.-
On
Friday, Boston’s Archbishop Sean O’Malley will travel to Rome where
Pope Benedict XVI will officially be made a Cardinal. In an interview
with the Boston Globe, the Cardinal-designate looked back on his time
as Archbishop, and forward, as the Church faces new challenges and
tries to make itself understood in what he called “a highly secularized
culture.”
During the
exhaustive interview, the Cardinal-designate discussed what he sees as
profound strides in reconciling the archdiocese’s tumultuous sexual
abuse crisis, the recent Catholic Charities controversy over adoption
by same-sex couples, and even his thoughts on the volatile national
immigration debate.
Early on, the
Globe asked O’Malley what he thought of the symbolic red of the
cardinal’s hat representing the wearer’s willingness to suffer for the
Church.
He said he likes
to think that he is prepared for any suffering that might come for his
vocation and his Church and added that “the dominant culture, the
secular culture, does trivialize our beliefs, and at times ridicules
them.”
“It's not the
same as the kind of persecution that people experience in Cuba or,
before the fall of the Iron Curtain…But, I think that there are many
forms of persecution, and certainly one of them is to be ridiculed.”
He went on to
cite the many strides made in the Archdiocese to rectify the sexual
abuse crisis--which has colored much of the Archbishop’s
tenure--starting with the sale of the Archbishop’s own home. O’Malley
pointed out that there is likely no “other institution in
[Massachusetts] that has done as much to re-guarantee the safety of
children as the Catholic Church has done.”
He admitted however, that “we still have a long way to go.”
The
Cardinal-designate also defended the Holy See’s recent directive that
Catholic Charities not place adoptive children with same-sex couples—a
particularly heated controversy in Boston. He said that that “in our
works of mercy, in our social programs…we must be consistent in
teaching the Catholic faith in one voice.”
He pointed out
that “the Church's teaching on marriage is very central to our beliefs
and…we see that the institution of marriage in today's world is very
much threatened on many fronts, and yet it is the very cornerstone of
society.”
“The best way
for a child to be raised”, he explained, “is to be conceived and
nurtured and raised by committed, loving parents in a marriage. And so,
for the church, in our social service activities and other works of
mercy, we need to be consistent.”
He quickly added
however that “it's always difficult when people look at Catholic
teaching on the periphery, and don't see that the core of our teaching
is the love of God above all else, and the love of our neighbor as
ourselves.” He said he “was very pleased that the Holy Father's first
encyclical is 'Deus caritas est,' that God is love.”
“I know,” he
said, “that many people would cast our actions as mean-spirited or to
denigrate people. But it is our desire to be faithful to that love that
is the very core and reason for our church and our religion, that we
must love God, obey his commandments, and try and create a civilization
of love…in our highly secularized, individualistic world, I know that
that message doesn't come across too clearly.”
Archbishop
O’Malley also alluded to numerous transitions taking place in the
chancery itself, referring to the selection of a new chancellor, new
auxiliary bishops and a new director of development.
He also lamented
the archdiocese’s numerous parish closings--acts which were greeted
with much consternation by parishioners--but said that the Church
didn’t have much choice.
He said that the
“closing of parishes has allowed us to regroup, to strengthen some of
our communities, and it's going to allow us to be able to staff all of
our parishes with clergy for a much longer time. It's also allowed us
to strengthen our retirement funds that were weak.”
He added however, that “It certainly has been a very painful process,” both for parishioners and for himself.
Prince of simplicity
Cardinal-designate
O’Malley, a Franciscan Capuchin, is known for his simplicity and love
of poverty. Asked how he would handle the prestige of becoming a
cardinal, he responded, “We have the vow of obedience, and I took as my
motto 'Do Whatever He Tells You -- Quodcumque Dixerit Facite,' which
are the last words of the blessed mother in the Bible.”
He admitted
however, that he didn't “like the hoopla and will try to avoid as much
of it as I can without --I don't want to not recognize the dignity of
this honor and the office and what it means for Catholics, and so, when
in proper times I have to wear certain liturgical vestments, I will
certainly do that.”
“I've always
tried to observe what the church expects of us,” he said, “but my
preference is to try and maintain a simple lifestyle.”
Looking to the
future, O’Malley said that “passing on the faith is the biggest
challenge,” he faces, coupled with “inspiring people to have a sense of
personal vocation as individuals.”
At the same
time, he said, people must “feel that they are part of a communal
mission that Christ has entrusted to us as his people. For some people,
in today's world, religion is kind of reduced to this new age,
individual spirituality. But this is not our ecclesiology. This is not
our Catholic faith.”
Rather, he said
“Our Catholic faith is very much that, although I have a personal
vocation, a call to holiness and a call to a way of life, I'm also
called to be a disciple with, and to share a mission, with my brothers
and sisters in the household of the faith. And so, to communicate that
vision in today's world, which is so highly privatized and
individualistic.”
Soon-to-be Cardinal O’Malley looks toward future for strained Archdiocese of Boston
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