BRIGHTON -- Irish stubbornness or the grace of God. Depending on how well you know Bishop Robert F. Hennessey you will come down on one side or the other of the debate regarding his recovery from a post-Easter fall in Cambridge.

Although his recovery is not so complete as to permit his joining brother bishops in their annual spring meeting, -- this year a retreat style meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., -- the bishop has risen from his wheelchair, shed his walker (for the most part) and has resumed driving himself around the archdiocese.

He had partially resumed his confirmation schedule several weeks ago. Two priests of the archdiocese, Father Richard Mehm, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Malden and vicar of the North Region’s Vicariate IV and longtime friend of the bishop, Father Jerome Gillespie worked around their own hectic schedules to drive him to and from cere-monies and assist in the liturgical celebrations.

The bishop will be resuming his normal schedule by attending the annual retreat in Maine for the bishops of New England in early July and the annual international meeting of the Knights of Columbus in Nashville in August. He then heads off to Rome in September for the special 10-day course arranged for the new bishops of the world by the Holy See.