VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- One by one 11 senior churchmen, including two U.S. citizens -- Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Silvano M. Tomasi, a former Vatican diplomat -- knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal's ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a "titular" church in Rome.

Instead of gathering in Baltimore as we usually do for our Fall General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, this year, we held our meeting virtually. Our plenary session began on Monday, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were taken up with meetings of the various committees. On Friday, I participated in a meeting of the Committee for the Church in Africa. This committee is in charge of assigning funds that come from the annual Solidarity Collection for the Church in Africa. The present chairman is Cardinal Joseph Tobin who, when he was superior general of the Redemptorists, had a chance to become very familiar with the work of the Church in Africa. On Saturday, we had a meeting of the Committee for the Church in Latin America, which has a similar function to the Committee for the Church in Africa, in distributing funds from the special collection. Bishop Octavio Cisneros is the chairman of that commission.

BILLERICA -- A rare and precious gift recently passed between two newly formed parishes, as one let go of its namesake and another accepted that same patron saint as its own. On Nov. 17, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Dorchester-Mattapan gave its relic of St. Matthew, patron of their recently closed church, to the new St. Matthew Parish in Billerica.