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  • 4/12/2024

    Eclipse showed glory of creation, say Boston priests who witnessed it

    BRAINTREE -- For Father Bob Connors, the traffic was awful, but it was worth it. On April 8, Father Connors, episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Boston's South Region, and thousands of others traveled north to see the total solar eclipse, the first to pass over North America since 2017 and the last until 2044. The round trip from Boston to Colebrook, New Hampshire, was 400 miles in order to see an event that lasted just over three minutes. To Father Connors, those three minutes felt like a prayer.

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  • 4/12/2024

    Cardinal confirms students from local campus ministries

    BOSTON -- For Justin Solis, being confirmed in the Catholic Church was "a journey of self-discovery" that began when he was working on a farm on Long Island. Solis, a 20-year-old political science and environmental studies student at Tufts University, was raised Catholic in upstate New York. He was baptized and received First Communion, but stopped attending religious education classes when he was in third grade.

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  • 4/12/2024

    Forming the Future: Technology educator Barbara Mikolajczak inspires students at St. John School, North End

    BOSTON -- At first glance, St. John School, located in the heart of Boston's North End, looks like any other historic Catholic school. The school was founded in 1895 and is currently located in a red brick building that was once a warehouse. Rose Kennedy attended school there, across the street from where she was born. Inside, St. John School is a labyrinth of classrooms and passageways, representing over a century of construction and renovation. There's always something new to discover -- when workers recently tore down a wall, they found a long-hidden girls' staircase. When Barbara Mikolajczak became St. John School's director of technology and innovation in 2020, she would get lost frequently.

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  • 4/12/2024

    Local parishioners make consecration to Jesus through Mary in Foxborough

    FOXBOROUGH -- As millions of people were viewing the solar eclipse that stretched across the U.S. on April 8, Father Ed Riley thought of "the beauty of God's plan." Father Riley, spiritual director of the World Apostolate of Fatima, compares the eclipse to Jesus and Mary. Like the sun allowing the moon to pass in front of it, Jesus "let his mother be seen and known, and many hearts come to her before they come to him."

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  • 4/12/2024

    Ordination Class of 2024: Deacon Matthew Harrington

    This is the seventh article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. BRAINTREE -- He is now on his way to being ordained a priest, but once upon a time, Deacon Matthew Harrington was "a pretty-bored second grader" attending Mass with his family at St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody.

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  • 4/12/2024

    From Cardinal Seán's blog

    On Holy Thursday, I was visited by Jennifer Hooper, the incoming head of the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. She will begin her new role on July 1, as Mother Rogers completes her term after 35 years leading the school.

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  • 4/5/2024

    Hundreds join cardinal for Triduum liturgies at cathedral

    Hundreds of worshippers gathered with Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the celebration of the Easter Triduum liturgies March 28-30. The Triduum consists of Holy Thursday, when Christ washed the feet of his Apostles and instituted the Eucharist; Good Friday, the day of Jesus' crucifixion and death for the sins of the world; and Easter, which begins with the Easter Vigil on the night of Holy Saturday and in which the church celebrates Christ's Resurrection from the dead.

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  • 4/5/2024

    Cheverus profiles: Daniel Hickey of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Winthrop

    WINTHROP -- Every Tuesday at St. Michael the Archangel Parish Hall in Winthrop, a crack team of specialists meets to take care of the parish finances. Each member of this elite group has a nickname based on their specialty. Paul "Bag Man" Clauss safeguards the offertory collection. Jim "Fingers" Chicos runs the calculator. Paul "Copycat" Corkum runs the copy machine. Mary Ann "Cash Money" Cash -- well, just look at her surname. Finally, there's Dan "Wiretap" Hickey, the team leader, whose nickname comes from his computer skills. Hickey came up with all of the nicknames, including his own, and gave his fellow parish volunteers green accounting visors with their nicknames on them.

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  • 4/5/2024

    Ordination Class of 2024: Deacon Giovanni Argote

    This is the sixth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. CHESTNUT HILL -- "Why are you so happy?"

