With Matt McDonald

Boston, Massachusetts, October 31, 2024 / 19:00

Newly installed Boston Archbishop Richard Henning on Thursday challenged the people of the archdiocese to build a relationship with God, even if it hurts, saying that’s what God has done for them.

“He gives us a precious gift, the gift of his own heart: his Son,” Henning said during a packed installation Mass that lasted more than two hours at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston on Oct. 31.

Henning, 60, originally from Long Island, New York, and most recently bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, succeeds Cardinal Seán O’Malley, who had led the Archdiocese of Boston since 2003.

As the 10th bishop and sixth archbishop of Boston, he is the first diocesan head from New York, which often raises a question, he said.

Since Henning was announced as the next archbishop of Boston in August, he said: “People ask me all kinds of questions about me, my ideas, my personality traits, my background. The question I’ve been asked most frequently over the last few months goes something like this: ‘Have you ever been a Red Sox fan, are you now, or will you be in the future?’”

People in the congregation laughed. Then Henning added: “Now, although this, among other questions, is a very important question in Boston, it seems to me that the most important thing that you, the people of this archdiocese, need to know about me is this: I believe this.”

Earlier, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio of the United States, had presented Henning with the appointment letter from Pope Francis, and Henning, following tradition, walked around the cathedral displaying it to congregations.

Thereafter O’Malley and Pierre accompanied Henning to the bishop’s seat to the left of the altar, thereby taking formal possession of the archdiocese, one of the four archdioceses created in 1808.

O’Malley, who widely calmed the archdiocese following the disastrous departure of Cardinal Bernard Law, received a standing ovation at the beginning of the Mass after being praised by Pierre. Henning received another one toward the end of the service, when he told O’Malley that he had detected “mixed feelings” among Catholics in Boston during the changing of the guard “because of the greatness of your service.”

new spiritual father

The march of hundreds of priests towards the cathedral was more joyful than solemn. Outside, to the right of the main entrance, musicians from the Neocatechumenal Way sang stirring songs of praise, accompanied by eight guitars, a ukulele, two bongos, and a shofar, a ram’s horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies. As the priests approached the music, many smiled and some sang along as they ascended the stairs of the building.

Sean Gibney, 47, of Burlington, Massachusetts, who coordinates the group, agreed that it was an unusual way to welcome a new archbishop.

“It is now. But it wasn’t always. “The shepherds have always been welcomed by the people,” Gibney told CNA, adding that in the early periods of the Church, people elected bishops by applause.

“So we see it as a completely normal thing. He’s a shepherd because we’re sheep,” Gibney said, referring to Henning. “We kind of feel like faith requires us to go and be welcomed. He’s sent in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

David Enrique, a 24-year-old East Boston native who sings and plays guitar, was asked what the Henning installation meant to him and why.

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“We have a new father for me,” Enrique said. “Cardinal Seán has been our father for the last 21 years, and I have come to welcome my new father, my new spiritual father and shepherd.”

God is love

In recognition of the existence of many cultures within the archdiocese, the first reading was in Spanish and the second reading was in Haitian Creole. The prayers of the faithful were in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Vietnamese.

About half the cathedral was occupied by white-robed priests, and Henning said he was “overwhelmed” by the turnout. Some were from his diocese in Rockville Center on Long Island, he noted, while many were from the Archdiocese of Boston.

Following the Gospel reading from John 17, Henning spoke for 21 minutes without taking notes.

He invited listeners to develop a “deeply personal” relationship with God; He stated that this relationship comes with demands from both sides.

“God is love and God calls us to love. “It’s not the kind of love in ’70s love songs,” Henning said. “This is a love that sweats, bleeds and dies.”

Using the image of Pope Francis depicting the Catholic Church as a “field hospital,” Henning expanded on the image as follows: “But there is only one doctor in the field hospital, and that is Jesus Christ. The rest of us are patients in need of healing.”

Proper ordering is necessary for a fruitful relationship with God, he said.

“Whenever people think they are gods, everyone else must be slaves,” Henning said. “This God sets us free.”

He quoted German Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer about what Bonhoeffer called “the cost of discipleship.”

“Faith is not just a list of beliefs. It’s not just a feeling. It’s a whole life,” Henning said.

When O’Malley took over the archdiocese in 2003, the post was vacant because Law had resigned in disgrace in December 2002, 11 months after the archdiocesan priest sexual abuse scandal broke.

About a dozen protesters held banners outside the cathedral before Thursday’s Mass, criticizing both the archbishops and the Church for sexual abuse by priests.

Henning acknowledged the pain continued.

“This Boston Church is a Church truly wounded by a failure to act compassionately – by sins against the innocent,” Henning said.

He noted that the church has made efforts in recent years to “protect the vulnerable.”

“But we still feel the weight of these wounds,” Henning said. “And we owe a debt of gratitude to the surviving victims who told their stories because their courage helped protect new generations.”

Matt McDonald is a staff reporter for the National Catholic Register and editor of the New Boston Post.