BRAINTREE -- On the Sunday after Christmas, the Archdiocese of Boston will join the Holy Father and the rest of the Catholic Church in celebrating a Jubilee Year, titled "Pilgrims of Hope," that will run through 2025.
Read more
BRAINTREE -- Almost 180 people attended Women Affirming Life's Mass and Brunch at the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Center in Braintree on Dec. 7, making it the most successful in the organization's history. The annual event celebrates the work of the pro-life group, which was founded in 1990 by a group of Catholic women professionals and merged with the archdiocesan Pro-Life Office this year.
Read more
NORTH READING -- Maureen McRae arrived at St. Theresa Parish in North Reading at 8:40 a.m. on the foggy morning of Dec. 10, her well-loved Roman Missal clutched close to her chest. As she does every Tuesday morning, McRae attended the 9 a.m. Mass, for which she serves as an extraordinary minister of Communion. She then went to the chapel with parochial vicar Father Augustin Anda for exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which lasts from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. weekly. McRae is always there for adoration from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. She also designed and sewed the red velvet fabric that surrounds the monstrance.
Read more
IPSWICH -- A rustic sound, simple and powerful in its joy and earnestness, chimed through the Our Lady of Hope parish hall in Ipswich on the icy afternoon of Dec. 15. Five voices sat together in a square and harmonized to produce strains, at once robust and ethereal. Tapping their feet to keep rhythm and slicing their arms through the air to conduct themselves, they wove through a medley of Christmas hymns, including "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Adeste Fidelis."
Read more
LAWRENCE -- An armored conquistador works on a laptop in the former St. Mary of the Assumption School gymnasium in Lawrence, surrounded by the myriad knobs and switches of lighting consoles and digital sound mixers. A bishop in ballet slippers stands beside the conquistador, microphone in hand, waiting for his next solo. Dancers in billowing white gowns twirl on the stage above them.
Read more
Central Catholic, Lawrence, vs. Lawrence High Playing at the venerable Fenway Park on Thanksgiving Eve, the Central Catholic Raiders ended a successful season with a 34-12 win over their city rival, Lawrence High School. Led by John Sexton '97 (second season), Central Catholic ends at 7-4 and leads the rivalry at 9-0-0. Lawrence ends at 3-8.
Read more
The following are the holy days celebrated and observed with obligation in the Archdiocese of Boston for 2025: -- Solemnity of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, Wednesday, Jan. 1. -- Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Thursday, May 29.
Read more
BRAINTREE -- Continuing a decades-long tradition of mutual friendship between the two churches, Archbishop Richard Henning met with Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston at the metropolis headquarters in Brookline on Dec. 4.
Read more
NEWTON -- Right from the start, 2024 has been an eventful year for the O'Connell House. The house, located in the Merrimack Valley, is the only Catholic safe house in Massachusetts for women and their infant children who are fleeing human trafficking.
Read more
BOSTON -- "You live in the Athens of America, and you spend your weekends at the mall." Eileen McLaughlin, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, remembers her high school teacher chiding her and her classmates for not taking advantage of the many cultural opportunities in their city. His words stuck with McLaughlin for the rest of her life.
Read more
BRAINTREE -- Archbishop Richard Henning took a tour of Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree on Dec. 9 before celebrating Mass in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the school auditorium. School President Dennis Duggan Jr. and Principal Michael Volonnino educated Archbishop Henning about the history of the school, which is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its founding by Cardinal Richard Cushing and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1949.
Read more
RANDOLPH -- For a senior in high school, Breana Mendes has had quite the career. As a freshman, she created her own business and sold merchandise. As a sophomore, she worked in a lab at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, learning CPR and watching scientists work with animals. In her junior year, she worked in the billing department of the Ropes and Gray law firm in Boston, observing the attorneys at work and attending meetings. For the past month, she has worked as a bank teller at Rockland Trust in Randolph.
Read more
There are two holy days in the coming weeks: The Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Dec. 25, 2024) Masses may be scheduled to begin at, but not before, 4 p.m. and throughout the evening and night on Tuesday, Dec. 24. Masses may be scheduled throughout the day on Dec. 25.
Read more
BRAINTREE -- Thomas William remembers exactly where he was when Notre Dame de Paris burned. On April 15, 2019, William, now an altar server at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was a high school student in his native France. He came home from classes to find his dad glued to the television, seeing the 800-year-old cathedral in flames.