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  • 4/5/2024

    From Cardinal Seán's blog

    As I do each year for Holy Week, I am posting my blog a day earlier than usual so as to be able to better prepare for and observe the liturgies of the Paschal Triduum. Saturday, I was visited by a group of parishioners from St. Leonard's in the North End, who came accompanied by their pastor, Father Michael Della Penna. They wanted to talk to me about proposed changes in their prayer garden.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Priestly fraternity celebrated at annual Chrism Mass

    BOSTON -- Whenever he visits St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley says he always discovers something new. The last time Cardinal O'Malley visited St. Peter's, he saw a mosaic in front of the sacristy depicting the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In the Acts of the Apostles, Ananias and Sapphira were a couple who sold their land and promised God that they would give the money to the poor but kept some of it for themselves. As punishment for lying to God, the two were stricken dead. The mosaic was made as a reminder for priests to keep the promises they made to God when they were ordained.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Archdiocesan high schools bring home state titles

    As the winter sports season came to an end, several Catholic high schools took state titles in basketball and hockey. The Cathedral High School girls basketball team took home the Division 4 State Title championship after beating South Hadley 69-49 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell on Sunday, March 17. Led by Head Coach Clinton Lassiter, the Panthers end the season at 19-4. The championship is the second in a row for the Cathedral High girls team.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Watertown parishioners bring 'Resurrection' to life for 27th year

    WATERTOWN -- "Alright, we have 20 minutes to prayer!" John Madden announced in the church hall of St. Patrick Parish in Watertown on March 24, Palm Sunday. "Twenty minutes to prayer!" All around Madden, over 40 actors, parishioners of St. Patrick's as well as other Catholic parishes and Christian churches in the area, were getting out of their street clothes and hurriedly donning biblical robes, sandals, and headscarves. They are the St. Patrick's Family Players, and they were preparing to perform "Resurrection," a music drama by the English composer Bryan Jeffery Leech, for the 27th consecutive Easter season.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Andover pastor takes Lenten path of prayer at Merrimack labyrinth

    NORTH ANDOVER -- Augustinian Father Peter Gori, pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Andover, likes to walk when he prays, and pray when he walks. He can do both at the labyrinth, a big round patch of medieval European Gothic spirituality that snakes its way through the heart of the Merrimack College campus in North Andover.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Ordination Class of 2024: Deacon David Pineda

    This is the fifth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. BRIGHTON -- Growing up in a small town in El Salvador, Deacon David Pineda, like most children, liked to play pretend. His fantasies, however, were quite different from those of his peers. While other children dreamt of being pirates and astronauts, little Deacon Pineda pretended he was a priest.

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  • 3/29/2024

    Into the heart of the Commonwealth

    Long before 1950, when the Diocese of Worcester became separate from the Diocese of Springfield, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur expanded into the center of Massachusetts to open many Catholic schools. The founding, education, and caregiving were critical to meeting the needs of the growing population. While many of these early institutions have since closed, the impact of the sisters' legacy continues.

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  • 3/29/2024

    From Cardinal Seán's blog

    Last Thursday afternoon, I went to Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Methuen for a celebration of the school's 20th anniversary. Notre Dame Cristo Rey, along with Cristo Rey Boston, is one of two Cristo Rey model high schools we have in the archdiocese. Under this model, students go to school four days a week and work at a local business one day a week. This not only gives them experience in the professional world, but their wages offset the cost of their education.

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  • 3/22/2024

    Charitable Irish Society marks 287 years with St. Patrick's Day gala

    BOSTON -- To Thomas Hynes, the story of his family is the story of the Irish in Boston. His uncle was John B. Hynes, mayor of Boston from 1950 to 1960, and his cousin was Jack Hynes, the famed television newscaster. The Hynes family didn't always have such prestige. John B. Hynes's father Bernard, and Bernard's brother Thomas, came to Boston from Galway.

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  • 3/22/2024

    Ordination Class of 2024: Deacon John Tanyi

    This is the fourth article in a series profiling the 11 men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 25, 2024. WESTON -- "Mommy, one day you will call me reverend," Deacon John Tanyi said to his mother when he was seven years old.

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  • 3/22/2024

    From Cardinal Seán's blog

    Last Saturday, while I was still in Rome, I had dinner with Cardinal Adalberto Martinez and Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik. Cardinal Lazzaro studied at St. John's Seminary and is the prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy. Of course, Cardinal Adalberto was one of my priests in the Virgin Islands and is now the archbishop of Asuncion in Paraguay.

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