Seán Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, OFM Cap., is the ninth bishop and sixth metropolitan archbishop in the more than 200-year history of the archdiocese.

He was born in Lakewood, Ohio, June 29, 1944, son of the late Theodore and Mary Louise (Reidy) O'Malley. He attended St. Gabriel and Sacred Heart Elementary Schools in Pennsylvania and St. Fidelis High School, a high school seminary conducted by the Capuchin fathers, in Butler, Penn.

He prepared for the priesthood at St. Fidelis Seminary, also in Butler, and at the Capuchin College in Washington, DC. He was professed on July 14, 1965, in the Capuchin Order, a religious order dedicated to following in the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi.

On Aug. 29, 1970, Pittsburgh's auxiliary Bishop John B. McDowell ordained him a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He then went on to earn a master's degree in religious education and a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature, both at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he also taught from 1969 to 1973.

In 1973, he began serving as executive director of Centro CatÓlico Hispano in the Washington Archdiocese before being named episcopal vicar for the Hispanic, Portuguese, and Haitian communities, and executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry in 1978.

Pope St. John Paul II appointed him as coadjutor bishop of the diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on May 30, 1984. The Most Rev. Edward J. Harper, CSSR, the first bishop of St. Thomas, assisted by Washington's Archbishop James A. Hickey and one of the capital city's auxiliary bishops, the titular bishop of Walla Walla, the Most Rev. Eugene Marino, SSJ, ordained him a bishop on Aug. 2, 1984, at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Thomas. He became the diocesan bishop of the Caribbean diocese, succeeding Bishop Harper, on Oct. 16, 1985.

During his service as bishop in the Virgin Islands, Bishop O'Malley was a regular visitor to the Archdiocese of Boston. Actually, he was here more on "business" than visiting. He spent some time each spring assisting with the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation in many parishes of the archdiocese.

On June 16, 1992, Pope John Paul II announced the appointment of Bishop O'Malley as the sixth bishop of Fall River, as the late Richard Cardinal Cushing memorably called the diocese to the south -- "itself a citadel of the faith." He was installed at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Aug. 11, 1992, a Franciscan feast day, St. Clare.

As bishop of Fall River, he was involved with the wider community both within the diocese itself and in the Commonwealth. He was faced in Fall River with the need to heal the scandal of the abuse crisis wracking the diocese by accusations against Father James Porter. He was active in the work of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, especially with pro-life issues. He has participated in every one of the Pro-Life Marches in the nation's capital since they began.

Bishop Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap., was appointed by Pope St. John Paul II on Sept. 3, 2002, to become the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach. In a Eucharistic Liturgy of Installation at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens on Oct. 19, 2002, Bishop O'Malley became the spiritual leader of a Catholic population of more than 250,000 Catholics worshipping in 53 parishes and missions.

On July 1, 2003, Pope St. John Paul II named Palm Beach's fourth diocesan bishop, the Most Rev. Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM, Cap., as the Archbishop of Boston. The announcement from Rome was made on the feast of the then Blessed Junipero Serra, a Franciscan missionary to California and Mexico. Serra is best remembered for the creation of the string of California Missions, stretching hundreds of miles from San Diego in the south to Sonoma in the north. The names of the missions have become the names of large cities -- Los Angeles and San Francisco; scenic vistas -- Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo; and one serves as harbinger of spring and announcer of fall -- San Juan Capistrano.

He immediately set about the process of rebuilding the archdiocese by meeting with victims of clergy sexual abuse; settling new and pending cases and beginning a process of reconfiguring and consolidating the parishes.

He initiated a study of the Catholic schools of the archdiocese resulting in the 2010 Initiative, a parishes/vicariate based process of strengthening the existing schools and where possible expanding and adding to them.

Although he is the first Capuchin to serve the archdiocese as its diocesan bishop, he is not the first member of a religious order to do so. That distinction belongs to a Jesuit, Benedict Joseph Fenwick, the second bishop of the diocese who served from 1825 to 1846. Nor is Cardinal O'Malley the first Franciscan; Archbishop Roberto O. Gonzalez, OFM, presently the archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, was an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese from 1988 to 1995.

