Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Archbishop-elect Richard Henning. (Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA; Diocese of Rockville Centre)
CNA Staff, Aug 5, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has appointed Providence, Rhode Island, Bishop Richard Henning as the archbishop of Boston as longtime Archbishop Cardinal Sean O’Malley is retiring at age 80.
The Vatican said in a statement on Monday that the Holy Father had accepted O’Malley’s resignation from the archdiocese where has served for over 20 years.
At 80, O’Malley is five years past the age at which prelates normally tender their resignation to the Holy See; the archbishop originally submitted his resignation in 2019 but stayed in the position at the pope’s request.
A press release from the Diocese of Providence said the two prelates will concelebrate Mass in Boston on Monday morning and that O’Malley would introduce Henning at a press conference at the diocesan pastoral center at 10 a.m.
O’Malley has served as the archbishop of Boston since 2003, appointed to the post by Pope John Paul II. Home to nearly 2 million Catholics, the archbishopric is one of the most prominent roles in the U.S. Church.
A noted leader in confronting clerical sex abuse in the Church, O’Malley has headed the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors as its first president since 2014. He has served as a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and sits on the Council of Cardinal Advisers. He participated in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis; at 80 he is ineligible to participate in future conclaves.
Born on Oct. 17, 1964, in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, Henning studied history at St. John’s University in Queens before studying for the priesthood at the now-closed Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York. He was ordained a priest at Rockville Centre on May 30, 1992.
Prior to becoming a bishop, Henning served a variety of posts in the New York diocese including as parish vicar of St. Peter of Alcantara in Port Washington, New York, and as an associate professor of sacred Scripture at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception as well as the seminary’s rector.
He also served as vicar for clergy and as vicar for parish evangelization and pastoral planning in the Rockville Centre Diocese and as the diocesan episcopal vicar of the central vicariate.
He was consecrated as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on July 24, 2018, and subsequently appointed as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Providence on Nov. 23, 2022.
Upon the retirement of Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin, Henning became the ninth bishop of Providence on May 1, 2023.
The prelate holds a licentiate in biblical theology from The Catholic University of America as well as a doctorate in that field from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.
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Baltimore, Md., Nov 18, 2021 / 18:15 pm (CNA).
The Catholic Church must be prepared to act if Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationwide, is overturned, says the incoming chair of the United St… […]
Denver, Colo., Dec 6, 2018 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- During Wednesday’s funeral for George H.W. Bush, US President Donald Trump made headlines when he did not recite the Apostles’ Creed. Supporters and critics of the president speculated on what his omission might have meant.
But the occasion raises another important question: What is the Apostles’ Creed, and what does it mean?
The Apostles’ Creed is a developed expression of the faith handed down by the apostles, which originated in Rome and is used by the Catholic Church and the ecclesial communities of the West.
The creed took shape in the second or third century in connection with baptism, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Benedict XVI, wrote in his 1968 work Introduction to Christianity.
Catechumens in those centuries were asked successively if they believed in each of the three persons of the Trinity, responding, “I believe”.
“Thus the oldest form of the confession of faith takes the shape of a tripartite dialogue, of question and answer, and is, moreover, embedded in the ceremony of baptism,” Ratzinger wrote.
The middle section of the creed, concerning God the Son, was expanded in the second, or, probably, third century, and it was in the fourth century that a continuous text, detached from the question and answer format, began to emerge.
The text of the Apostles’ Creed was finalized in Gaul during the ecclesiastical reforms of Charlemagne in the ninth century. That text was received in Rome, and the creed has been used in the same form ever since.
Ratzinger noted that the Apostles’ Creed is focused on salvation history and Christology, and is rooted in the ecclesiastical form of faith: that “faith demands unity and calls for the fellow believer; it is by nature related to a Church.”
The creed was treated by the early Church as a kind of symbolum, a tradition whereby a ring, staff, or tablet would be broken in half, and the corresponding halves used as identification for guests, messengers, or treater partners.
“Possession of the corresponding piece entitled the holder to receive a thing or simply to hospitality. A symbolum is something which points to its complementary other half and thus creates mutual recognition and unity. It is the expression and means of unity,” according to Ratzinger.
“In the description of the creed or profession of faith as the symbolum we have at the same time a profound interpretation of its true nature. For in fact this is just what the original meaning or aim of dogmatic formulations in the Church was: to facilitate a common profession of faith in God, common worship of him.”
The Apostles’ Creed’s connection to a dialogue between the Church and a catechumen during the ceremony of baptism is thus reflective of the communal nature of faith, which arises in the Church.
It also demonstrates that it is in worship that doctrine “assumes its proper place,” Ratzinger wrote, and that the Church “belongs necessarily to a faith whose significance lies in the interplay of common confession and worship.”
According to the Pope emeritus, the Church herself “holds the faith only as a symbolum … which signifies truth only in its endless reference to something beyond itself, to the quite other.”
This profession of faith was called the Apostles’ Creed at least as early as 390, when a council headed by St. Ambrose used the term in a letter to St. Siricius.
A legend holds that it is known as the Apostles’ Creed because it includes 12 articles, each of which was contributed by an apostle before their dispersal.
This legend “has the disadvantage of calling attention to a division … into twelve articles,” Henri de Lubac wrote in The Christian Faith, “whereas the structure of the Creed is tripartite because Christian faith is essentially faith in the indivisible Trinity.”
