in Dublin and the profound experience of the Liturgy of Lament and Repentance for the Sexual Abuse of Children by Priests and Religious at St. Mary's Pro Cathedral.



Meetings of the Finance Council and the Presbyteral Council

On Thursday, we had meetings of the Archdiocesan Finance Council and the Presbyteral Council.

At the Presbyteral Council, we asked our Archdiocesan General Counsel Fran O'Connor and Father Bryan Hehir to speak about the ramifications of the recently leaked draft Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case.

The leaked document, of course, is only a potential version of what the final decision may be. But, all the controversy that it has created is something we want to address because many extreme things are being said. Also, the fact that Catholic institutions have been targeted in some places is truly outrageous.

The Church has worked, prayed, and advocated for 50 years for the overturning of this very flawed decision, in which an activist court legislated for the entire country rather than allowing the American people to have a vote on this issue. For us, this is not a question of Catholic doctrine that we want to impose on the country, but rather a matter of defense of innocent human life, which is the obligation of everyone -- regardless of faith.