Last Thursday, I was very happy to attend the Catholic Schools Foundation's 33rd annual Building Minds Scholarship Fund Dinner Celebration at the Copley Marriott Hotel.

It was a wonderful evening, during which they honored Peter Lynch. The dinner was chaired by his three daughters, and over 1,200 people came out for this tribute to Peter.

He is a man who is very much motivated by his faith, and he and his wife, Carolyn, have done so much over the years to ensure that underprivileged youngsters have an opportunity to receive a Catholic education.

We are so grateful to him for all that he has done heading up this effort that has brought in many millions of dollars to support students in our Catholic schools.



Luncheon meeting

Last Friday, I gathered at the Pastoral Center with the priests working in Hispanic ministry in the archdiocese for a luncheon meeting.

It was an opportunity for staff from some of our offices with outreach to the Hispanic community to address the priests and speak about their initiatives.

For example, we heard from Sister Barbara Gutierrez, who demonstrated the new webpage that the Hispanic Ministry Office recently put up.

And we also heard from Sylvia Fernandez del Castillo, who spoke about a Hispanic pro-life initiative that we hope to begin next fall.



St. Theresa Parish

Sunday, I went to St. Theresa's Parish in North Reading to install their new pastor, Father Brian McHugh.

It is always a beautiful celebration that includes the presentation of the new pastor and representatives of the parish, such as the staff, the pastoral council, and the finance council.

Father Brian is a very dynamic pastor, and we are very grateful for his ministry. So, I was very happy to be there to share this important moment in the life of the parish.



Father Bob McCreary's funeral

That afternoon, I left for Pittsburgh to celebrate the funeral of one of our Capuchin friars, Father Bob McCreary, who was my very close friend for 60 years. He was my professor in the seminary, my guardian, and my provincial.

He touched the lives of many people and was a wonderful spiritual director and retreat master. So, there were many priests and religious who gathered with his large family at St. Augustine's in Pittsburgh to bid him farewell.



Plenary session

For the rest of this week, I have been in Rome for our plenary session of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. As I write this, those meetings and events are still ongoing. So, I will share my reflections with you next week.

However, I did want to mention that on Thursday, we held an event to launch a new book produced by the commission on safeguarding, "Culture of Healing," at the Salesian University in Rome.