Read more
NORWOOD -- In their 60 years of volunteering, Nicholas and Barbara Campagna have gotten involved in many philanthropic organizations. At their longtime parish, St. Timothy in Norwood, Nicholas served on the parish council, and his wife, Barbara, was on the liturgy committee. Barbara keeps track of donations to the parish Christian Service Fund, and she and Nicholas collect donations to the Norwood Food Pantry every week. Nicholas has walked in the food pantry's annual Walk for Hunger for 40 years, fundraising with the parish and even asking the priest to bless his feet the night before. He and Barbara have taught confirmation classes, served as ministers of Communion, visited nursing homes, and have been involved in music ministry for over four decades.
Read more
BRIDGEWATER -- "There's nothing wrong with that." That was the response Edward DiCenso received when the people of Valdese, North Carolina, learned he was Catholic. The overwhelmingly Protestant town of less than 5,000 people in the Piedmont region of North Carolina was relatively unscathed by Hurricane Helene, but those living in the mountains that overlook the town were devastated. DiCenso, a maintenance associate at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bridgewater, drove with a friend to Valdese to help build temporary homes for those without shelter on Nov. 2 and 3. He worked alongside people of all Christian denominations.
Read more
BRAINTREE -- Usually, when Msgr. Bryan Hehir celebrates a memorial Mass, he takes some time in his homily to reflect on the life of the deceased. On the night of Nov. 20, however, this was not possible. That night, Msgr. Hehir, secretary of health and social services for the Archdiocese of Boston, celebrated a Mass of Remembrance and Healing for Pregnancy and Infant Loss in the Bethany Chapel of the archdiocese's Pastoral Center in Braintree. He was assisted by two seminarians from Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston.
Read more
DORCHESTER -- "Good morning! Yes, sir! Have a good day!" "Good morning! Have a good day, my man!" "Good morning! Have a good day, sir!" The endless refrain never loses its passion as it is repeated over and over. The constant smack of hands echoes as security guard John Sergile daps up roughly 1,000 of the 1,400 seventh-12th grade boys walking into Boston College High School in Dorchester each morning, from the early birds to the last stragglers rushing in before classes start at 8:30 a.m. Sergile gets to the school at 7:30 a.m. and leaves at 4:30 p.m., unless there's an after-school sporting event. Even as the rain picked up outside on the morning of Nov. 21, and the steady drip of students ebbed and flowed, Sergile stood outside and greeted every last one, like he does every morning in rain, snow, heat, or cold. It never gets dull for him.
Read more
DORCHESTER -- With the help of Archbishop Richard Henning, dozens of volunteers working with Catholic Charities Boston gave hundreds of families something to be thankful for on Nov. 23. At the Catholic Charities Yawkey Center in Dorchester, volunteers braved the cold, wind, and rain to pass out 1,000 Thanksgiving meal bags containing carrots, sweet potatoes, stuffing, onions, and all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal. Families could also choose whether to receive a frozen turkey or a $20 Stop and Shop Gift Card. The archbishop used his Spanish language skills to communicate with families receiving the meals and directed the volunteers to give each family the necessary amount of food.
Read more
BOSTON -- "Do you know him?" Archbishop Richard Henning asked Bishop Cristiano Barbosa as they observed the room at the 140th anniversary gala for St. John's Seminary on Nov. 14. "I think he teaches at Providence College," the archbishop joked.
Read more
DORCHESTER -- Robert Credle likes to say that before Roxbury was ghettoized, and before it was gentrified, he was there. The Credles were the third Black family to move into Roxbury. They settled at 39 Quincy Street, the heart of an Italian and Jewish enclave. Robert Credle was born in the welfare ward of Boston City Hospital and raised with his four siblings by a single mother. He grew up surrounded by gang activity but got in a fight and "decided the gang life was not for him," according to his biography. His high school girlfriend brought him to St. Hugh's Church in Dorchester and introduced him to Msgr. James Haddad, who served as Credle's mentor. Msgr. Haddad bought Credle a suit and drove him to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester to meet the college president, Father Raymond Swords. Credle received a full scholarship and was the only African American in his graduating class.
Read more
BOSTON -- Archbishop Richard Henning celebrated his first Catholic Appeal Mass of Appreciation at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Nov. 18. The annual Mass is celebrated for the Caritas Society, which is for those who make an annual gift of $1,000 or more to the Appeal. The donors were eager to meet the new archbishop, and the line to greet him after Mass stretched from one end of the cathedral to the other. Donors waited for up to 30 minutes to shake Archbishop Henning's hand and wish him well. One woman gave the archbishop a Ziploc bag containing Divine Mercy prayer cards. Another showed him her purse, which had the Virgin Mary on it. A third asked him whether she should refer to him as "Your Eminence" or "Your Excellency."
Read more