Cardinal O'Malley is an active member of the United States Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was elected by his brother bishops to serve as chairman of their Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. Currently, he is also a member of the USCCB Administrative Board, a consultant to both the Committee on Migration and Pro-Life Activities, and a member of both the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa and that of the Church in Latin America. He has also served as chair of the USCCB Pro-Life Committee.

Throughout his years as bishop, he has served on numerous others, including Missions (of which he was chairman), the Administrative Board, Priestly Formation, Hispanic Affairs, Migration, and the Church in Latin America, as well as on the board of directors for Catholic Relief Services and the Association for the Development of the Catholic University of Portugal.

In 1998, he was appointed by the Holy Father to the Special Assembly for Oceania of the Synod of Bishops, which was held at the Vatican from November 22 to December 12. He has also served as apostolic visitator for several seminaries in Central America and the Caribbean. Pope Francis, named him a member of the Synod of the Amazon, celebrated at Rome during October 2019.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He has served as a member of the Papal Foundation and is currently its chair. This organization works to raise both awareness of and funding for the global charities of the Bishop of Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI named him to the College of Cardinals and bestowed on him the red biretta of that office at the Consistory of March 24, 2006. At the same time, he entrusted to him the titular church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, a notable baroque church in Rome. The Holy Father also named him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Following the resignation from the office of Bishop of Rome by Pope Benedict XVI, the cardinal entered the conclave, which elected Pope Francis. His name surfaced frequently among those, especially journalists, opining about possible candidates as Pope Benedict's successor.

During more than a decade since he was made a cardinal, the pace has accelerated for the cardinal locally, nationally, and internationally.

At home in the archdiocese, he has been addressing multiple issues. A handy way to look at issues is "ad intra" and "ad extra" -- or in-house matters and, well, everything else. This is an artificial way of looking at things since for the Church, which is always IN the world but focused always on the world to come; and whatever concerns the world ought to also be a concern of the Church.

Simply by his being Archbishop of Boston he is also president of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle. As a young priest, the cardinal had hoped himself to be a missionary. His support both here in Boston and during his visits to the society's parishes in Peru, has shown his missionary spirit is still alive and well.

Shortly after his arrival in the archdiocese, he oversaw the sale of archdiocesan property at Brighton, where there was the Archbishop's Residence, the Chancery Office, and several buildings of St. John's Seminary. Boston College was the buyer and the purchase greatly expanded the size of the university campus. The sale also provided the archdiocese with much-needed revenue to deal with the mounting costs of the sexual abuse crisis in Boston.

Thanks to the generosity of the late Thomas Flatley, the archdiocese was able to move to a new and spacious facility in Braintree. Opened during the bicentennial of the archdiocese in 2008, the newly named Archdiocesan Pastoral Center was capable of housing every archdiocesan office, some of which had been spread around the city of Boston and its suburbs for years.

A decade later, the cardinal and the rector of his cathedral church, Msgr. Kevin O'Leary began a much-desired and long-hoped-for restoration of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the mother church of the archdiocese. The massive work on the inside was the culmination of a process of restoration of the outside begun some years prior. Once completed, the church again shone inside and out as an architectural and liturgical gem at its home in the Hub's South End; and for the see of the city of Boston and, indeed, for the whole archdiocese. In another section of Boston on the Waterfront, a new Chapel of Our Lady of Good Voyage was opened, providing easily accessible sacramental ministry to tourists and visitors, as well as the hospitality industry service personnel in that growing section of the city.

Dramatic demographic changes have occurred; Catholic population have shifted noticeably to the suburbs; there has been accelerated secularizing influence on several generations of Catholics; challenges have been issued toward family life; and institutions once recognized by their stability and enduring character have, in some cases, radically changed.

Participation in parish life, enrollment in Catholic Schools and Parish Formation programs; and participation in the sacramental life of the church has diminished. Combine this with a decrease in vocations to ordained and consecrated life and a bishop has a huge challenge.

