BRAINTREE -- Almost two years have passed since the coronavirus prompted the closure of schools. Now, while the archdiocesan schools remain open and committed to in-person instruction, the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is causing considerable challenges for the schools in matters of staffing and safety measures.
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BRAINTREE -- Dozens of parishes and collaboratives across the archdiocese are planning to hold Holy Hours for Life or similar pro-life events on the weekend of Jan. 21-23, bringing their communities together to pray for the unborn and for assistance in witnessing to the dignity of human life.
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BRAINTREE -- In response to the current surge of coronavirus cases, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley has extended the current mask mandate, which requires that face masks be worn at all public Masses in the archdiocese, including weddings and funerals. This measure, which went into effect on the weekend of Dec. 18-19 and was originally planned to expire on Jan. 17, will remain in place until March 3, the day after Ash Wednesday.
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On New Year's Eve, we gathered at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with about 200 members of the pro-life and campus ministry communities for a midnight Mass. I have always had the custom of ending the year and beginning the year with the Eucharist. This year, particularly, being the year of the Eucharist, it was very meaningful to be able to do this.
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BRAINTREE -- Since the early 2000s, the archdiocese has organized an annual pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., for the national March for Life. After having to forgo this trip in 2021 due to the coronavirus, this year, the Catholic Schools Office is organizing a pilgrimage that will have the same spirit as past trips, with some slight changes to the usual programming.
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ARLINGTON -- The transition to high school can be difficult for students in the best of circumstances, but even more so after a year or more of irregular, interrupted learning. Recognizing this, the teachers and administrators of Arlington Catholic High School created a new program called the Bridge Academy at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, offering eighth-grade graduates another year to prepare academically, socially, and emotionally for ninth grade.
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On Christmas Eve morning, I was pleased to join Angela Menino and many other members of the Menino family for their annual holiday distribution at Catholic Charities' Teen Center at St. Peter's in the Bowdoin Geneva section of Dorchester. The Teen Center does tremendous work in that neighborhood, particularly with the Cape Verdean community.
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NEEDHAM -- Like many Catholic schools and parishes, St. Joseph School has a tradition of putting on a Nativity pageant each December -- and found themselves needing to adapt it to different circumstances during the coronavirus pandemic.
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BRAINTREE -- With the "synod for synodality" process now underway on the local level, the archdiocese is inviting parishes to prepare to hold discussions about how the Church can better listen to her people and involve them in her mission.
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BOSTON -- Cristo Rey Boston High School, a Catholic high school in Dorchester that exclusively serves students from under-resourced communities across Greater Boston, announced the single largest donation in its history in the amount of $1 million from board member Edmund F. Murphy, III and his wife, Jennifer. Ed Murphy is the CEO of Empower Retirement and a long-time Trustee of Cristo Rey Boston (CRB).
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This past week, I have been in Rome for meetings. On Friday and Saturday, we had the plenary sessions of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. They were held at the Antonianum, the Franciscan pontifical university in Rome.
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