Moreover, this legend was discredited when at the Council of Florence in the 15th century, the Latins were surprised to find that the Greeks did not use the Apostles’ Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed has not been received by the Eastern Orthodox because it was not a subject of the first seven ecumenical councils; their sole profession of faith is the Nicene Creed. This has led at least a few journalists to wonder if perhaps Trump is seeking admission to an Eastern Church.
The Apostles’ Creed was used liturgically in the Latin rite of the Church until 1955. Prior to that year’s reform of the general calendar and the rubrics of the Roman Breviary, it was recited at the beginning of Matins and Prime, at the end of Compline, and during the preces of Prime and Compline during certain seasons.
Ascension’s “Set Free” Lenten program with Father Josh Johnson promises to guide listeners this Lent through daily reflections on overcoming the seven deadly sins in our lives. / Credit: Ascension
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
As Lent begins on March 5, we are reminded of the opportunity to grow in faith as we journey in the desert with Jesus for 40 days. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three areas in which we are called to focus throughout the Lenten season as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on Easter.
Here are five resources to help you grow in your faith this Lent:
‘Set Free’ with Father Josh Johnson on Ascension
Exclusively on the Ascension app, “Set Free” by Father Josh Johnson promises to guide listeners through daily reflections on overcoming the seven deadly sins in our lives. The reflections are designed to help participants know what the seven deadly sins are and how they appear in our lives. The program will outline specific fasts to use to combat each one of these sins and show you how to pray with Scripture and surrender yourself to God. The reflections end with a powerful, step-by-step examination of conscience with the goal of helping you experience more deeply the sacrament of confession.
The “Set Free” program is based on Johnson’s book “Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins.” In an interview with CNA, Johnson, vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explained that the idea for the book first came from feeling the need to help his brother priests with penances for people in confession.
“I think as a priest we have a responsibility to not only absolve them from their sins but to help them to identify what’s at the root of their sins and as a spiritual father to give them practical and biblical remedies that can help them to combat against those vices that they might be struggling with,” he said.
After praying further about his idea, he realized that it could be helpful for all of the laity in order to help them overcome their struggles with sin.
“I wanted to have a book for the laity … who want to experience freedom and to be able to go deeper into an understanding of what are the seven deadly sins, how are they operative, how might they be masked, what might precede me falling into them, and then what are some ways that I can pray and fast and some wisdom I can gain from Church Fathers, the catechism, and the Bible to fight against these vices,” Johnson shared.
Johnson has three hopes for those who take part in the Lenten program: First, “that people fall more in love with Scripture and rely on Scripture for everything”; second, for “people to have a better capacity to examine their conscience prior to going to confession to really be able to discern deeper vices”; and lastly that they have “an experience of God’s love and mercy in the midst of our ongoing struggles.”
CNA’s full interview with Johnson about the program can be viewed here:
Hallow’s Lent Pray40 Challenge: ‘The Way’
Hallow will be taking listeners on a journey to grow closer to Christ this Lent through “Pray40: The Way.” Jonathahn Roumie, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Father Mike Schmitz, Sister Miriam James Heidland, and Cardinal Robert Sarah will help listeners dive deeper into the writing of St. Josemaría Escrivá, author of “The Way.”
Listeners will meditate on the lives of those who followed Christ’s way, including the life of Servant of God Takashi Nagai, a Japanese physician who survived the atomic bombing in 1945 and had a powerful conversion as shared in his biography “A Song for Nagasaki.”
Roumie will take participants through reflections and prayers on “The Way” and “A Song for Nagasaki.” Wahlberg and Pratt will lead listeners in fasting challenges and Scripture readings encouraging the faithful to give their hearts fully to Christ. Heidland will guide listeners through imaginative prayer; Schmitz will give Sunday homilies; and Sarah will offer guidance for silent meditation.
“Our Lenten challenge is always our biggest challenge of the year and it’s an honor to get to pray with so many incredible voices and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world,” CEO and co-founder of Hallow Alex Jones told CNA.
Hallow’s “Pray40: The Way” Lenten Challenge featuring Chris Pratt, Father Mike Schmitz, Jonathan Roumie, Sister Miriam James Heidland, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Mark Wahlberg, and more. Credit: Hallow
Word on Fire online Lent retreat
Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, will be conducting Word on Fire’s first-ever Lenten retreat.
The seven-part online retreat will provide an opportunity for participants to deepen their prayer lives and intimacy with Christ by focusing on the interior life.
Hicks, a renowned spiritual director and author, will guide participants in reflections each week focusing on different topics in order to grow closer to the heart of Jesus. Some topics include slowing down and returning to the heart, loving Jesus like St. Thérèse of Lisieux did, receiving Christ’s love and mercy, and more.
Blessed Is She ‘Under the Olive Tree’ devotional
In “Under the Olive Tree,” author Olivia Spears guides readers to the Mount of Olives to console the heart of Jesus in his sufferings and be consoled in our sufferings as well.
Each week offers meditations on Jesus’ agony in the garden, praying the Psalms, and diving more deeply into Jesus’ sacrificial love.
Readers will also be invited to contemplate Jesus’ love in Eucharistic adoration.
Lenten books
If you’re looking for powerful reads for the Lenten season, there are several to choose from:
“Remember Your Death: Momento Mori Lenten Devotional” by Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, is Lenten devotional that helps readers meditate on their own mortality and the gift of salvation in preparation for Easter.
“Lenten Journey with Mother Mary” by Father Edward Looney takes readers through the journey of Lent alongside the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to view Lent and Easter in a completely new way.
O’Malley was a great disappointment. Shall we have great expectations for this Vatican chosen one?
Considering Boston hasn’t had a holy bishop since Archbishop Williams I wouldn’t hold your breath.