In the previous decade, the cardinal, in collaboration with the priests, deacons, religious, and lay staff has been working to reinvigorate parish life; stabilize Catholic School enrollment and breathe fresh air into the evangelizing task, which is the mission of the Church.

The protection of minors has been of paramount importance during his tenure as archbishop. He has created safeguarding training for all clergy, church employees and volunteers; he has routinely invited external auditors to evaluate parishes' and schools' compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Minors of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He has placed a great emphasis on vocations, placing as many as three priests as full-time vocation directors; supporting the three seminaries of the archdiocese by his personal presence and enlisting fiscal support for their formation programs.

Bishops have, it almost seems by nature, an aversion to closing parishes. Trying to maintain parish presences across a large and varied archdiocese is not easy; the present plan of creating parish collaboratives is the cardinal's preferred way of dealing with reality, while at the same time, trying to maintain parish presence in as many locations as possible.

The generosity of our priests and the understanding and cooperation of parishioners has been working; there are struggles: personal, fiscal, and emotional in any change.

A strong proponent of Catholic Schools, the cardinal has been constantly seeking ways to make the schools of the archdiocese available to as many families as possible. An especially serious concern is the Catholic identity of the schools -- something that the archbishop genuinely cherishes and sees as the cornerstone of the schools. The loss of religious, especially the women religious in our schools has been heart wrenching. Shaping and forming faithful Catholics as teachers and administrators remains a top concern of Cardinal O'Malley.

Concern for his priests is among the principal tasks of a diocesan bishop. The cardinal has restructured the health care and retirement plan for Boston priests and has supported with his presence the annual Priest Appreciation Dinner and, through his annual "sacramental" meeting with the priests at the Chrism Mass, has offered both encouragement and challenges to his priests.

In the wider community, he has defended immigrants; advocated for support programs for them; has supported the efforts of Catholic Charities in its multiple outreaches. He has engaged political leaders in dialogue and discussion on issues of same-sex marriage; pro-life legislation; tax relief for parents of children in private schools; and more. He also opposed same-sex marriage legislation in 2005; launching a campaign, he was instrumental in defeating a 2013 ballot initiative that would have legalized assisted suicide; and joining forces with the Governor of Massachusetts, he tried to stop a 2017 ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in the state. Even as this issue goes to press, he is actively advocating against passage of the so-called ROE Act that would greatly expand abortion rights in the Commonwealth.

Nationally, the cardinal remains active in the work of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); in the national dialogue with the Greek Orthodox; with Knights of Columbus and their many fraternal and social programs; and, also, in working with various national religious leaders on matters on common concern.

As on the local level, so on the national level he has been involved in advocating with federal legislative and executive officials, seeking adequate and just protection of civil rights; of religious freedom; and, above all, for the right to life.

Beyond the archdiocese and our nation, the cardinal has been an easily recognizable participant in multiple spheres, mostly reflected in his well-known collaboration with Pope Francis.

Since the election of the first religious as Bishop of Rome in almost 200 years, Pope Francis has shown himself very much reliant on the "friar bishop from Boston." Shortly after his election, the pope created a Council of Cardinals to advise him on the governance of the Universal Church. Cardinal O'Malley was the sole North American named to the Council.

The best word to describe another of Cardinal O'Malley's significant contributions to assisting the Holy See is "agitation" -- sometimes (some would say often) the Holy See needs faithful agitators -- those who push, urge, beg, cajole for some action or activity.

Cardinal O'Malley's "agitation" led to the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2014 with its statutes issued in 2015 when Cardinal O'Malley was named head of the Commission while maintaining his position as Archbishop of Boston.

This year, the annual commission meeting could not take place at the Vatican because of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak. Thus, for the first time, the Commission met virtually between September 16-18, 2020.

The cardinal continues to serve on several other dicasteries of the Roman Curia, either as a member or a consultor; including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Congregation for Clergy; and Congregation for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.



This article originally appeared in the Oct. 16, 2020 issue of The Pilot.