Faith

Honoring Cardinal Seán O'Malley, OFM. Cap, (pictured with Maureen Crowley Heil of the Pontifical Mission Societies of Boston) at the Inaugural Heart of the Missions Dinner. Photo courtesy/Maggie Murray, TPMS USA

Propagation of the Faith

Friday, January 31, 2025Faith

It's not every day that I'm invited to travel to New York City to attend a gala dinner. As a matter of fact, it's a rarity! But, when the honoree is Seán Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop Emeritus of Boston and member of the National Board of Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies, I was made the proverbial "offer I couldn't refuse!" So, I hopped a train and made my way to the city that doesn't sleep to attend the Inaugural Heart of the Missions Dinner.
The event was held at the Columbus Citizens Foundation headquarters in Manhattan. The Foundation itself is a non-profit whose primary activity is providing scholarships to students of Italian heritage.
Cardinal Seán would later joke that, while he was grateful, it seemed a funny place to be honoring an Irishman!
But honor him we did -- for his early work with immigrants in Washington, DC, to his first episcopal posting in Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, which despite sounding glamourous had him struggling to build a diocesan structure on an annual budget of $30,000. We applauded his work in the dioceses of Fall River, Massachusetts and Palm Beach, Florida where he oversaw turbulent times before being named Archbishop of Boston during a very dark time here.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Papal Nuncio to the United States, remarked that Cardinal Seán embodied the missionary spirit of the founder of the Propagation of the Faith, Blessed Pauline Marie Jaricot, who brought people together to pray and sacrifice for the missions of her day, including the United States. Cardinal Seán has done this by working for the marginalized at home and around the world, and by "bringing his missionary perspective to the highest level of Church governance," said Pierre.
In accepting the first Blessed Pauline Jaricot Distinguished Catholic Philanthropy Medal, Cardinal Seán said that the work of The Pontifical Mission Societies comes from Jesus' "marching orders" to us, part of his "farewell address to us on two Thursdays -- Holy Thursday and Ascension Thursday." First, came the new commandment: "Love one another the way I love you. His love is the new measuring stick." Next came the Great Commission: "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father Son, and Holy Spirit. We are here today, two thousand years later," said the cardinal, "because that group of fishermen, farmers, and tax collectors took that command seriously!"
"Now, it's our turn to show how to love first and how to make disciples of all nations." he continued. Each of us must strive each day to be missionary disciples."
Each of us must live with the Heart of the Missions.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.